Smith - David - 1889
Source: Crawfordsville Review,11 May 1889
David Smith, the venerable old colored man, claiming to be 101 years of age in March last, died at his home on the Lafayette pike, north of the Sperry mill on Saturday last. David was known to many of our citizens, having come to this county at the close of the war with some soldiers of an Indiana regiment. He followed the business of house cleaning, gardening and such occupations, and was always industrious, good natured and pleasant in his address. Regarding his claim to the great age of over 100 years, there were none to dispute it, although some doubted it. He has frequently asserted that when a young man, of adult age, at work in Kentucky, he witnessed the return of many of the soldiers to Kentucky from the battle of Tippecanoe, in the autumn of 1811. If correct this would make his age about what he claimed it to be. In early life he was a slave, and was sold in New Orleans to a man who took him to Kentucky, where he remained until coming to Indiana. He leaves a wife, an aged woman, as the only tenant of the home he has heretofore occupied. - transcribed by Kim H