Decade Notes

I’ve been researching my Stephens family line for years. And I LOVE my notes for each generation! My notes are in timeline format and I enter every single thing I can find including “probable” events such as births that I don’t have an exact date for. My source citations in these notes are as complete as anything that I have and are MUCH easier for me to keep up to date than within my genealogy software. I include maps and cropped images of the records that I’ve found within the notes so I don’t have to dig through files unless I need to see the full page. I make colorized notes to myself along the edge with text boxes around them to make them stand out. In these notes to myself, I include ideas of books to look at when I go to the library, questions as to why something might be happening or why I think my records might have a mistake.  For example, I may have a clue to a birth location from someone else researching my family, but when I put it in the notes, the location does not match the proven location of the parent. I also include small images of simplified group sheets with the ages of each person at that time period to help me keep the people straight in my mind. By including the ages at that time, it helps me see if a son is old enough to be found in the tax records or if he is too young to be married. If a mother and father have passed away, but still have young children, where are the children living? These are all questions that I would put along the edges of my notes.

But I still get confused when I have to compare the notes from one generation to another generation.  For example, I can’t find Andrew Stephens in the 1870 census. So I wanted to look at Andrew’s father’s notes as well as Andrew’s children’s notes to see where THEY were in 1870 to see if Andrew was nearby. When that didn’t work, I looked at Andrew’s siblings and their children. Now I’ve got people named the same thing in various locations and my brain just has a hard time keeping it all straight. (I blame this on the medication that I’m taking – and I’m sticking with that story!)

So, during the ride home from Spring Break, I decided to combine all of the notes from my Stephens research into one file. I took each individual’s records and made the text for each a different color. Then, I copied and pasted them all into one file while still keeping everything in chronological order. I’ll still keep my original notes, but by combining them all, I’m hoping to see better patterns in locations and records available. But this new document became QUITE long – beginning with 1715 and continuing through 1928, so I decided to put it in my binder with dividers for every decade. I REALLY like it! In 10 year time periods, I can make some nice maps of the changing county boundaries to get a better idea of where to look for records – and what counties are nearby at that time. It’s much easier to keep track of where each person is that I’m tracking by having a US map with a pin for each person’s locations. And gaps in records become much more evident. By having entire lifetimes in one document, it wasn’t giving me a realistic idea of how much time had gone by from one record to the next. Two pages could be 5 years or 30 years depending on how much information I’ve found.

I’ve decided on a 2 binder approach. One binder has my notes and the appropriate source records all in chronological order. The other binder will be my “clues”. Printed emails, web sites, church histories and such go in the “clue binder” that I can have open side-by-side with my notes binder. This keeps all of my records in order while still having easy access to whatever I’ve found online that I want to follow up on. Group sheets for every family member – even siblings – will go in the Clue Binder. Each decade will have it’s own Research Plan. Before this, I’ve been creating Research Plans for each person, so the new Research Plans will deal with all of the people I’m tracking within that decade.

I’m looking forward to putting these binders together and adding records and hints. I think it will help me stay focused because the time period I’ll be researching will be shorter rather than looking for anything that matches an individual within his entire lifetime.

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Awesome Maps!

2 hour school delay this morning – yes! I love these unexpected chunks of free time when I don’t feel guilty for doing some genealogy surfing!

This morning, I was looking at some genealogy newsletters that I get in my email and I saw a hint to take a map of the area you are researching and to draw concentric circles 5, 10, 15, etc. miles out from the location of your ancestor to see when places on the map might be likely places to research for more information on an ancestor. In the article, it mentioned USGS web site as a great resource for downloading topographic maps – and what a goldmine I feel like I’ve found!

The area of Kentucky that I research is very hilly and covered with little creeks and branches from the Cumberland River. I’ve always intended to take a more detailed look at the County Map that I have to pinpoint the different waterways that have been mentioned. The waterways are always mentioned in the tax records to show the location of the land being taxed.  The maps I’ve found on USGS are excellent for this type of research and you can download them for free!

So now, my plan is to take a look at my County map to make a list of the towns around my ancestor’s locations and to download the maps that are available to put on my research wall. I think that till now, I’ve been a “can’t see the trees because of the forest” kind of person. I know I have the County map, but I’ve never taken the time to focus on which part of the county my ancestors are in – something I should have done loooooooooooooooong ago. This will be my opportunity to do that!

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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 here. In the book, sources are given for quite of bit of the information including specific deed information and several references to a newspaper article written in the Kentucky Advocate in 1923, which I will try to locate, if possible.

This post will be a long one as I’m including not only my transcription, but also a few notes to some online sites the I began to look at last night after my family had celebrated Thanksgiving. My research for more information based on the book is only beginning.  I decided I’d better post what I have before this post becomes book-length by itself! I’m sure there will be more information coming as I try to prove or disprove that this is MY John…

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The Baptist church was the third organized here; and it has now the oldest church lot in use.  The Baptists “came to town” in the early 1820’s.  They were represented here long before that but worshipped in the country; for the Danville congregation was the daughter of Providence and, apparently, the grandchild of the “High German Lutheran” body, once located in the Fisher Garrison vicinity.

(Fisher’s Garrison was probably the largest and best manned of the early stations in the wilderness of Kentucky, according to Calvin M. Fackler’s “Early Days in Danville.” The station has a two-story log or frame building that stood until about 1900. http://articles.centralkynews.com/2006-08-07/history/24881416_1_family-tree-kentucky-family-names)

Unfortunately there seem to be no records of the Dutch Meeting House extant.  The civil ones show that the church lot was deeded by Harry Innes and Stephen Fisher, Senior, and acre each, to Adam Smith, Adam Fisher, and Nicholas Wilhite “elders for the time being of the High Dutch Congregation.”  The western half was carved from the Innes tract, and the easter from Fisher, May 19th and June 4, 1791, respectively.  The consideration was nominal, one shilling and five shillings.

(There is an interesting history of the Low Dutch church of the Harrodsburg area at http://www.sweet-home-spun.com/historytrust.htm  On May 19th, 1791 Stephen Fisher Sr. deeded one acre of land near his Station to Adam Smith, Adam Fisher and Nicholas Wilhite. On June 4th 1791, Harry Innes deeded another adjoining acre to the same people for the property where ‘The Old Dutch Meeting House” stands. Smith, Fisher and Wilhite were listed as “Church Elders for the time being”. The church was a grandchild of the “High German Lutheran” church established by these early German settlers at Fisher’s Garrison in now Boyle County, near Danville. Source: Early days of Danville, by Calvin Morgan Fackler, p. 152. It is noted in Fackler’s book that this church was actually built years before but no deed had yet been officially conveyed for the property. “The consideration was nominal, one shilling and five shillings”. Harry Innes was in the process of selling the surrounding land and thus the urgency to deed the property to the Germans. http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GERMANNA_COLONIES/2010-11/1290204977)

Tradition has it that the church was built some time before that; and there are strong reasons for believing so: the first session of the District Supreme Court met at Harrodsburg and, taking note of its inadequate accommodations, adjourned immediately to the Dutch Meeting House – two days term, 1783.  There was a necessity for making this conveyance at that time.  Judge Innes, holder of a moiety of the legal title to the church grounds, was about to sell his tract; and did so a few days later, when he disposed of his holdings to David Gillespie, but excluded the Meeting House lot.  This tract was sold in 1811, by order of Court, when it was described as “being in the neighborhood of Danville and near the dwelling house of Benjamin Fisher” (son of Stephen Sr.) to whom it was sold.  Its location should be marked; out to be rather easy to trace since Benjamin conveyed to Dr. Daniel Yeiser.  This was long the Daniel Yeiser homestead – now estate of the late J.C. Caldwell, Jr.  There are other clues which we will gladly furnish to anyone interested enough to do this work.

The Dutch Meeting House seems to have had its origin in the German treck which ended here about 1780. Then the Fishers, Garrs, Yeagers, Wilhoits, Smiths (Smidts), Gashweilers, and others were of the Lutheran faith.  As most of those names appear afterwards among the Boyle County Baptists, they must have gone en masse into that denomination – saving a few brands plucked by the Presbyterians.  These families were to be found at Providence until its dissolution, some fifty years ago.  Providence was a well built brick, about three miles out the Lancaster road.  The twin front doors indicated a division of the sexes in worship.  Today there is not so much as a scar upon the field, to show where it once stood; but those who constituted that town meeting, June 7, 1823, were not to have so comfortable a house of worship again for twenty years.

“The nine Baptists who lived within its borders (Danville) felt that if they were to exercise the best influence for their Lord and Master, it was time for them to form themselves into a church which could lend its influence toward the betterment of the community.  As a result, the following met in the home of one of them and organized the ‘First Baptist Church of Danville, Mercer County, Kentucky’: Samuel Ayres, John M. Smith, Nancy Smith, Ruth Garland, Eliza Hand, Dorothy Ayres, Enoch Smith, Jesse Garland, and Elder Thomas Hand.  The following ministers assisted in the organization, Elder John Rice, John S. Higgins, and Samuel D. Street.” Of that first nine only two names are known to use, Samuel Ayres, the silversmith, and his wife Dorothy.  Come the next generation, and his son and namesake would head the roster of another church project; of which, more anon.

For the next two years they must have met from house to house, then they succeeded in getting that ideal location for a Baptist – near water; for over the fence shimmered the ripples of Doneghy’s pond.  This was the property of Mr. Daniel McIlvoy, which they acquired November 12, 1825.  The conveyance names John M. Smith, one of the original band, Jeremiah Fisher and Duff Green trustees.  Mr. Fisher we already know.  Dr. Duff Green, son of Willis, in addition to his professional duties, also served awhile as County Clerk.

The plat was one acre, described as follows: “Adjoining the town of Danville; beginning at a stone in a line formerly belonging to James Birney; thence West 12 poles, 6 links; thence North 12 poles 16 links; thence East 12 poles 16 links; thence South 12 poles, 16 links to the beginning.”  It was separated by a distance of thirty-five feet from our North Third Street, which strip was cut from the Birney addition by the extension of said street.  In the hands of a grasping party, that strip might have caused much trouble; but James G. Birney, with his usual fairness, sold it to the abutting property holders for a nominal sum, instead of making them pay through the nose for an outlet.

The purchase must have exhausted their funds, for it was years before they could erect a fitting building.  The church chronicler says that on the south center of the lot stood a little log cabin which they used as a meeting house; “The church experienced a hard struggle for existence for the next few years. At times it seemed as though they would have to give up the fight, but in each dark period there would come a new ray of hope.  During one of these brighter periods they decided to build a church house.  The town had grown to such an extent that the Baptist property was more valuable; so that at a meeting in the church in 1839 or 1840, they hit upon the plan of selling some of their property to raise funds for the building.”

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1st Land Grants of (Current) Mercer County, Kentucky

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kymercer/grants.html – Also has a nice history of County Formations for the area.

Smith       Zachariah      400  Harrods Run    02-07-1780  1-9
                          1000  Harrods Run    05-29-1780  1-56
Zachariah had a brother named John...

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Naming Patterns – Thinking Out Loud

I’m still obsessed with John M. Smith (1760-ish – 1835) and trying to make a connection between him and a Smith family from the first permanent settlement in Kentucky – Fort Harrod.  John has been a brick wall for a long time, and some of the information I’ve discovered in the last year has given more clues – and more questions.

For years, I thought John had 4 children based on deeds when the siblings sold their portion of John’s land to each other, but researching the Russell County Court Records revealed 2 children that I didn’t know John had. Solomon and Benjamin Smith both passed away in 1840 and their older brothers, George and Elias, were the administrators of their estates.  I have the Court record, administrator and executor’s bonds, but nothing further.  One year later, a brother-in-law, Henry Payne, grants power of attorney to one of his relatives to make sure that his children get their rightful share of each estate.  Only one of these sons – Benjamin – ever showed up in a tax list. He was listed directly after his older brother, owned no property or horse, so to me, it appears that he is a young man living with his brother after the death of his father.  I estimated Solomon and Benjamin’s dates of birth guessing that they were about 20-21 years old at the time of death.  If they had been older, they should have shown up in the lists earlier. So now my group sheet shows 6 children.

Another unknown person showed up in the Court Records in 1833.  John M. Smith was the administrator for the estate of John B. Smith.  John B. never appears in a tax list or deed, and I can find no administrator or executor’s bond for this estate.  I had been hoping that I might find a John B. Smith in Mercer County and that probate records there might make the connection to John M, but I have not been able to find any records at all for a John B. Smith. Today, I was looking at John M’s group sheet and I noticed a 5 year gap between the 2nd and 3rd child and another gap between the 4th and 5th child. Could it be that John B. was also a child who wasn’t quite old enough to be listed on the assessment list?  If I insert a hypothetical John B. into the 2nd gap, I have the following children:

1) Sarah Smith – b. @1804 m. Henry Payne in 1828 d. bef. 1847
2) George A. Smith – b. 1805 m. Talitha Ellis @1834 d. 1890
3) Elias Smith – b. 1810 m. Elizabeth Meadows in 1834 d. 1853
4) Jane Smith – b. @1812 m. Thomas Simpson in 1838 d. 1880
5) John B. Smith – b. @1813?       d. 1833
6) Benjamin Smith – b. @1819?   d. 1840
7) Solomon Smith –  b. @1820?  d. 1840

I find an interesting (and highly speculative!) naming pattern.

Based on information from Genealogy.com, one common naming pattern was:

• The first son was named after the father’s father
• The second son was named after the mother’s father
• The third son was named after the father
• The fourth son was named after the father’s eldest brother

Based on this theory – George Smith (who received a land warrant on Harrod’s Run adjacent to James Harrod’s land in 1780) could be John M. father.  At this time, I only have 1 person in George Smith’s group sheet – a daughter who was married in 1787 – so this is certainly possible.

I don’t have the name of John M’s wife, but in theory, her father’s name would have been Elias. (Both of John M’s oldest sons also had sons named Elias AND George, so I think these are important names in the family.)

The 3rd son, the hypothetical John B, would be named after his father, John M.

Without knowing more on George Smith of Harrodsburg’s children, I cannot confirm that Benjamin or Solomon could be named after brothers.  However, Adam Smith, who died in the Mercer County in 1793, had 2 sons named Benjamin and Solomon.

So my new focus will be on finding all I can on George Smith.  At northamericanforts.com, the listing for Smith’s Station in Mercer County says it was built in 1784 by “George, Adam or Zachariah Smith”.  Does this imply they were related?  They don’t list a source, so I don’t know, but it would make sense. George got his land warrant in 1780 and Adam and Zachariah got theirs in 1781.  Of course, I can find all kinds of information on Adam and Zachariah, but next to nothing on George.  Based on various message boards, Adam and Zachariah’s father was John Michael Smith.  Could my John M. be named after John Michael?The search continues!

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Smith Station – Message Boards

Posted 1 May 2000 at -http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.northam.usa.states.kentucky.counties.lincoln/1614.1633.1635.1726/mb.ashx

On Filson’s 1784 map of Kentucky there are two Smith’s stations which were at that time in Lincoln County. The most southwestern one is between Danville and Harrodsburg on a run that is not named on the map. However, I believe it may be Harrods run. My ancestor George Smith lived on Harrods run between Danville and Harrodsburg at that time.
Anyone know about these two stations which are quite close together. What is the definition of a Station?
Irma

Response on 31 July 2000 at  http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.northam.usa.states.kentucky.counties.lincoln/1614.1633.1635.1726.1993/mb.ashx

Irma:
James Smith Station is one of the stations shown in Lincoln County on Filson’s 1784 Map.
James Smith with the help of his older sons and brother Henry, established a station near the sinking spring on an early trace than ran from the settlements on the west side of Dick’s River to the deep ford at the mouth of Hickman Creek on the Kentucky River. At the Harrodsburg Land Court held 11/5/1779, James Smith claimed the right to a preemption of 400 acres lying on the east side of Dick’s river on a branch near a sinking spring by the said Smith making an actual settlement on the premises March 1, 1779. The Preemption Warrant no. 409 was issued 3/21/1780 for 160 pounds paid by James Smith to the Virginia Treasury. The land entry was dated 6/19/1780, 400 acres on waters of Dick’s River, adjoining Samuel Scott on the south, Andrew Gimblin on the east, and Archer on the south. Surveyed 10/17/1780 and the 400 acres was granted 6/1/1782 to James Smith by Benjamin Harrison, Governor of Virginia. Although Smith had many surveys of land in today’s Garrard County this is the Station Tract. James Smith, Henry Smith, William Smith, Townsend Fugate and Michael Woods spent the hard winter of 1779-80 at the early station. This station became a favorite stop over for travelers.
In 1794, Smith purchased an adjoining tract from Andrew Gimblin and built a log cabin that served as a tavern or inn. This later became Smithtown and in 1836 became the community known today as Bryantsville, Garrard County, Ky.
After James death in 1798, his son Edmond who married Jane Ann Findley, daughter of early settler, David Findley, established the “Burnt Tavern” at the site of the old cabin. In the 1950′s this famous Kentucky land mark was torn down and today part of this tract has become a subdivision and the part that contained the family cemetery is commercial property and the ground around it has been bull dozed down 8 feet and all the top-soil sold. All that remains is a small 1/8 acre that contains at least 20 of the Smith descendants. Edwin and Jane Ann Smith have a beautiful stone marker that has been torn down by a large fallen tree. Plans are to have this stone erected again as soon as funds are available.
In the last couple of years an effort started by a descendant that lives in Garrard County and with the financial help of the Smith/Findley families that migrated west to Missouri and California, a new chain link fence has enclosed the 1/8 acre of ground. A marker has been placed in memory of James Smith, who fought in the R. W. and plans are to erect a stone for his wife, Magdeline Woods, daughter of William Woods. I have a list of the known family members that are buried in this cemetery and will be glad to furnish them to interested parties.
Margaret

To Do:

• Find the Filson’s 1784 map of Kentucky
• Begin a group sheet for James Smith

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A New Puzzle

This week, my library received the FHL films that I ordered for Kentucky Land Grants.  I had 4 specific grants to look at.  I thought they would be certificates of some kind and I probably wouldn’t get much information from them, but instead, they look like deeds with land descriptions and such.  Neat!  But they leave me with more questions than I had originally, probably because I still don’t completely understand how the land grants work.

Two of the land grants were given jointly to John M. Smith and James Gilbert.  I thought I might be able to find out if these men were related. Brother-in-law maybe.  It gives me no information like that.  But the pages do give me warrant numbers.

Now I need to research what I can do with these numbers. Can I tell if they were military warrants?  I guess I thought that’s what I WAS getting with this microfilm, so I’m confused. There are also many other names in here and after talking with my librarians, we believe it is almost like a provenance of the land warrant because of an abbreviation that looks like assee with the two ee’s like superscripts. 

They believe that means “assignee” so I’m going with that for now.  When I did a quick “google” of land patent assignee, it tells me it’s the same as the buyer.  (Feel free to comment with any corrections or further info!!)

The two grants are on consecutive pages in the book.  The first grant only mentions John M. Smith and James Gilbert.  But the second grant says: “there is granted by the said Commonwealth unto John M. Smith and James Gilbert assignee of said Smith who was assignee of Timothy Burgess assignee of Braxton Carter who was assignee of Elijah Hutchison a certain tract or parcel of land….”

So I interpret that to mean that Elijah Hutchison earned the original warrant. Braxton Carter purchased it and sold it to Timothy Burgess who sold it to John M. Smith who sold part of it to James Gilbert.  Does anyone know if I’m correct in this?

I have 2 warrant numbers within the document and a different warrant number in the margin.  Can I follow the land through these numbers? That’s what I’ll need to figure out next.

Time to learn more about the whole Land Grant system!  I have several different presentations on my computer about the process, and I thought I understood it pretty well, but now that I have actual information to follow up on, I can see that I need to watch those again with these specifics in hand.

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A Wonderful Find – Now What?

I’m so excited about some discoveries I’ve made doing research with Google since Saturday!

I had read a story that one of my ancestors, along with his brothers, had a trading post in the Danville, Kentucky area around the time of Kentucky statehood and I wanted to try to confirm that.  The last ancestor that I have confirmed information on is John M. Smith from Russell County.  I know that John purchased land in 1827 (Russell County was formed in 1826) and also had two land grants around the same time.  I don’t know if John was in the area before his area became Russell County or where he might have come from before that.  I don’t know his wife’s name or his parents.

I’ve latched onto the Danville area trading post as the clue that’s going to move me back a generation.  But I have not been able to find anything helpful because there are too many Smiths in the county.  While doing a Google search for trading posts, I discovered that I should be Googling the term “Stations” instead of trading posts.  Then I came across a link that listed “Smith’s Station” located on the road from Danville to the mouth of Dick’s River.  Now I had a better idea of which part of Mercer County to be looking for the Smith’s in Mercer County.  Last night, I was THRILLED to find a map showing all of the pre-1800 Stations in Kentucky and there was Smith’s Station!  Another web site told me the 3 people who are attributed with beginning the station. Could these 3 names be John’s father and his brothers?

So I’m excited to get back to the library on Friday to see what I can find in the Mercer County history books and tax lists.  My hope has been to find that some of the people in John’s part of Russell County (witnesses, neighbors, etc) were also in the same area of Mercer County in the early 1800′s to help me confirm which John Smith in Mercer County could be my John Smith.

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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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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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