Volony Volk Smith

SMITH

Posted By: Fran Hunt, Volunteer
Date: 10/6/2001 at 09:36:51

From the Portrait and Biographical Album of Jefferson and Van Buren Counties – 1890
VOLONY VOLK SMITH
Volony Volk Smith was born in New York, and removed with his parents to Keosauqua Iowa in 1846. Here he attended school until his father went to the Pacific Coast settling in Linn County Oregon, in 1852, Volony going with him. He continued his studies in the schools of Oregon until the spring of 1861, when he was appointed to a scholarship in West Point, for which place he left Oregon by steamer, arriving in New York City only to find that he had been superseded by another appointment, caused by a change in the administration; and the death of his father in 1860, leaving him without an adviser, he was thrown upon his own resources. Being now about twenty-one years of age, he decided to enter the United States service as a volunteer in the War of the Rebellion. He enlisted in a New York regiment, and served until the close of the war, when he was appointed to a position in the Freedman’s Bureau, in the state of Arkansas, for two or three terms and was elected Lieutenant Governor of the State, on the ticket with Clayton as governor, at the time of the adoption of the new Constitution of Arkansas. Clayton was elected United States Senator, but Mr. Smith failed to succeed him as Governor, owing to some technicality in the constitution in regard to succession in office. Considerable trouble arose over the matter, and Volony was compelled to leave the State for safety. He was appointed by General Grant as Consul to the Isle of St Thomas, which position he filled for three or four years, after which he returned to Arkansas, and has since resided there, filling many important offices both in the county and state. He was married in the state of New York about 1866 or ’67. In politics he was in early life a Democrat, but in after years he told the writer that he was a Republican by force of circumstances. He was a very good speaker, and was admitted to the bar as a lawyer while clerk of the courts in Arkansas.
I am not related, and am only copying this for the information of those who might find this person in their family.