Son of William W. and Charity Smith. Brother of Balaam Smith. Married Catherine Smith in Franklin County, MS on January 20, 1852. During the Civil War, he enlisted at Brookhaven in the 1st Mississippi Light Artillery, AKA Withers Light Artillery Battery, Company K, Captain Abby's Company. On his Louisiana Pension request, he claims he lost part of his hearing at the Battle of Port Hudson when a shell exploded near him. According to the book "Post Hospital Ledger, Port Hudson, Louisiana, 1862 - 1863", on March 19, 1863, he was admitted to the hospital for diarrhea and sent to the Woodville (MS) hospital March 20, 1863. He also claimed to have rheumatism because of his service. He was the father of seven children: Bianca, Margaret, Balem, William, John, Everett (known as Ed in Texas) and Dennett. According to his pension, he and his family moved to Catahoula Parish in the spring of 1870. William became actively involved in Pine Grove Baptist Church and was elected an early Deacon of the church. His wife Catherine died sometime after the 1880 census and he remarried, but his second wife's name is unknown at this time. (See his Louisiana Pension request) His exact date of death is unknown, but it happened before 1910. Some Ancestry.com family trees state sometime in 1906. A distant cousin quoted a family story that states William took off on a horse for Texas and was never seen again. No marker can be found in the cemetery for him. There is room by his first wife and youngest son Dennett for his grave in Pine Grove and five of his seven children (as well as numerous descendants) are buried in this cemetery so it is naturally assumed he is buried there as well. It is hoped in the near future that a military marker can be provided for him.