T. Smith and Martha Bromley

T. Smith Bromley, son of Samuel and Sarah Bromley, was born August 9, 1831.  He came to Richland (later named Brinker) in 1845 with his parents and siblings Nancy, Eliza, Phebe, Virginia, Mary, Frank, Samuel, and Sarah.  They were the first permanent settlers of the community.  His sister Rosanna and her husband, Ferdinand Carroll, came with them and settled Como, originally called Carroll’s Prairie.  Tolbert Smith served as a second lieutenant in the Civil War.  His brother Sam, who has a marker in our cemetery, died during the war and was buried in a mass grave at Camp Nelson, Arkansas.  Two other siblings, Williamson and Nancy, did not come with the family, although Nancy came later.  Smith died March 4, 1891.  His wife, Martha, was the daughter of T. W. and Mary Farler Thompson.  She was born August 9, 1842, and died August 25, 1925.  They had six children:  Frank, Mary, Clarence, Fannie, Myrtie, and Celestia.  Frank married Jennie Masters, daughter of William J. and Martha Richey Masters.  Mary married Orville Payne.  Fannie married Allen Brinker.   Myrtie and Celestia married cousins.  Myrtie’s husband was Buster Matthews, and Celestia’s husband was Charlie Mathews.