The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 14, July 1910 - April, 1911 Page: 25
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Reminiscences of Henry Smith.
graphical sketch-not by way of writing my life, a matter in which
neither you nor the world would feel any interest, but for the pur-
pose of making comparisons, and shewing when and from whence
I came to Texas. In doing this I will only trace back to the old
dominion. *
My father James Smith emmigrated from Bedford County
Virginia at a very early period, and joined company with Col.
Daniel Boone, the great pioneer of the west, on his second trip
to the wilds of Kentucky where he settled with his family at a place
called Smiths Station [in what is] now Garrard County, where
he secured by his early introduction what was then termed a set-
tlement and preemption right and at which place lie reared a large
family and died when I was about nine years of age. At that
place I was born on the 20th of May 1788, was the youngest son,
and was afforded such opportunities in my course of education as
the situation and newness of the country would at that time per-
mit, which by the by were quite limited, until I arrived to the age
of 17 years, from that time I was engaged in various business pur-
suits and traveling, exploring new countries etc until about the
close of the war [of 1812]. In the fall of the year [18] 15 I re-
moved to Missouri, which was then a Territory, and there I had
to suffer all the privations and inconveniences incident to new and
wilderness countries, which it is unnecessary to enumerate, for it
was proverbially called the land of milk and honey, and does realy
in some degree deserve the appellation. Though many seemed de-
lighted and pleased with the country, I must frankly acknowledge
I never was. I had many faults to find, lived in various parts of
it, and finally settled near a little Town called Chariton, in the
upper part of Howard County, where I lived for several years. I
would here remark that previous to my emmigration to Missouri
and during my residence there, I had traveled over a great part of
Alabama, the Western District of Tennessee Arkansas Illinois, In-
diana and in fact very nearly all the new countries that were then
open for settlement, and was finally brought to this conclusion-
that a man born and raised in the part of Kentucky that I was,
would be very hard to please in any new country, that was then
within my knowledge or at least which I had visited.
In the course of my rambles I had heard something said about
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 14, July 1910 - April, 1911, periodical, 1911; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101054/m1/33/?rotate=90: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.