Biography - BARNETT SMOCK
The name at the head of this sketch is that of a well-known minister of
the Baptist Church of this county, having had the pastorate of five churches
in this, Fayette, and Montgomery County, he has been an active church worker
for about twenty years, during this time having been engaged in helping to
organize new churches as well as in preaching the Gospel in the older ones.
As an Evangelist, he has a great power for good and many are the additions
to the various churches in which he has preached, attracted thither by his
work. Each year he has performed the sacred ordinance of baptism receiving
many into the churches.
Our subject began his career as a preacher in this county and was ordained
in 1875, Elders Kellev and Coffee officiating at his ordination. Recently he
has spent some time in the field of mission work and is an earnest laborer
in this direction. Aside from his church work, he of whom we write is a
successful general farmer located on the pleasant tract of land in Pickaway
Township, and having a well improved farm of two hundred and eight acres,
besides forty acres in Rural Township, and eighty acres in Flat Branch
Township. He has lived on his present farm for seven years, having moved
hither from Rural Township. He came to Illinois from Indiana in 1856.
The original of our sketch was born in Vigo County, six miles south of Terre
Haute, March 17, 1837. He was but a youth when his father moved across the
line to Sullivan County, where he was reared and educated. He comes of good
stock. His father was Abraham Smock, a native of Kentucky, and a son of
Henry Smock, who was a native of Germany. After our subject's grandfather
was grown, he was married in his native land to a German lady and soon after
marriage he and his wife emigrated to the United States in the days when
sailing vessels were used for transportation. They settled in Kentucky, near
Lexington, in the early part of the present century. The children were most
of them born in Kentucky. Henry Smock and wife with their family removed to
Indiana making their home in Sullivan County. This change was made in the
early part of the '30s. There the two secured a tract of land in the wilds
of the State. The farm which they pre-empted was new and of course had no
improvements. They were known in their day as large farmers, owning several
hundred acres. Here the parents lived and died, being regarded by neighbors
and acquaintances, as good people and successful pioneers. As before said,
the country was wholly undeveloped and there was an abundance of wild game.
They first beheld the land just after the Indians began to seek broader
hunting fields and before their deaths they beheld it a beautiful
agricultural region, with wide spreading fields of waving grain and dotted
with buildings that are the picture of comfort and serene content.
The grandparents died when old people, Henry Smock at the age of seventy,
his wife being seventy-six at the time of her decease. They were both
members of the New Light Church. Ten children encircled their hearthstone
and made merry the days, and light the work about the old homestead.
Abraham, the father of our subject, was one of the eldest of these. he grew
from boyhood into manhood in Sullivan County, and was all his life a farmer.
While a young man he was married in Vigo County, Ind., to Miss Mary Weeks.
The lady was born in Kentucky and was a daughter of J. Lewis and Susan E.
(Hampton) Weeks, both natives of Virginia and come of Scotch-Irish stock.
They were married in Virginia, and later went to Kentucky where they lived
near Louisville. After a time they removed to Vigo County, Ind., where they
were very early settlers. There Lewis Weeks died in the old home which he
had improved. At the time of his decease, he was about sixty-five years old.
His wife, who survived him many years, later came to her son, Alfred Weeks',
home, in Vermilion County, Ill., where she died in June, 1890. She was born
in 1790, and at the time of her death was within six months of being a
centenarian. Her mother before her had died at the age of ninety-four years.
Lewis Weeks and wife were all their lives members of the Baptist Church, as
were all the generations before them for years.
After a few years of married life. Abraham Smock with his family located on
a farm in Sullivan County, where they both finished their lives, the former
passing away in 1846. He was then in the prime of life, having been born in
1817. His wife lived for a good many years and died at the old homestead in
Sullivan County, in December, 1875. She was born in 1816. During the latter
part of her life she was a member of the Christian Church, but for many
years she and her husband were members of the New Light Church. Our subject
was carefully reared by his mother and step-father, he received a practical
education in the district schools, but feels that his greatest advantage was
gained by the light of the hickory fire, while bending over his books in the
chimney corner. Naturally of an ardent, thoughtful nature, he was a lover of
books and read carefully and thoughtfully.
When he of whom we write came to this State, he was yet a single man but
could not long resist the charms of the maidens in the Prairie State and was
married to Miss Delilah Casey in the township near where he now lives; she
is a second daughter of Judge John Casey who was for many years a prominent
man in the county, of whom a fuller history may he found under the
biographical sketch of Joseph Smock. Mrs. Smock was born on her father's
homestead in this county and township June 29, 1838. Here she has spent her
entire life and is known in the vicinity as a model mother, a kind, helpful
and generous neighbor and a noble woman. As a pioneer of the State she has a
large circle of acquaintances and stands high in their estimation and
affection. She, like her husband, is a Baptist in her religious belief.
Mr. Smock casts his vote and influence in favor of the Prohibition party.
Our subject and liis estimable wife are the parents of five children, two of
whom are deceased. One passed away in infancy. The other was named William
A. The living children are: Albert B.; Lydia A. and John C. Albert B. took
to wife Minnie F. Smith, and now resides on a farm in this township. Lydia
A., who is the light and life of the home, is a bright and intelligent young
lady. John C. helps his brother run the farm. Mr. Smock's family is one
notable for its intelligence and culture and the influence therefrom, is of
the best.
Extracted 17 Dec 2018 by Norma Hass from 1891 Portrait and Biographical Record of Shelby and Moultrie Counties Illinois, pages 554-556.
