John B. Smith
I know that John B. Smith was a veteran of the Civil War. He died in 1883 at age 55, and is buried in Section 9 of Elmwood Cemetery. His tombstone states he was a Private in the Veteran H. Artillery. If the H. is short for “Heavy”, this could be the John Smith listed in the record of the East Greenbush Town Clerk after the war, who enlisted in the 5th Heavy Artillery in Troy in March 1864 for a $300 bounty. There are no less than eleven John Smiths on the roster of the 5th Heavy Artillery, including one who enlisted in Troy on that date- but who was listed as 26-years-old, ten years younger than John B. Smith. Hard to know.
The interment records of Elmwood Cemetery add that this John Smith died at the Marshall Sanitarium in Troy. With the added hint of insanity, implied by that address, I found him in the 1880 US Census for North Greenbush. He was living as “uncle” in the family of Charles H. and Saturnia Francisco. Charles was an unemployed 35-year-old. She was the 34-year-old mother of two young daughters. John B. is listed as a farmer, with a check mark in the box headed “insane.” Elsewhere in the census, it states he had been ill for three years. If he had lived until 1890 and the Veterans Census, perhaps I would have been able to pin down this man.
Tombstone of John B. Smith in Elmwood Cemetery
History of the Town of Schaghticoke 