Cornelius Smith entered the world on April 7, 1794, in the rolling hills of upstate New York. The young nation was still in its infancy, and Cornelius grew up amid the echoes of the Revolutionary War and the promise of a country finding its footing. His boyhood was likely spent among fields and farms in Paris Township, Oneida County, where the Smith name appeared frequently on early census rolls.

Hulda Austin, his future wife, was born three years later, on Nov 5, 1797, in the same region, the daughter of Reuben and Tryphena Austin. The Austins and Smiths were part of the same close-knit rural community, and from a young age, Cornelius and Hulda’s paths were probably intertwined.

By the time Cornelius was a teenager, America once again found itself at war. In April of 1813, when he was just nineteen years old, Cornelius enlisted for a five-year term of service. Standing among other young men from Oneida County, he answered his country’s call during the War of 1812. Though details of his service are scarce, one can imagine the courage it took to leave behind familiar fields for the uncertainty of military life.

Hulda, then sixteen, surely shared the uncertainty of those years, waiting for news of family and friends who had gone off to war.

Peace returned, and with it came the promise of new beginnings. On February 3, 1817, Cornelius and Hulda were married in the little town of Paris, New York. Their union was likely celebrated among neighbors and church friends who had watched the Austin and Smith families grow up side by side. Together, they began a new chapter as husband and wife, hopeful for the life ahead.

Together, Cornelius and Hulda welcomed two children into their family. Their son, Reuben Earl Smith, was born in 1822, followed three years later by their daughter, Wealthy Ursula (“Welthy”) Smith, in 1825. These early years of marriage and family life must have been filled with both joy and challenge, as they worked the land, raised their young children, and dreamed of opportunities on the ever-expanding American frontier.

But Cornelius’s life was cut tragically short. On April 18, 1827, at only 33 years old, he died suddenly. Family tradition suggests he may have passed away while traveling westward—perhaps on the way from New York to Michigan in search of new prospects along the developing railroad lines. His final resting place is unknown. What is certain, however, is that his death left Hulda a young widow with two small children to raise.

Cornelius’s untimely death left Hulda a widow of just 30 years old, with two small children to raise alone. Her life from then on was marked by resilience and faith. In 1834, she joined the Congregational Church in New Haven, New York, along with her father, her sister Almira, and her Uncle Edmond—faith becoming a foundation as she carried her family forward. She later lived with her daughter Welthy and son-in-law B.M. Goodwin, first in New York and later in Wisconsin. Hulda never remarried, devoting her life to her children and their families.

Hulda lived nearly five decades beyond her husband, passing away in 1875. She was laid to rest in Portland City Cemetery, where her tombstone still bears witness to the woman who carried the Smith legacy forward when Cornelius’s life ended too soon.

Together, Cornelius and Hulda’s story is one of both promise and perseverance. Though their years together were few, the family they created endured, carrying the Smith name westward into Michigan and beyond. Today, Cornelius stands as the earliest known ancestor of this Smith family line—reminders that even lives cut short or marked by hardship can echo for generations.