Jim Smelser of Lilbourn, Missouri wrote in 1992, "We descend from Abraham through William J. Smelser. "Benjamin Franklin Smelser was born October 31, 1862. in Arkansas. He was my grandfather's father. He first appeared in the 1870 Greene County census living with John W. Smelser. He was classified as an orphan. In the 1880 census, Ben was listed as a nephew of John W.Smelser. I believe Ben was the son of William J. and Sarah Smelser. If you accept the census statements as truths, which genealogists do routinely, Ben must be their son. By using simple elimination, Ben could not be the son of John's sisters or his last name would not be Smelser, nor would he be an orphan in 1870. However, William J. and Sarah fit all the possibilities. They were named Smelser, their son would be John W.'s nephew, and they disappeared before the 1870 census- presumable dead-- making Ben an orphan. 1860 Greene Co., AR, Cache Twp., Walcott P.O., #221/215 Smelser, William J 26 m farmer $120/613 KY Sarah 26 f kh AR Dovey J 1 dau AR John W. and William J. were both in Company D of the Davies Battalion of the Arkansas Cavalry for the Confederate Army during the Civil War. It is documented that John W. rode with Major General Sterling Price on his ill-fated fraid into Missouri to take the state from Union control. (Goodspeed, p. 169) Since William J. was in the same company, he probably did, also. They both appear on a muster of prisoners of war belonging to the Army of Northern Arkansas, commanded by General Jeff Thompson, CSA, who surrendered on May 11, 1865, to Major General G. M. Dodge, USA, and were paroled at Wittsburg, Arkansas, on May 25, 1865.
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