Our Origins - the Family Histories of Craig Fullerton and Celine Amoyal
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George Smyth
(ca. 1817-1861)
Rebecca Corneille
(ca. 1820-1907)

John Corneille Smith
(1845-1914)

 

Family Links

Spouses/Children:
1. Elizabeth Cadzow

John Corneille Smith

  • Born: 18 Oct 1845, Clarina, Limerick, Munster, Ireland
  • Christened: 9 Nov 1845, Kilkeedy Parish, Limerick, Ireland
  • Marriage (1): Elizabeth Cadzow on 15 Jun 1870 in St Peters Church, Moolen, St Arnaud, Victoria, Australia
  • Died: 21 Jun 1914, St Arnaud, Victoria, Australia at age 68
  • Buried: 24 Jun 1914, St Arnaud Cemetery, St Arnaud, Victoria, Australia

bullet   Cause of his death was Heart Failure.

bullet   Another name for John was John Corneille Smyth.

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bullet  General Notes:

John apparently fought in the American Civil War. His story is told at the American Civil War Veterans website: http://www.acwv.info/1-files-veterans-S/smith-john-A.htm

John C. Smith was born in the year 1828 in Limerick County, Ireland to parents George Smith and Rebecca Corneille. After migrating to the United States he enlisted in the Confederate State Army at Houston, Florida on April 21, 1861. On January 16, 1862 John reenlisted in a new unit, Company B, 1st Florida Infantry. He was subsequently wounded at Murfreesboro on January 2, 1863 and never returned to duty, being dropped from military rolls after April 1863.

The original Old 1st Florida Infantry was organized at the Chattahoochee Arsenal on April 5, 1861 for 12 months service. It was the first Florida unit organized for Confederate service. Eight of the companies were raised in the Florida panhandle, from Tallahassee to Madison, while two came from Alachua County in central-northern Florida. It failed at reorganization in February 1862 and its men reenlisted, organized into four companies as the 1st Infantry Battalion, known as McDonell's Battalion, in February 1862 and served with distinction at Shiloh in April, 1862. It was composed of two companies from Leon County, two companies from Alachua and one each from Franklin, Jackson, Madison, Gadsen, Jefferson and Escambia counties. These companies, with the exception of Company K, the Pensacola Guards, which was from Escambia County, all rendezvoused at the Chattahoochee arsenal where they went into a Camp of Instruction. There, on April 5, 1861, it was mustered into the military service of the Confederate States for twelve months, and was organized by the election of Captain James Patton Anderson of Jefferson County as Colonel; William K. Beard of Leon County as Lieutenant Colonel and Thadeus MacDonell of Alachua County as Major. Upon the completion of the organization of the regiment it was ordered to Pensacola where it arrived on April 12, 1861 and was joined there by Company K. Like all regiments mustered in the early days of 1861, it enlisted for twelve months and served almost its entire term in Pensacola and in that vicinity.

Its assignments included the Department of West Florida from April - October 1861, the Department of Alabama and West Florida in October 1861 and the Army of Pensacola, Department of Alabama and West Florida from October 1861 through February 1862 and participated in the Battle of Santa Rosa Island on October 9, 1861. After Shiloh, McDonell's Battalion was consolidated with the newly recruited 1st Florida Battalion to form the New 1st Florida Infantry Regiment, which served in the Western Theatre for the rest of the war. Late in 1862, the 1st and 3rd Florida Infantry regiments were consolidated, and in the final weeks of the war, all of the Florida troops from the Army of Tennessee, then serving in North Carolina, were grouped into the 1st Florida Consolidated Regiment, which surrendered at Durham Station on April 26, 1865.

After the war John migrated to Australia and in 1870 married Eliza Cadzow; and their children born at St. Arnaud, Victoria include Margaret, born in 1871, Lizzie born in 1874, Jno Corneille born in 1876, Thomas Cadzow born in 1878, Ethel born in 1880, Alice Proben born in 1883 and Mabel born in 1886;

John C. Smith died of heart failure in 1914 at the age of sixty-seven and after an Inquest, on June 22, 1914, was buried in the St Arnaud Cemetery, Victoria.
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There is some inconsistency with his birth year as it is recorded as 1828 when it was actually 1845. His Australian marriage and death records suggest a year of ca. 1846. Perhaps he lied about his age to enlist. The year of his enlistment - 1861 - is perhaps of some relevance: it was in January of that year that his father died and perhaps the 16 year old John left after that for the US. One account suggests he joined the gold rush in the Klondike.

John's obituary, published on Wednesday 24 June 1914 in the St Arnaud Mercury was glowing in it's tribute to John. Headed "Death of Cr. J.C. Smith J.P An Honourable Career" and taking one and a half columns the obituary records that John was born in Limerick, Ireland in 1848. He worked as a young man in his uncle's wine and spirit merchant business in Dublin before heading off to the US "where he took an active part for a lengthy period in the war of that country". After the Civil War he moved to Florida where he was the Overseer of a large number of employees engaged in building Forts. In Florida he contracted Yellow Fever and as a consequence returned home to Ireland. After a period back home he decided to emigrate to Australia, arriving in Melbourne in 1866. After a short stay in Melbourne he went to St. Arnaud where he married Elizabeth "eldest daughter of the late Mr John Cadzow, one of the earliest residents of the district". At one stage John was employed at the Silvermines, of which he later became Manager. He lived in the town until 1876 when he selected land at Gowar East.

John became a Shire Councillor in the St. Arnaud Shire and it's successor the Kara Kara Shire (1884). He was described as the "father of the Kara Kara Shire Council".

The Argus newspaper in Melbourne reported on 28 November 1914, page 20, that John left an Estate value at £4,388 in "real property" and £2,038 "personally" which had been bequeathed to his widow and children.

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bullet  Noted events in his life were:

• He worked as a Mining Manager at the time of his marriage on 15 Jun 1870 in St Arnaud, Victoria, Australia.


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John married Elizabeth Cadzow, daughter of John McLean Cadzow and Jane Provan, on 15 Jun 1870 in St Peters Church, Moolen, St Arnaud, Victoria, Australia. (Elizabeth Cadzow was born on 5 Apr 1853 in Whitburn, Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland, died in 1932 in Ivanhoe, Victoria, Australia and was buried in 1932 in St Arnaud Cemetery, St Arnaud, Victoria, Australia.)


bullet  Marriage Notes:

Witnesses were John McLean Cadzow, Elizabeth's father; Jenny Smead and Ellen Smead.

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