Joseph Smith (1815 - 1891)

Born 22 Jun 1815 in Clermont County, Ohio, USA

Ancestors

Died 30 Sep 1891 at age 76 in Williamsburg, Clermont County, Ohio, USA

Biography

• Fact: Burial Williamsburg Cemetery , Williamsburg, Clermont County, Ohio, USA

Joseph Smith, Jr., the sixth child and third son, married Mary Fletcher, who died leaving Phoebe and Hannah Louisa. Phoebe married Tolcot and moved to Iowa, where she died, leaving two children. Hannah Louisa, living in Quincy, Ill., married William Wires, who was unfortunately killed in 1897. On Sept. 18, 1844, Joseph Smith, Jr., was married to Melinda G. Medaris, born Jul. 5, 1822, a daughter of Charles and Lydia Gest Medaris. Charles was a son of Malachi Medaris, who was born in Maryland in 1777, of Irish parentage. He married in 1797 and moved to North Carolina the next year, where Charles and Shadrach were born. In 1803 he joined a colony for Ohio, crossing the mountains to Pittsburgh and thence with the cattle by Zane's and Donnell's Traces, and the women and children, on ark's down the river. Their settlement, made near Olive Branch, was the home till 1818, when another was taken below Batavia. Lydia Gest, born Feb.27, 1801, near Batavia, was a daughter of Enoch and Ida Gest, among the earliest of the early pioneers of Enoch and Ida Gest, among the earliest of the early pioneers from Kentucky to that vicinity. The children of Charles and Lydia Gest Medaris were: Melinda; Elliot; Paulina, married to James Roudebush; Enoch, married to Sarah, a sister of Governor John M. Pattison; Emma; and Dr. Leonidas H., married to Ella Roudebush. After the death of Lydia, May 28, 1860, Charles married Phoebe Hill, whose two children were Elmer, and Louisa married to Edwin T. Ely. On the partition of his father's estate, the farm was bought by David Meek and Joseph, Jr., the latter taking the northern part, which he sold in 1844, and then bought the fine tract on the east bank of the East Fork and south of the Jackson pike. On that farm all the children of his wife, Melinda, were born and lived until the home for well earned retirement was fixed in 1871 on Front street in Williamsburg, from which the large farm was directed, while another was bought on lower Crane Run. Joseph Smith, Jr., died Sept. 30, 1891, and Melinda G. Smith, Sept. 28, 1894. They were excellent examples of an energetic, industrious and successful farm life that gained fine respect. They had thirteen children. Charles Elliott, born June 9, 1845, married Ruth Moorehead, a sister of E. S. Moorehead, elsewhere sketched. Francina Isabel, born Aug. 2, 1847, married Thomas W. Moorehead, a soldier for the Union in Company K, Twenty-seventh Ohio. He was a brother of E. S. Moorehead above mentioned. Mr. Moorehead died Apr. 9, 1902. Lydia M., born Dec. 18, 1848, died in infancy. Mary Emma, born Mar. 15, 1850, married John Leir. They live in Williamsburg. Amanda, born Jan. 28, 1852, died in infancy. Joseph Harvey. Oizella, born Nov. 20k, 1855, married Francis T. Weaver, and died May 8, 1910, leaving four children. Ida Gest, born Aug. 25, 1857, married Al. K. Peterson, and died Jan. 31, 1881. Their children died young. Cora, born Apr. 9, 1859, married Robert R. Kain. Lillette May, born Apr. 3, 1861, married Millard F. Peterson, and, after his death, married Francis T. Weaver. They live in Williamsburg. Leonidas Byron. Dennis Howard, born Feb. 14, 1865, married Margaret M. Smith, a niece of Mrs. Joseph Harvey Smith. They live in his parents' old home in Williamsburg. Theodosia, born May 20, 1869, married George Kain. Robert L. and George Kain are son of Henry C. Kain, elsewhere mentioned, and they live in Long Beach, Cal.

Sources

• HISTORY OF CLERMONT AND BROWN COUNTIES, OHIO, VOLUME II. 1913
• Joseph Smith, Jr (1815-1891) on Find A Grave: Memorial #52880475 retrieved 11 August 2018