John M. Smith (AKA The Brick Wall)

I’ve been researching John M. Smith for years. YEARS! He definitely falls into my “Madness Monday” category!

Here’s what I know about John M. Smith

• I know that John was listed in the Russell County tax records from 1827 – 1835.
• I know that John was listed in the 1830 Russell County Census.
• In the census, John had in his home: 1 male aged 10-15, 4 males aged 20-30 and 1 male aged 50-60.  1 female aged 15-20, 1 female aged 20-30 and 1 female aged 50-60.
• If I assume that all of the younger people in this census are children, then the oldest would have been born around 1800.
• I know that John’s estate inventory was submitted to court in October 1835.
• Based on land records, I know that John had 5 children, 4 of which I can follow:

1. Sarah Smith who married Henry Payne and died before 1845. She is married before 1830, so she is not included in John’s census.
2. George A. Smith 1805-1890 (these dates are on his tombstone.  This is my ancestor.)
3. Elias Smith abt. 1810-1853
4. Jane Smith abt 1813 – 1880.  She married Thomas Simpson in 1838.
5. Solomon Smith – the only thing I know about Solomon is that he received some of John’s land after he died, but he was listed as deceased by 1842 in another deed. George and Elias submitted John’s inventory and took over his tax listings, so I assume Solomon was not the oldest son.

Last week, we had three days of no school due to icy weather so I decided to follow up this little clue that I had found.  In a published biography for one of John’s great-grandsons, there was a line that stated that the great-grandfather (John) was an early settler of Danville, Kentucky.  I had a note tucked away in my files that on another genealogy site, another great-grandson had a descendant who stated that he was told that one of John’s sons was born in Virginia and came to Kentucky with his parents and settled near Danville where his father (John) and brothers (John’s brothers?) operated a trading post. The printed biography corroborated the location in the story I’d read so I thought, Yeah!  Something new to research!

Danville is right on the boundary between Mercer and Lincoln County.  And of course, John Smith is a rather common name so I thought it might be best to start with what I could find in Danville itself.

In the book, “Early Days of Danville”, there was a John M. Smith mentioned for the formation of a Baptist church, but how can I know if this is MY John Smith?  I can find mentions of “John Smith” in other Danville books, but nothing that I’d call “proof”.  I was hoping to find a John Smith mentioned in regards to a trading post since that would be the only way I can think of to feel pretty sure I was on the right track. However, I see information on alot of John Smith’s with a middle initial and I’ve never seen more than 1 John M. Smith, so I did make a copy of this page.

I decided to try a different tactic.  I know that John M. Smith shows up in the Russell County tax records in 1827.  Was there a John Smith in Mercer County tax lists that disappeared about the same time?  The first bio I had read stated that John’s son had followed in the footsteps of his father and “became a planter whose broad acres were tilled by slave labor”. The Mercer County tax lists show about 3 different John Smiths in the time frame I’m looking for, but 2 of them had no land.  The other had 450 acres and several slaves. I followed the tax records from 1811 to 1828.  This John Smith disappeared from the tax records in Mercer county after 1824.  If my ancestor had an uncommon name, I’d be excited by this information, but with the name John Smith?  I could probably find a John Smith in just about every county in Kentucky!

Maybe I would find a lightbulb moment with the census records.  My biggest challenge is that John Smith died in 1835, so that means I can’t use the children’s information to tell one John from another.  And all of the known children of John came of age in Russell County, so I don’t expect to find their names anywhere else. I made a chart – in Excel of course – to help me compare the different Johns and I can say which ones I think are most likely, but I keep coming back to the fact that there are probably John Smiths in every county and there would probably be several that COULD fit the information that I have, so it’s purely a wishful, barely educated guessing process.

I also found a newspaper online from Mercer County in 1804 in which a Lincoln County man lived “six miles south of Danville”.  That reminded me that I have to consider Lincoln County as well to cover all of the Danville area.

I think my next step is going to have to be land records for Mercer County.  I ordered them on Saturday. I’m not holding my breath for a deed that says “John M. Smith, who is moving to Russell County, now sells this land to so and so…” so again, how will I know for sure?

I’m also looking at records at the Allen County Public Library for Wayne County, Kentucky.  John’s land was partly in Russell and partly in Wayne, and Russell County was formed in 1826 so perhaps the clue will be in Wayne Co. I’ve searched the tax records for a John Smith with land entered in the same name as the land listed in the Russell County tax lists – so far, no luck.  Just before leaving the library Saturday, I also found 2 books of records for early Mercer County – court orders and marriages.  It’s at the top of my list to look at next Saturday (or next school snow day, whichever comes first!)

So right now, my strategy is to collect and collect and collect.  Anything that seems likely based on locations and dates.  Keeping track of witnesses and neighbors and such and then hopefully, when the land records film does arrive, maybe something will click.

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Find-a-Grave Group Sheets?

Have you ever tried to create group sheets just from information found on Find-a-Grave.com?  You might be surprised at the information you can find when you aren’t focused so much on finding one person or one couple.

Simply go to http://www.findagrave.com and click on the “Search Grave Records” option.  Instead of searching for a specific person, just enter a surname, state and county.  As you begin to examine the names in the list, you might find that an entry has links to parent’s graves.  Very often, you’ll find that the entry is linked to a spouse’s grave including a maiden name.  Sometimes, an obituary is included in the entry that will give information that wouldn’t be included on other web sites.  And lists of children are sometimes included, as well as links to their graves – which link to spouses, etc.

It’s an interesting study.  It’s a great way to jump start research that has stalled.  Or if you find an unexpected hour of free time to research, but not quite enough time to pull out notes and research files. And the best thing of all is that the site is constantly being updated, so you’re almost certain to find something new every time you search!  Last week, I found the entries for 2 of my ggg-grandparents including dates that I did not have before.  Genea-happy-dance!

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William Smith Revolutionary Pension pg 6-8

I have begun the process of transcribing the pension file for William Smith of Russell County, Kentucky to see if I can find a connection with my family: my grandfather Herman Smith > Oliver Houston Smith > Elias Smith > George A Smith > John M. Smith.  My plan is to make a timeline of this man’s life and use it as a “map” to look for records for John M. Smith.  This is more “shot in the dark” researching than anything as the only thing that I have to connect these families is the common surname of Smith and location of Russell County.  I decided to post this on my blog so that if there is another Russell County researcher looking for information on this family, they might benefit from this transcription.

This record mentions Amelia Co, Virginia; Halifax Co, Virginia; Cumberland County, Kentucky; Pulaski County, Kentucky and finally Russell County, Kentucky.

State of Kentucky Russell

County and Circuit

On this 2^nd day of November 1832 personally appeared before the Honble  John L Bridges sole Judge in and for the circuit aforesaid (now seeing) William Smith a resident of the County of Russell state of Kentucky age 76 years who being first duly sworn according to law doth on his oath make the following Declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the provision made by the act of Congress passed the 7^th Jun 1832 That he entered the service of the (united) under Capt Joshua Powel as a drafted militia man in the month of (blank) in the year 1780 in the County Amelia state of Virginia he was marched on to Richmond from there to North Carolina scouting about after the tories he was not marched to any regular troop during this tour they were occasionally joined by other militia companies but the time has been so long he does not recollect their names he served faithfully three months being the time for which he was drafted he was then honorably discharged and returned home, and after some time he was again drafted for three months and again entered the service under the same Capt and was principally engaged after the tories the first part of the tour being marched on to Carolina still under the command of Capt Powell after a part of the time he returned to Virginia and was attached to a part of General Lawsens Brigade he does not recollect the officer who commanded but they were detached of and had a severe engagement near Charlotte Courthouse.  This was the only battle he was in he served out the full term of his engagement 3 months and was discharged __ after being at home a short time was again drafted for three months and entered the service under the same Capt and was marched on and joined General Washington’s army near York where he remained until after the surrender of Cornwallis he recollects of no important event other the surge of York the surrender of Cornwallis he was with the army from the time he first (formed) until nearly the time his service ended he was marched on homeward & his term expired and he was discharged his first tour was in the year 1780 he thinks about April the second and third  in the year 1781 but does not recollect the months which he so entered except the first he further states that he did not receive a written discharge for either of his tours His Capt was his neighbor and supposes from that circumstance it was thought unnecessary nor has had any documentary evidence of his service nor does he know of at this time any person by whose testimony he can establish the same. He was born in the Amelia County state of Virginia on the 5 day of May 1756 according to the statement of his parents tho he has no register of his age but he doubts not the correctness of his parents statement he remained in Amelia he does not recollect the precise time but moved from there to Halifax County Virginia where he remained until 1810 when he moved to Kentucky and settled in Cumberland County where he remained some time then moved to Pulasky same state and after many years residents there moved to Russell where he now lives he hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present and declares his name is not on the pension roll of the agency of any state sworn to and subscribed the day and year.

William Smith (his mark)

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Creating a Resource Database

The week-end is coming quickly (yeah!) and now is the time to make your plan. I’m sure that every genealogist knows the feeling of frustration that comes when you finally have time to do some research, but you have a hard time getting started because you haven’t made a plan.  Who will I research?  What question would I like to focus on?  What resources are available?  Are there new records at the library that I haven’t noticed before?

When you create a database of all known resources for a particular county, you will know immediately what types of records you can find and where to find them.  Knowing exactly what’s available can help you narrow down your research options so you don’t waste time looking for information in the wrong place.  And if you get a last minute chance to take a research trip, you’ll immediately know about resources will be available that you can’t access anywhere else.

Once again, my mind went right to Excel for this so that I can have a worksheet for each county I do research in.  Think about books, newsletters, newspapers, microfilm, and files.  When you’re making your database, look to see what’s available at:

1. The local library where you live
2. The state library or archives for the area you research
3. The county library for the area you research
4. The Family History Library in Salt Lake City (remember, you can order those microfilms!)
5. Archives.gov (again, you can rent or purchase these microfilms)
6. The Allen County Library (2nd largest genealogy collection in the U.S.)
7. PERSI (Genealogy related periodicals available at ACPL)
8. University Libraries
9. Web sites with free record access like usgenweb.org
10. Web sites with timelines, histories, and maps of the area you are researching
11. Subscription websites like Ancestry.com, Footnote.com or WorldVitalRecords.com

Do a search on Worldcat.org to see what books are available and which libraries have them.  Some of the most helpful books are only available at the library IN that county or at a University library, and we’ll never know that they are available without doing a search like this.

As I built my database, I decided to have a column for “Category”, “Title”, “Author”, “Call Number” and “Location”.  The tabs along the bottom show the counties that I have added information for. I can sort based on the entries in each column so that I can have all of the resources grouped by category type, or author or location, etc.

I intend to add another column for citation information.  I cheat a bit on this one.  For book citations, I find the book on Worldcat and then click the “Cite/Export” button near the upper right corner.  You can choose the format that you prefer for your citation and then copy and paste the citation into the spreadsheet. Then you can copy and paste (with necessary modifications) into your notes whenever you use the source.

If a book or microfilm that might contain information on YOUR ancestor is available through the Allen County Public Library, I’d be happy to assist with your research!  I can make digital copies of the Table of Contents or Index so that you can see if the book merits further review.  Or I can go through to find pages with the surname you are researching.  If you’ve seen the TOC or Index and have specific pages you’d like to see, I can get those for you as well.  The sooner you make your request, the more likely you’ll be to have those available for your research this week-end!  Click on the “Personal Assistant” tab at the top of the page to see the details.

I hope to be working with you soon!

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William Smith – Revolutionary Soldier

(I had originally posted this blog on February 7 and within hours, received a packet of information in the mail that changed the ancestor I was going to research.  So I removed the post to take some time with the new information.  I now feel confident that the information I received was wrong, so I’m moving forward with my original plan.)

I’m always surprised that no matter how thoroughly I think I’ve read some document, I always seem to find something new whenever I transcribe it or even when I try to plug information into some new format like a timeline.

I have confirmed my Smith line back to John M. Smith who died in Russell County, Kentucky in 1835.  Some researchers claim that John was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, but I can find no records that would prove this.  There is a William Smith who DOES have a pension file from Russell County, Kentucky.  So can I connect these two men? Normally, we research backward through time.  But since I can’t seem to get from John to William, can I try to work forward and prove that John is a son of William?

So far, I’ve had no luck with that.  Basically, I have 4 records or record types to rely on.  The pension file itself – which is 73 pages long, the will, tax records and deeds.  And I feel that I’ve found an amazing amount of information from those things, but so far, no connection.  But I’m not ready to say that John was NOT William’s son.  So I’ve decided to start transcribing and if I’m going to take the time to do that, then I’m going to post it on my blog!

So I don’t know how often they’ll appear, but they will appear!  And of course, I’m sure I’ll have plenty of commentary to add as well!  I’m going to start a “William Smith” category so that if anyone is interested in following the conversation, you can always click on that to see the entire progression.

So I’ll start with the card in the front of the Pension File.

Service: VA
Names: William Smith and Elizabeth
Number:  W9298 – B.L. Wt. 50890-160-55 (I believe these are Bounty Land Warrant Numbers.  Something new to research!)

Under “Contents”, it says. “born in Amelia Co, VA May 5, 1756 there (unreadable)  Mar Nov. 8 (unreadable) ’92 or ’93  Elizabeth Viar or Viah died Apr 15 1835 in Russell Co, KY.

Later in the pension packet, a summary letter written to a researcher says that several different dates of marriage were given: Oct. 16, 1787, 1790 November 8, 1792 or 1793 and I’m sure that’s part of the unreadable stuff.

This little card has parts that are very clear and easy to read.  The words under the “contents” are very faded and difficult to read.  I opened it in Photoshop and did what I could to read those words, and most were not difficult, but others would not come through.

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Ellen Alvina Danker Smith

Today, my husband’s grandmother passed away.  She would have been 90 years old one month from today.

Ellen was the 6th of seven children born to Rev. Paul Danker and his wife, Wilhelmina Dabelstein.  The life of a small town pastor’s family was difficult.  They raised chickens and the area farmers would donate feed and corn cobs to help out.  Shoes were repaired and passed down and the kids were good friends with the large Italian family who owned the shoe repair shop. The boys played basketball in the neighbor’s barn and baseball with the area boys in the summer time.  As they got older, they all took turns helping to mow the cemetery next to the parsonage. Reverend Danker earned $1200 a year and some of that was food donated at harvest time.  But they were happy.  The 7 siblings were close, faithfully gathering from all corners of the country for family reunions as long as they were physically able. 

Ellen lived her entire life in the rural counties south of Chicago.  One day, she climbed onto the school bus and met her future husband, Bert Smith, who owned and drove the bus to supplement his farming income. When Bert proposed, Ellen and her sister, Irma, planned a double wedding ceremony.  On August 3, 1941, Ellen wore a pink chiffon dress and carried white roses, while Irma wore a blue chiffon dress and carried yellow roses. The four newlyweds honeymooned together in Wisconsin.

Bert and Ellen raised a large family of their own.  Bert continued to drive the school bus for a total of 47 years in addition to farming.  Ellen was a beauty operator and together, they cleaned the small school in their small town.  They raised 7 children, including my mother-in-law.  Bert was a skilled wood worker and together, they made crafts to sell at area shops.  My oldest son was the recipient of a beautiful rocking horse, hand crafted by “Grandma and Grandpa Bert” when he turned 1. Some day, my grandchildren will sit on that horse and we will tell them about Grandma and Grandpa Bert and how they went out of their way to make everyone feel welcome in their house.

The last several weeks have been painful for Ellen.  Today, she is reunited in Heaven with the love of her life, Bert.  And we are comforted by knowing that not only is she now pain-free, but we will soon be gathered as family to share our memories once again.

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Looking for Hours

I’ll be heading to the Allen County Public Library this week-end and I’m looking for at least 10 hours of Library Assistant time to help meet some financial needs in our family.  If you’d like to receive digital images from genealogy books or from microfilm, please click on the “Personal Assistant” tab at the top of the page to read the details.

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Keeping Track of the Clues

A couple of years ago, I posted several articles about using Excel to help with genealogy research.  I created my own version of Family Group Sheets and this week, I’ve begun making modifications to those to help me keep track of clues that I’m finding while I’m trying to determine if a certain family connects to mine. The time frame for this family is late 1700′s to early 1800′s so I’m not able to find potential birth dates based on census records or anything like that, so little clues from wills, deeds and court records can help me put the pieces together.

But I need to be able to keep these clues in an organized fashion – not on post it notes on my bulletin board or even in a notebook because sooner or later, I’ll lose track of those.  So I’m using hidden rows in my Excel Group Sheet. The beauty of hidden rows is that I can print a regular group sheet

or I can print an expanded version showing the clues that I’ve been gathering. A Group sheet fits on one side of a sheet of paper, but these rows can be whatever size I need to add every little clue that I find and I won’t have to worry about it ruining the look of my group sheet.  I can transcribe parts of documents or write out my thought processes to help me match potential ancestors with information I already have.

To include hidden rows in your Excel file:

1) Right click on the number of the row below the location you’d like to insert a row.  Select “insert”.

2)  I prefer for the row to be one cell with centered, red, italic print.  You can select all of these options by highlighting the cells, right clicking and clicking on the options you’d like.

3)  My group sheet has some areas for notes, but I usually add a hidden row under each child’s name and any other place which I might want to add information such as birth/death/marriage dates or parents’ names.  To hide a row, right click on the number at the beginning of the row you’d like to hide.  Select “hide” and the line will disappear.  Notice that the number also disappears, which can be a reminder that you have a hidden row.  If rows are hidden, they do not appear on your print out.

4)  To make the row visible again, highlight the rows above and below, right click and select “unhide”.  Once rows are unhidden, they will show up on your print out.

5)  If you have more than one hidden row, you can reveal them all by highlighting the entire group sheet or a group of rows, right clicking and selecting “unhide”.

Using hidden rows keeps me organized.  Knowing that I can add as much information as I want without messing up the look of my traditional group sheet makes it more likely that I will add the information to my sheet.  I won’t have to worry about missing the clue that ties everything together.

Would you like a copy of the Group Sheet in Excel?  Just click here!

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Gleanings from the Land Records

I had a GREAT day of research thanks to the “Blizzard of 2011″ and I still have a day to go!  I was concentrating on land records for John M. Smith in Russell County in the 1825 – 1835 time frame.  Russell County was formed in Dec. of 1825 and John died in 1835, so I didn’t really think I’d find that much.

I decided to make a timeline with every tiny piece of information I could glean from the deeds that I have.  I only have 2 deeds with John purchasing land, so I started with those.

Dec. 1825 – formation of Russell County (The area covered in these land records would have been Wayne County before this.)

4 Apr. 1827 –  John M. Smith buys 100 acres from Lewis Faust of Wayne Co.  John M. Smith “of Russell County” indicates to me that he already lives here.

• South side of the Cumberland River
• $800.
• “An ash on the River Bank, corner to a Military Survey of 1100 acres of which the aforesaid tract is a part.”
• This land borders Claudius Buster’s land.
• Eventually (1850) this land passes from John’s heirs to his son, Elias.
• Book A:132

20 Jan. 1835 – John M. Smith buys land from James and Elizabeth Gilbert of Spencer County.

• $1000
• 1 tract – 98 acres – Beaver Creek bottom
  • This land borders Simon Stacy
  • This land borders the 1827 land purchased by John M. Smith
  • This land went from Lewis Faust to James Gilbert to John M. Smith
• 1 tract – 112 acres – in Russell County AND Wayne County
  • This land is James’ Gilbert’s interest (1/2 of the land) patented to John M. Smith and James Gilbert dated 2 June 1829.
  • Border’s William Patterson and Claudious Buster’s 50 acres.
  • There is a road on the land from the mouth of Beaver Creek to Montecello (Wayne Co.)
  • One corner is “Deanes corner”
  • This land eventually (1850) is passed to Elias Smith.
• 1 tract – 88 acres – Russell County AND Wayne Co
  • Beaver Creek
  • Neighbor – Timothy Burgess in the name of Thomas Harrison
  • Neighbor – Pattersons and Busters

I didn’t think I would be able to gather much information from these, but they did bring some things into focus and they gave me a few questions to be answered.  I put questions and notes of things to do into my list as well. Those are in red italics.

Dec. 1825 –  formation of Russell County (The area covered in these land records would have been Wayne County before this.)

4 Apr. 1827 – John M. Smith buys 100 acres from Lewis Faust of Wayne Co.  John M. Smith “of Russell County” indicates to me that he already lives here. (Check the Wayne County tax lists and land records.  Supposedly, the Smith family arrived in Kentucky in 1802.)

• South side of the Cumberland River
• $800.
• “An ash on the River Bank, corner to a Military Survey of 1100 acres of which the aforesaid tract is a part.” (Who did this military survey belong to?  Faust?)
• This land borders Claudius Buster’s land.
• Eventually (1850) this land passes from John’s heirs to his son, Elias.
• Book A:132

20 Jan. 1835 – John M. Smith buys land from James and Elizabeth Gilbert of Spencer County.

• $1000
• 1 tract – 98 acres – Beaver Creek bottom
  • This land borders Simon Stacy
  • This land borders the 1827 land purchased by John M. Smith
  • This land went from Lewis Faust to James Gilbert to John M. Smith
• 1 tract – 112 acres – in Russell County AND Wayne County
  • This land is James’ Gilbert’s interest (1/2 of the land) patented to John M. Smith and James Gilbert dated 2 June 1829.  (Can I find this in the Jillson book? Research, why would 2 men have a patent together? If Gilbert and Smith earned a patent together, I should also follow Gilbert to see where he was before Russell County.)
  • Border’s William Patterson and Claudious Buster’s 50 acres.
  • There is a road on the land from the mouth of Beaver Creek to Montecello (Wayne County)
  • One corner is “Deanes corner”
  • This land eventually (1850) is passed to Elias Smith.
• 1 tract – 88 acres – Russell County AND Wayne Co
  • Beaver Creek (See who else had land on Beaver Creek.  Related?)
  • Neighbor – Timothy Burgess in the name of Thomas Harrison
  • Neighbor – Pattersons and Busters

Next, I added in information that I had gathered about Land Grants.  All I have is the listing that there is a land grant.  So far, I don’t have the actual records. The Kentucky Secretary of State has an excellent web site with scans of land records, but so far, the records in this series have not been scanned.  Right now, I can’t afford to ask for copies, so I’ll have to wait.  But I added the information and I expect that I’ll be able to figure out more about the land using clues from deeds.

Dec. 1825 – formation of Russell County (The area covered in these land records would have been Wayne County before this.

4 Apr. 1827 – John M. Smith buys 100 acres from Lewis Faust of Wayne Co.  John M. Smith “of Russell County” indicates to me that he already lives here. (Check the Wayne County tax lists and land records.  Supposedly, the Smith family arrived in Kentucky in 1802.)

• South side of the Cumberland River
• $800.
• “An ash on the River Bank, corner to a Military Survey of 1100 acres of which the aforesaid tract is a part.”  (Who did this military survey belong to?  Faust?)
• This land borders Claudius Buster’s land.
• Eventually (1850) this land passes from John’s heirs to his son, Elias.
• Book A:132

31 Dec. 1827 – Kentucky Land Warrant (Jillson pg. 725) to John M. Smith

• Book V:514
• 112 acres
• Russell and Wayne Co
• Cumberland River

1 Jan. 1828 –  Kentucky Land Warrant (Jillson pg. 725) to John M. Smith

• Book V:515
• 88 acres
• Russell and Wayne Co
• Beaver Creek

17 Nov. 1832 – Kentucky Land Warrant (Jillson pg. 725) to John M. Smith

• Book B2:296
• 81 acres
• Russell and Wayne Co
• Beaver Creek

4 Dec. 1832 – Kentucky Land Warrant (Jillson pg. 725) to George A. Smith (my George would be 25 yrs old, seems likely to be him since it’s the page after John)

• Book B2:297
• 56 acres
• Russell Co
• Beaver Creek

20 Jan. 1835 – John M. Smith buys land from James and Elizabeth Gilbert of Spencer County.

• $1000
• 1 tract – 98 acres – Beaver Creek bottom
  • This land borders Simon Stacy
  • This land borders the 1827 land purchased by John M. Smith
  • This land went from Lewis Faust to James Gilbert to John M. Smith
• 1 tract – 112 acres – in Russell County AND Wayne County
  • This land is James’ Gilbert’s interest (1/2 of the land) patented to John M. Smith and James Gilbert dated 2 June 1829.  (Can I find this in the Jillson book? Research, why would 2 men have a patent together?)
  • Border’s William Patterson and Claudious Buster’s 50 acres.
  • There is a road on the land from the mouth of Beaver Creek to Montecello (Wayne County)
  • One corner is “Deanes corner”
  • This land eventually (1850) is passed to Elias Smith.
• 1 tract – 88 acres – Russell County AND Wayne Co
  • Beaver Creek
  • Neighbor – Timothy Burgess in the name of Thomas Harrison
  • Neighbor – Pattersons and Busters

Finally, I added in the information from the county tax records to see if the land totals correspond.  The information from the tax records tells me that I need to look for additional deeds or other reasons that land may have switched hands.

Dec. 1825 – formation of Russell County (The area covered in these land records would have been Wayne County before this.

4 Apr. 1827 – John M. Smith buys 100 acres from Lewis Faust of Wayne Co.  John M. Smith “of Russell County” indicates to me that he already lives here. (Check the Wayne County tax lists and land records.  Supposedly, the Smith family arrived in Kentucky in 1802.)

• South side of the Cumberland River
• $800.
• “An ash on the River Bank, corner to a Military Survey of 1100 acres of which the aforesaid tract is a part.”  (Who did this military survey belong to?  Faust?)
• This land borders Claudius Buster’s land.
• Eventually (1850) this land passes from John’s heirs to his son, Elias.
• Book A:132

1827 – Russell County Tax Lists – 100 acres

31 Dec. 1827 – Kentucky Land Warrant (Jillson pg. 725) to John M. Smith

• Book V:514
• 112 acres
• Russell and Wayne Co
• Cumberland River

1 Jan. 1828 – Kentucky Land Warrant (Jillson pg. 725) to John M. Smith

• Book V:515
• 88 acres
• Russell and Wayne Co
• Beaver Creek

1828 – Russell County Tax List – 200 acres  (Could this be Dec. ’27 land + ’28? If so, where is the original 100 acres?)

1829 – Russell County Tax List – 200 acres

1831 – Russell County Tax List – 250 acres (Where did the extra 50 acres come from?)

17 Nov. 1832 – Kentucky Land Warrant (Jillson pg. 725) to John M. Smith

• Book B2:296
• 81 acres
• Russell and Wayne Co
• Beaver Creek

4 Dec. 1832 – Kentucky Land Warrant (Jillson pg. 725) to George A. Smith (my George would be 25 yrs old, seems likely to be him since it’s the page after John)

• Book B2:297
• 56 acres
• Russell Co
• Beaver Creek

1833 – Russell County Tax List – 419 acres (250 + 81 + 56 = 387)

1834 – Russell County Tax List – 1200 acres (Need to find a deed with about 800 acres!)

20 Jan. 1835 – John M. Smith buys land from James and Elizabeth Gilbert of Spencer County.

• $1000
• 1 tract – 98 acres – Beaver Creek bottom
  • This land borders Simon Stacy
  • This land borders the 1827 land purchased by John M. Smith
  • This land went from Lewis Faust to James Gilbert to John M. Smith
• 1 tract – 112 acres – in Russell County AND Wayne County
  • This land is James’ Gilbert’s interest (1/2 of the land) patented to John M. Smith and James Gilbert dated 2 June 1829.  (Can I find this in the Jillson book? Research, why would 2 men have a patent together?)
  • Border’s William Patterson and Claudious Buster’s 50 acres.
  • There is a road on the land from the mouth of Beaver Creek to Montecello (Wayne County)
  • One corner is “Deanes corner”
  • This land eventually (1850) is passed to Elias Smith.
• 1 tract – 88 acres – Russell County AND Wayne Co
  • Beaver Creek
  • Neighbor – Timothy Burgess in the name of Thomas Harrison
  • Neighbor – Pattersons and Busters

1835 – Russell County Tax List (1 June) 556 acres (Check the tax list for the children to see if the land totals correspond?)

So, now I have a very clear idea of what I need to be looking for.  Is it that important to find every deed or land transaction?  I think so, because of relationships that could be mentioned.  It’s a glimpse into the lifestyle of my ancestor.  What does a man in 1830 do with 1200 acres?  It can’t all be farm land, can it?  I recall a lot of animals in the estate inventory.  Time to pull that back out and look at it with a new eye.  Plus, I’m just “type A” enough to be bothered by the missing information!  Typing it out in a timeline has forced me to examine each piece of information carefully and has opened my eyes to further things to look for.  That’s a good genealogy day – especially considering that it was an unexpected research day!

What will I discover today?  I can tell you that I’ll be using Excel once again and plan to have a new idea for it’s use!  Watch for that this week-end!

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Snow Day! What Would You Do?

I’ll let you in on a secret – teachers are almost always more excited to have a snow day than their students are!  I already have everything prepared for my classes for the day, so when I get the cancellation notification, I know that I have an unexpected day to research! So how should I spend that time?

I woke up early and started watching the school announcements on tv and I thought we might have a 2 hour delay. I decided that if I only had 2 hours, I was going to do random Ancestry research.  I pick a collateral line (usually a brother) because I know that virtually any information I find will be new in my tree. I hit the “search records” button and start attaching records.  Almost every time I do this, I end up with unexpected information that helps me in my direct line, and I did find some clues to follow up on.  I had been doing that for close to an hour when I found out there wouldn’t be a delay, but a cancellation.  Now that changes the picture!  If I have a full day, I don’t want to be doing “random” research, I want to be more focused!

I know we didn’t cancel because of the weather we got last night; it was only about an inch of snow.  But we have a blizzard warning that starts this afternoon and I think that’s why we cancelled.  So I convinced my husband that it would be safe to run to the library (he drove me, just to be safe – what a great guy!) to take a quick look at some microfilm.  I knew that John M. Smith was listed in the Russell County tax records in 1835, but his estate was inventoried on Oct. 1, 1835.  I wanted to see the date on the tax record to see if I could narrow down a date of death a little better.  The tax records were signed on June 1, so I know that John died between June 1 and September 30.  (If anyone happens to know a reasonable amount of time between a death and an inventory, I’d love to know that!)

I also printed some records for a man that several online trees say are John Smith’s father.  I’d like to disprove this line quickly, if possible and if I can’t do that, then I need to start my research plan for this new person.

I’ve got the rest of today, and probably tomorrow as well so I’m going to work on those land records I’ve got.  I’ve mapped them all out but as I was reading all those metes and bounds, I kept telling myself that I needed to come back for other “nuggets” that I was seeing – like who the neighbors were and other relationships that were mentioned.  I’m pretty sure that I saw something about the land being part of a military patent, so I need to read that again.  And when my eyes start to cross while reading the terrible handwriting, I’ll just jump back onto Ancestry and hit the random trail again!

If you found out at the last minute that you had an entire day to research, what would YOU work on?

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