Johnson Franklin Smothers was born 8 March 1852 in southern Illinois, probably on or near his parent's farm in the northwest corner of Wayne County, which at that time was Brush Creek Township.  His parents, William Smothers and Martha E. Sullivan, had moved from middle Tennessee, where they were born and raised, to Wayne County, Illinois, soon after their marriage.  The exact time of their move is uncertain, but it must have occurred some time between 1850 and 1852.  They were part of a large group of Smothers families from Tennessee, all closely related, who moved into southern Illinois to homestead after the federal government opened up Indian lands for settlement in the early-to-mid 1800's.  Johnson Franklin Smothers, who went by both John and Frank during his lifetime, spent his childhood on his parent's farm in rural Illinois.  John F. had just one sibling, an adopted sister, Margaret, born 1864, who was twelve years his junior.  Nothing is known of Margaret's birth parents except their surname, Harris.  It seems she was orphaned and adopted at a young age, perhaps during the last years of the Civil War.

At some point during the Civil War (1861-1865) or a few years afterward, John F. and his parents appear to have moved into Clay County, Illinois, just north of Wayne County.  There is little known of their life in Clay County, other than an 1864 church document that lists William and "Louisa" Smothers as founding members of the Episcopal Church South congregation that organized in Xenia Township.

In 1872, the then 20-year-old John F. Smothers moved west to Missouri with his parents and sister, settling on a farm in Laclede County in the southwest section of the state, not far from the town of Lebanon.  The reasons behind the Smothers' move to Missouri are not known with certainty, but, like many settlers of that time, it is reasonable to assume they came as homesteaders hoping to find good farmland and a better life.  By the time the Smothers had moved into Missouri there already were a few pioneer families from Clay County, Illinois, living in Laclede County.  Three of these families in particular were probably known to the Smothers: the Furrs, Taliaferros, and Townsleys all were living in southwestern Clay County, near Xenia, Illinois, in the 1850's, and had moved to Missouri during the early 1860's.  These three families were related by marriage, and soon would become in-laws to the Smothers family.

John Frank Smothers married Clemma Furr in Dry Knob, Laclede County, Missouri, in 1875.  Clemma, born 23 May 1857 in Clay County, Illinois, was the daughter of Martha Taliaferro of Ohio and Johnson Furr of Kentucky.  Clemma's mother had three husbands in her lifetime.  The first husband, Jobe Barnett, died 1853 in Illinois.  Martha next married Clemma's father, Johnson Furr, 1854 in Clay County, and moved with him about 1860-61 from Illinois to Laclede County, Missouri.  Johnson Furr served the Confederate Army in Missouri during the Civil War. He died in 1865, shortly after the war ended.  According to family lore, Johnson was shot in the back, "bushwhacked" and killed for his southern sympathies.  In an irony common to the times, Martha Furr's brother, James T. Taliaferro, was a Captain in the United States (Union) Army -- and also a longtime resident of Laclede County.  In 1867 in Missouri, the widow Martha Taliaferro Furr married her third husband, Nelson Berry, who she probably knew from her days in Illinois.  Prior to the Civil War, Nelson Berry had lived in Clay County, Illinois, where he joined the Union Army in 1861.  He had a wife, Eliza Burris, and three children living in Illinois who he lost contact with during the war.  Nelson returned to Illinois in 1865 following his military service, but was unable to locate his wife.  Thinking Eliza had perhaps abandoned him, or died, Nelson filed for and obtained a divorce.  (As it turns out, Eliza Berry and her children had moved, apparently to Iowa, and they seem to have lived the rest of their lives not knowing what became of Nelson.)  It is not known whether Clemma's mother, Martha Taliaferro Furr, knew this detail about her third husband, Nelson Berry, or if they ever discoved the whereabouts of his first wife.  Nelson died in 1869, while Martha lived on as a widow for over 37 years, finally passing away herself in 1907 in Laclede County, Missouri, at age 85.

In 1875, John and Clemma Smothers began farming in Laclede County, where they lived for the next 20 years or so, not far from his parent's Missouri farm.  During this time, on top of fathering nine children, John F. decided to make a career change - or perhaps the decision was forced on him by economic circumstances.  At some point late in the 1890's, John F. began working full time as a carpenter, thus becoming the first Smothers in several generations to abandon farming.  None of John's descendants ever returned to farming as a way of life.

Sometime during 1896 to 1898, John F. moved his family off the farm and out of Laclede County to the mining town of Joplin, Jasper County, Missouri, where the 1900 census shows "Frank" Smothers employed as a carpenter.  It is very possible John F. also was a teamster, or wagon driver, hauling goods and supplies for the lead mines near Joplin.  John, Clemma, and most of their family stayed together in Joplin for about fifteen years.

Altogether, John and Clemma had ten children, with six growing to adulthood.  The oldest was Walter C., who died of tuberculosis as a young man, leaving a widow, Lizzie Adkisson Smothers, but  no children.  Then there was Maud Allie, Clarence Franklin, Mary, William Roy, and Irene Roberta Smothers, all of whom married and had children.  John and Clemma's children were born in Laclede County, Missouri, except for Irene, who was from Joplin, Missouri.  All except Walter and Irene have descendants now living.  Sons Clarence and Roy left Missouri sometime around 1900-1910 on an adventure to northern California, where they worked at lumber mills, making window sashes and the like.  Roy, who was still very young, soon returned to his family in Joplin, Missouri.  About 1910-1914, John and Clemma Smothers and their family moved from Missouri to Los Angeles County, California, where John and Clemma lived the rest of their days.  John went blind in his final years, possibly from glaucoma, as did his youngest daughter, Irene, in her old age.  John died 30 July 1941 and Clemma passed away 30 March 1950.  Both are buried in Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, Los Angeles County, California. Their many descendants are now found in California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, and Texas.
 

Written by William K. Smothers, Hockessin, Delaware, great grandson of Johnson Franklin Smothers & Clemma Furr.  Updated 7 November 2002.  Copyright ©2002 William K. Smothers, all rights reserved.  No part of this biography, text or graphics, may be copied or reproduced without the expressed written consent of the author, William K. Smothers.

Related biographical sketches: John's parents  William C. Smothers & Martha E. Sullivan  and John's son William Roy Smothers

Photographs: Click-on the thumbnail image at the top of this page!