Gervas S. Smith, farmer, P. O., Marshall. Was born in Hanover county, Virginia, in 1805, and in 1811 moved with his father to Henry county, Kentucky. His father and Henry Clay were school-boys together. Mr. Smith continued to live in Henry county, Kentucky, until 1854, when he came to Missouri and settled in Saline county on the farm upon which he now resides, in Salt Fork township. Mr. Smith was married December 18, 1823, to Miss Mary B. Sibley, daughter of Leonard and Judith Sibley, of Kentucky. They have twelve children, eight daughters and four sons, ten of whom are still living; one son having died at New Orleans on his way from the Mexican war, and one daughter dying in Kentucky. In 1821 Mr. Smith joined the Methodist Church South, of which he has now been a member sixty years, and is probably the only member of the church as it then was in Henry county, Kentucky, who is now living. He is now a member at Smith’s chapel, the church being named for himself and Dr. Crawford E. Smith in conjunction, they being the chief donators. In 1875 Mr. Smith married his second wife, Mrs. Elizabeth W. Campbell. He has had eighty grandchildren, fifty-eight of whom are living. All his children are members of the Methodist Church, the youngest, Gervas, being a minister of the church. Mr. Smith took no part in the war himself, but during the war a boy about sixteen years old came from the southwest with Col. Dorsey, and while he and another Confederate were at Mr. Smith’s trying to get something to eat, one morning, the militia came suddenly upon them; they rushed out the back way to escape, and one did escape, but the boy (whose name is thought to have been George W. Stafford,) was shot by the militia and killed, after he had thrown up his hands and exclaimed that he was a regular soldier under Gen. Marmaduke. Mr. Smith took a ring from the poor boy’s hand and a lock of hair from his head, which he still preserves for any one who may ever claim them. The sight of the boy’s violent death so shocked Miss Emma Smith that her mind was seriously affected.
