{"id":343,"date":"2018-07-11T10:06:22","date_gmt":"2018-07-11T15:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/?page_id=343"},"modified":"2026-01-15T15:47:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T21:47:19","slug":"joseph-smothers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/joseph-smothers\/","title":{"rendered":"Joseph S. Smothers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-344\" src=\"http:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/smothers.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"281\" height=\"401\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/smothers.png 281w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/smothers-210x300.png 210w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 281px) 100vw, 281px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Joseph S. Smothers (Claiborne County)<\/h2>\n<p><strong>State House:\u00a0<\/strong>1872-1876<\/p>\n<p><strong>Born:<\/strong> 1817 in Lexington, KY<br \/>\n<strong>Died:<\/strong> January 28, 1891 in Port Gibson, MS<\/p>\n<p>Baptist Minister.\u00a0 His epitaph says he was the pastor of the First Baptist Church (Col) of Port Gibson for 27 years. Vice president of the Colored Baptist Missionary Convention. Listed as &#8220;John Smothers&#8221; on the 1870 census with wife Frances and daughters. Listed on the 1880 census in Claiborne County with wife Milly Watkins (m. 1872) and several children. Though his estimated birth year on the 1880 census is 1830, he was 55 on the 1870 census, and his headstone says he was born in 1817.<\/p>\n<p>He died in 1891, and his grave is marked by an obelisk in Golden West Cemetery. By 1900, Milly had remarried a William Booze.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Links:<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.findagrave.com\/memorial\/182649932\/joseph-s-smothers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Memorial on Find A Grave<\/a><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4738\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4738\" style=\"width: 429px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4738\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/smothers.png\" alt=\"Signature of Joseph Smothers\" width=\"429\" height=\"106\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/smothers.png 429w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/smothers-300x74.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 429px) 100vw, 429px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4738\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Signature of Joseph Smothers from an 1874 petition to Governor Ames<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4751\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4751\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/r-chrismas\/petition-3\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4751\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-4751\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/petition-150x150.png\" alt=\"Petition to Governor Ames, Feb 2, 1874\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/petition-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/petition-100x100.png 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4751\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Petition to Governor Ames, Feb 2, 1874<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5928\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5928\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/a-a-rogers\/the_weekly_mississippi_pilot_1875_02_20_page_2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5928\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5928\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/The_Weekly_Mississippi_Pilot_1875_02_20_Page_2-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Weekly Mississippi Pilot, February 20, 1875\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/The_Weekly_Mississippi_Pilot_1875_02_20_Page_2-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/The_Weekly_Mississippi_Pilot_1875_02_20_Page_2-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5928\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Weekly Mississippi Pilot, Feb 20, 1875<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2278\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2278\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/joseph-smothers\/smothers2\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2278 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/smothers2-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/smothers2-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/smothers2-100x100.png 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2278\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vicksburg Evening Post, July 21, 1885<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2276\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2276\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/joseph-smothers\/smothers-2\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2276 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/smothers-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/smothers-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/smothers-100x100.png 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2276\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vicksburg Herald, July 29, 1886<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joseph S. Smothers (Claiborne County) State House:\u00a01872-1876 Born: 1817 in Lexington, KY Died: January 28, 1891 in Port Gibson, MS Baptist Minister.\u00a0 His epitaph says he was the pastor of the First Baptist Church (Col) of Port Gibson for 27 years. Vice president of the Colored Baptist Missionary Convention. Listed as &#8220;John Smothers&#8221; on the &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/joseph-smothers\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Joseph S. Smothers&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":53,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"no","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-343","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6035,"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/343\/revisions\/6035"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}