Josiah "Si" Smith
Contributed by Karen Mitchell and Jean Griesan. Photo by Floyd Kelling.
Josiah “Si” Smith
Josiah “Si” Smith, one of the first permanent residents of Pueblo, was living in the county when the first census was taken. Smith was born September 2, 1829, in Dayton, Ohio, and came west in 1848. For the next ten years he lived in Wyoming, California, and Oregon. He returned to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1858. That same year he was with a party which located at the mouth of the Fountain where the old trail from Santa Fe to the Laramie plains crossed the Arkansas. The next Spring they planted crops; a party of disillusioned Missourians came along and tried to seize the crops to feed cattle. A pitched battle ensued and several Missourians were killed. Smith served as sheriff 1964 – 1865, was a deputy U.S. Marshall, was named Justice of the Peace in 1858 and served from time to time in the fall years. He was police judge in 1881. His occupation was given as stockraiser. He died October 22, 1904, at his home at 609 East Fifth Street.
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