Biography of J B Smith, Clay Co, AR

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From: 
The Goodspeed Biographical and Historical Memoirs of N. E. Ark.
Biographical Information.

J. B. Smith is a planter and stockman of Kilgore Township, Clay County. It is a
remarkable fact that the majority of those men of Kentucky birth, who have
become residents of Clay County, have been peculiarly successful in the
accumulation of worldly goods, and are considered superior farmers, and Mr.
Smith is but another example of this truth. He was born in Calloway County, Ky.,
September 14, 1849, his parents, Gabriel and Agnes (Shotwell) Smith, being
natives of Kentucky and Ohio, respectively. The father was an honest tiller of
the soil, and remained in the State of his birth until 1861, when he removed to
Randolph County, Ark. (now Clay County), and opened a farm in Cache Township, on
which he resided until his death in 1881, followed by his excellent widow two
years later. Jasper B. Smith, the subject of this sketch, was brought up as a
farmer's boy, and has ever devoted himself to that calling, and with a
perseverance and industry which could not fail of favorable results. At the age
of twenty years he began depending on his own resources to obtain a livelihood,
and made his first purchase of land in 1875, which consisted of eighty acres
near Black River. This farm he improved greatly, then sold it and bought his
present farm of 160 acres, seventy being under cultivation, and forty of that
being devoted to the culture of cotton. His attractive farm is especially fitted
for the raising of stock, which occupation receives a fair portion of his
attention, and his out buildings are all in excellent condition. He has always
voted the Democratic ticket, and socially is a member of the Orient Lodge, at
Corning, and the Agricultural Wheel. He was married in Arkansas on the 14th of
March, 1869, to Miss Harriet Pitcock, a native of Tennessee, whose parents moved
to Arkansas during the war; by her he is the father of these children: Nancy
Ella (Mrs. Park), William Hastings, James Caswell, Marcus Vain, Bert, Enola,
Ernest and Joseph G. and Elgin Eugene, both of whom died at the age of one year.
Mr. Smith received poor school advantages in his youth, but knowing the value of
a good education has given his children excellent opportunities for acquiring
learning. He and wife are members of the Missionary Baptist Church. He has been
remarkably healthy, never having had to call a physician on his own account.