Charles Edward Smith, M. D., who for many years was
one of the most prominent medical practitioners in Macoupin County, and
whose name still bears weight in the profession he adorned so long, although
since 1902 he has been retired from active service, is one of the most
highly esteemed citizens of Palmyra. Dr. Smith comes of professional
ancestry, and was born in 1829, at Catskill, New York, and is a son of Rev.
Carlos and Susan (Saxon) Smith, and a grandson of Rev. Ethan Smith, a noted
Presbyterian divine of Vermont.
Rev. Carlos Smith, like his father,
became a distinguished minister in the Presbyterian Church. He graduated
from Union College and served in charges in New York until 1836, when he
removed with his family to Painesville, Ohio. After a long and useful life
he died in 1877 at Akron, where he was survived by his widow until 1889.
Dr. Smith was reared in an intellectual atmosphere. He was primarily
educated at Painesville, and then went to the Western Reserve College at
Hudson. While his ambition and inclination did not lead him in the direction
of the ministry, they did incline him toward a professional life, and he
began to teach school and also study the elements of the science of
medicine, almost as soon as his collegiate career closed. Circumstances led
him to locate in Mississippi, where he remained from 1849 to 1854, engaged
in teaching. He then entered Rush Medical College, at Chicago, where he
attended lectures in the class of 1854-55. Dr. Smith located for two years
at Palmyra, and then removed to Nil wood, but in 1879 returned to Palmyra,
where he has resided ever since. After 20 years of arduous practice at
Palmyra, and upon recovery from a serious illness brought on by devotion to
the calls of his profession. Dr. Smith decided to retire from active work.
His people were so loath to give him up, that he delayed his actual and
final retirement until 1902, making his last professional call in the
country, in October of that year. The old ties, so close between patient and
beloved and trusted physician, were hard to break. There were many homes in
Palmyra and vicinity into which no physician other than Dr. Smith had been
called, during the whole term of his professional service.
Dr. Smith
was married in 1855 to Jane Gardner, who was a daughter of W. B. Gardner, a
well known farmer of Palmyra. They had a family of eight children, viz:
Susan H., who married Samuel L. Smith, now of Santa Rosa, California, and
they have these children, — Charles P., Ralph R., Grace, Wendell, D. W.,
John Dewitt, Melvin Roy and Hope; Helen, who died at the age of four years;
Harriet, who died at the age of 23 years; Mary, who married John C. O'
Conner, a railroad man living at Pomona, California, and they have these
children — Charles William, Nettie Gertrude, Mary C, Harriet and John
Lyndon; Carlos, who died at Nilwood, aged four years; Grace, born in 1867,
who died in 1888; Lyndon Edward, who died in 1883, aged 13 years; and Lucy
Gertrude, who resides in Tuolumne County, California. Dr. Smith has suffered
many bereavements, in which he has had the sympathy of the whole community.
The mother of these children died in March, 1885.
In 1892 Dr. Smith
married Martha Solomon, who is a daughter of Judge Lewis and Nancy (Fink)
Solomon. Judge Solomon was one of the most prominent men of Macoupin County
for a number of years, and at the time of his. death was one of the oldest
residents. He was born April 1, 1812, in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, and
was a son of Lewis and Sarah (Bowden) Solomon; the latter was a daughter of
John Bowden, a prominent, citizen of Franklin County, North Carolina, who
belonged to Marion's gallant band of patriots, noted during the
Revolutionary War. In 1825 Lewis Solomon, the father of Mrs. Smith,
accompanied his father to Morgan County, Illinois, and in 1827 came to
Macoupin County. In 1832 he served three months in the Black Hawk War, under
Capt. John Harris. He settled as a farmer in North Palmyra township, but was
continually called upon to serve his fellow citizens in positions of trust
and responsibility. In 1852 he was elected to the State Legislature; from
1857 to 1861, he served as county judge, at the close of this term being
elected a member of the Constitutional Convention. In 1870, he was elected
to the State Senate from the North Palmyra district and served his
constituency with wisdom and honor. A Mason of high degree, he was interred
with the ceremonies of the order.
Dr. Smith is a member of the local
medical organizations, and has been a Free Mason since 1851. In religious
belief he is a Methodist.
Extracted 2018 May 08 by Norma Hass from Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Macoupin County, Illinois, published in 1904, pages 284-286.
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