George Smith Warrant and Grant

This is the mysterious George Smith.  I don’t know how he related to the other 3 Smiths, but I suspect that if MY John M. Smith is related to anyone, he comes through George’s line.  I can find very little on George Smith, so I’m hoping for some treasures in the land records that I’ve [...]

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Adam Smith Warrant and Grant

This one confuses me a little.  I had found the grant quite awhile back.  When I found the warrant, the database also contained a link to the grant.  When I click on the grant link, it does not take me to the correct one.  In the database, it lists “Cain Run” as the watercourse, but [...]

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Zachariah Smith Warrant and Grant

Warrant: Kentucky County pct We do hereby certify that Zachariah Smith is entitled to a settlement of four hundred acres of land in the district of Kentucky on account of raising a crop of corn in the county in the year 1776 lying on Harrods Run known by the name of Crows Mill Seat about [...]

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John Smith Warrant and Grant

John Smith was the youngest of the 3 Smith brothers that I’ve found in the Harrodsburg area. John did not earn this warrant himself, but it became his about the same time as the other Smith men. Warrant: Kentucky County (pct?) We do hereby certify that James Willy is entitled to four hundred acres of [...]

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Prepping for Land Records

Last weekend, I was able to order 5 land deed films to help in my research of Smiths in Mercer County, Kentucky. (BTW, I LOVE the new online ordering from FHL!!!)  My plan is to “follow the land” to see who the original settlers sell/give their land to over time. So today, I transcribed the [...]

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Ruling Out 1812 John M. Smith?

I was able to spend a couple of hours yesterday at the library and I was able to look at a book called Record of abstracts, pension records; soldiers of the revolutionary war and 1812 war, who settled in Mercer County, Kentucky, Harrodsburg (the county seat) by Annie Walker Burns. In that book, there was a [...]

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War of 1812 John M. Smith

The book snippet that I posted yesterday mentioned John M. Smith followed by Nancy Smith.  I think this pension card from the was of 1812 is certainly them, I just don’t know if they’re mine! I found this on the Fold3 web site, but the file itself has not yet been scanned. I know NOTHING [...]

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Could this be MY John M. Smith?

I was looking through the book, “Early Days in Danville” by Calvin Fackler and my heart skipped a beat when I found “John M. Smith” listed in the index.  Could this be MY John M. Smith? I copied 4 pages and I will transcribe it here.  There are LOTS of clues to follow up on [...]

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A Better Look at the Map

I had downloaded a digital version of the 1784 Filson map of Kentucky before, but it wasn’t a large enough file to be able to zoom in and read any of the words.  Today, I found a great digital file at http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/etas/3/ If I were to print the map at 100%, but would be about 7 [...]

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Thinking about John M. Smith’s date of birth

If I’m believing the information given in the Oscar Smith biography, John M. Smith was an early pioneer of Danville, Kentucky.  The wording in the biography – “the pioneer of the family in Kentucky” – made me think of researching the first settlers in Kentucky in nearby Fort Harrod, but maybe that’s not quite right. [...]

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