William Smeathers

William Smeathers ( 1767 – August 13, 1837), also known as Smithers or Smothers, was a pioneer settler of Kentucky and later Texas.

Not much is known about his early days. He is believed to have been born in either Pennsylvania, Virginia or North Carolina. He may have been born as early as 1759 or as late as 1767. In 1797 or 1798 he built a home on the Ohio River, at a site that became known as Yellow Banks, becoming the first settler in what is now Owensboro, Kentucky. Smeathers served on first grand jury of Court of Quarter Sessions at Hartford, 1803. In 1808 he was appointed land commissioner of Ohio County. In 1809 he was tried for murder (under the name Bill Smothers ) for killing a man who had allegedly raped his sister. He was acquitted but was advised to leave the area temporarily for his own safety.

Texas He reportedly visited Texas (then under Spanish rule) in 1810, and at some point he seems to have lived in Indiana. Kentucky Historical Marker #1548 in Hartford, Kentucky, (Ohio County) honors Smeathers for his contribution in helping erect a fort there and at Vienna (later Calhoun in McLean County). It is reported that a lake in Texas was named for him;