Antique Rifle by Henry Smith

contemporary bag, horn and knife by Charlie Brown

Henry Smith Alabama Gun Maker

Born July 28, 1796 in Tennessee

Died 1878 in Etna Beat 3, Smith County, Texas

When Henry Smith was born on July 28, 1795, in Tennessee, his father, Josiah, was 13 and his mother, Ann, was 13. He married Mary "Polly" Ashford in Tyler, Texas. They had six children in 19 years. He died in 1878 in Smith, Texas, having lived a long life of 83 years, and was buried in Gresham, Texas.

1796

Tennessee

Born July 28, 1796

1823

District 4, Limestone County, Alabama*

Constable Age 27

Commissioned March 3, 1823

1843

District 4, Limestone County, Alabama

Justice Of The Peace Age 47

Commissioned June 8, 1843

1850

District 4, Limestone County, Alabama

Gun Maker Age 54

1870

Etna Beat 3, Smith County, Texas**

Blind Age 74

1878

Etna Beat 3, Smith County, Texas

Deceased Age 82

*Limestone County was created on Feb. 6, 1818 from lands ceeded in the Cherokee and Chickasaw Cession of 1806 and 1816. It was formed from land comprising Elk County that was created on May 24, 1817.

**Etna was first settled by immigrants from the Old South around the time of the Civil War. A local post office was established in 1867 and by the early 1880s the town possessed a dry good store, a district school, a church, a gristmill, a blacksmith, and several general stores. The settlement began to decline by the mid-1880s after the Kansas and Gulf Short Line Railroad bypassed Etna.

Rifle photography by Jan Riser.