The son of pioneer settlers Edmond and Catherine Smothers of North Carolina, William C. Smothers was born in middle Tennessee in 1825, probably on his parent's farm in eastern Sumner County near Goose Creek, a tributary of the Cumberland River.  In 1848, this eastern section of Sumner County joined with western Smith County to become Macon County, which is where William C. Smothers and family were located for the 1850 census.  Goose Creek itself has three forks that cover a fairly large watershed.  The western fork, now known as Little Goose Creek, flows south from headwaters near "The Ridge" in Macon County into Trousdale County, Tennessee, where it passes through the town of Hartsville before joining with the eastern fork.  Goose Creek then empties into the Cumberland River southeast of Hartsville.  The center fork of Goose Creek runs south from its headwaters near Gap in the Ridge, Macon County, to join the eastern fork, which has its own headwaters located southwest of the town of Lafayette, Macon County.  Exactly where William Smothers' parents lived along Goose Creek  is not known.  Pre-1825 Sumner County tax lists show his father, Edmond Smothers, owned property on Goose Creek, but the records are no more specific than that.  Later 1840 Sumner County scholastic population records show Edmond Smothers was living in (then) District 15, which was located north of and just across "The Ridge" from Goose Creek, near Trammel Creek in current day Macon County.

William's future wife, Martha E. Sullivan, was born 1832 in nearby Nashville, Tennessee.  Her parents are thought to have been Isaac and Margaret Sullivan.  Martha probably lived her childhood near William in either Sumner or Smith County, Tennessee.  Soon after their marriage in 1849, William and Martha emigrated north out of Tennessee to homestead in southern Illinois, where they farmed alongside William's parents and his four brothers, Elihu, Peter, John, and Enoch Smothers in Wayne County, Brush Creek Township.  William is believed to have had three sisters, Elizabeth Smothers Hammack, Susan Smothers Vaughn and Rebecca Ann Smothers Copelin, who all settled in Wayne County, Illinois, with their husbands about 1850-55.  William and Martha had just one natural child, a son, Johnson Franklin Smothers, who was born 1852 in Illinois.  They also raised an adopted daughter, Margaret Emaline Harris Smothers, who was born 1864 in either Indiana or Illinois.

In early April 1865, near the end of the Civil War, William was drafted into the U.S. Army, 53rd Illinois Infantry Regiment, from Wayne County and underwent training at Camp Butler near Springfield, Illinois.  Civil War Pension papers filed in 1901 by his widow, Martha, suggest William became ill while in military training, and that as a result he was in poor health for much of his later life.  His service records show he was officially discharged from active duty on May 8, 1865, without ever having left Camp Butler in Illinois.  Martha claims in her pension application that William was kept in the military until June 1, 1865, and that he contracted a cough that lasted many months after his discharge.  Her 1901 pension application was denied January 9, 1902, for the reasons that William had served less than 90 days and because there was not sufficient evidence to prove that he suffered injury in the service that led to his eventual death.  Martha, obviously a very persistent and literate woman, pursued her application with the United States Pension Office for nearly fifteen years.  Her last appeal by letter dated October 20, 1915, was officially rejected by the Pension Office on November 17, 1916.  Although Martha's efforts did not achieve her desired result, the resulting pension application file did create a valuable written legacy for future generations.  Her pension file, now at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., has several letters from Martha in her own hand, an affidavit from her son John F. Smothers with his signature, as well as documentation of her true maiden name, Sullivan, and her marriage to William Smothers.  Interestingly, the pension file includes affidavits dated in 1901 by two women from Macon County, Tennessee, Margaret Ann Wix and Mary J. Wix, who are thought to have been Martha's sisters (maiden name Sullivan).

Some time during the Civil War or shortly afterward, William and Martha seem to have left Wayne County and moved a few miles north to Clay County, Illinois, near the town of Xenia, where surviving church documents record their presence.  Then, in 1872, William, his wife Martha, son John F., and adopted daughter Margaret moved west from Illinois to Laclede County, Missouri, and settled on farmland near the town of Lebanon.  William and Martha worked their Missouri farm together for almost thirty years, with Martha managing the farm on her own after William's death from pneumonia in 1900 at age 75.  Martha "retired" from farming shortly after 1910 and lived out her remaining years in Lebanon in the home of her daughter and son-in-law, Margaret and Charles Edward Windsor.  Martha passed away in 1928 at age 93.  William and Martha are buried beside each other in Antioch Cemetery, Oakland, Laclede County, Missouri.

In addition to being pioneer farmers, William and Martha were founding members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South congregation that organized 1864 in Clay County, Illinois.  After moving to Missouri, Martha was active as a charter member of Lebanon's M. E. Church South.  She also was very involved with the Women's Christian Temperance Union in Lebanon.  No photographs of William or Martha have been located by the author; but one of their tombstone accompanies this biography (kindly supplied by Noah Smothers of Lebanon, Missouri).
 

Written by William K. Smothers, Hockessin, Delaware; great, great grandson of William C. & Martha Sullivan Smothers. Updated 13 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: Johnson Franklin Smothers & Clemma Furr