Smitty’s Swamp – Part 1

My endeavors as of this day, have not identified a clear pedigree of my Smith line by way of historical documents or proposed in published references. Genealogists prefer to validate against documents to substantiate their conclusions. Many would also go so far as to say a fact is not proved until it is documented. This might work for researchers whose ancestors were from the New England states, where records were well kept and are still available, but in the southern states, where many records were not kept and where many of those that were kept are now lost by war and fires, it is not always possible to document a family’s life completely.

Since there are many gaps in the records of the Smith’s, researchers must weigh all the available evidence and make judgement as to the truth of the matter, much as juries reach their decisions. Conflicting information, as found in many speculations and conjectures, must be checked out by independent research, including the use of modern information gleamed from DNA testing.

Smitty’s Swamp

Imagine nine friends, along with myself, walking in the woods and we come upon a buck, a doe and 8 fawns. The deer get spooked and run feverishly away from us toward the swamp. As the deer approach the swamp the buck and doe enter the waters destined for the dry land on the opposite side. The fawns however, are afraid of the water and skirt the edges of the swamp, on wet but solid ground. They split, some run left and some run right. They will eventually reunite with the buck and doe on the opposite side of the swamp.

In this analogy the buck and doe are to represent my direct lineage, where as the doe’s represent siblings, offspring, clues in each generation of my direct lineage.

As my friends and I begin pursuit of the deer, we are able to follow their trail until we run up against the edge of the swamp.

I can trace my Smith lineage by historical records until I reach John W Smith, who is my 3rd great-grandfather. I must note here that the family genealogist of past have always hit a road block at this point, as did I. Also all of the research that I have seen online, published or by family trees have never been proven or are erroneous. Many hours have been spent examining these paths to conclude they were in error.

For the sake of future family researchers my line begins with my father Roy Lee Smith, his father Floyd Benjamin Smith, his father Richard Isaiah Smith, his father Richard Calhoun Smith, and his father John W Smith.

John W Smith married Nancy A Smith (Houston County, Georgia) in 1835. Family lore does lend that John and Nancy were cousins.

This is where I enter the swamp. I take upon myself to try and track the buck and doe through the swamp. This will be very difficult as the swamp is not a conducive place which allows many traceable signs of the buck and doe to be left behind. At best, I hope to find a broken twig here or there and some turned up mud in the water.

My friends will track the fawns around the edges of the swamp making it easier to track and get back on the trail of the buck and doe on the other side of the swamp.

John W Smith’s (buck) father is likely Isaiah Smith Sr.^{1,2,3}

1. As mentioned John W Smith was always the brick wall when researching this lineage by historical documents. One day I found a family tree online belonging to  Emory Smith. His tree showed his brick wall as Isaiah Smith Jr, who had a brother named John W Smith. Reaching out to Emory I learned that his father and grandparents went to family reunions back in the day and the progenitors known at the reunion of that line/families where Isaiah Smith Jr and John W Smith and were known to be brothers.

Emory’s traced lineage via documented sources: Graylin Smith > William A Smith > Richard S Smith > Isaiah Smith Jr (annotation of ‘Jun’ first used on his marriage license when he wed Amelia Hathcock (Dooly County, Marriages (White), Book A 1846 – 1853)).

This claim of brotherhood, is further supported by evidence. John W Smith lived in the vicinity of the east coast of Florida (Daytona Beach, 2nd half of the 19th century (as indicated by census records)). Isaiah Smith Jr lived in the vicinity of the west coast of Florida (Tampa, 2nd half of the 19th century (as indicated by census records)). Without other documents showing a connection, how is it concluded that they even knew each other living on opposite coast of Florida about an 18 hour horse and buggy ride.

John W Smith’s son Needham Jermone Bonaparte Smith married Isaiah Smith Jr’s daughter Isabelle M Smith around 1888 (according to the 1900 census).

Also, John W Smith’s grandson, Andrew Gideon Hull (mother Sarah Ann Elizabeth Smith Hull) married Isaiah Smith Jr’s grand-daughter Alice S Smith (father Needham Smith) around 1901 (according to the 1910 census).

This lends to the strong conclusion that these Smith families living on opposite coast, knew each other in some manner. They would have had to spend some time together for two generations of offspring to bond and enter marriage.

2. DNA Match (fawn 1) with username LANA LAMEIER {10.6 centimorgans/cms across 1 DNA segment/seg // Emory also matches this user {8.7cm/1seg}. This users traced lineage via documented sources: Grace Cross > Perry Cross > Anne Elizabeth Smith > Isaiah Smith Jr. This reaffirms #1 above and is very strong evidence that John W Smith (myself) and Isaiah Smith Jr (Emory) share the same DNA and are concluded to be brothers (Emory would be my 5th generation cousin).

3. Assuming that Isaiah Smith is a Junior, then there must be a Senior. In examining the 1830 U.S. Census for Houston County, Georgia there is an Isaiah Smith living next to an Eason Smith. We know that census takers back in the 1830’s normally traveled by foot/horse and sequentially went door to door, per se, to collect the census data. So we can assume that in 1830 Isaiah and Eason lived near or next to each other.

Eason is believed to be the second eldest son of Isaiah Smith Sr. DNA Match (fawn 2) with username Joan Murphy {15.9cm/1seg}. This users traced lineage via documented sources: Carrie Belle Barry > Nannie Mae Smith > Eason Smith Jr > Eason Smith Sr.

All of this evidence compiled implies John W Smith’s father is Isaiah Smith Sr. This gets us a quarter around the left side of the swamp.

Next entry we’ll examine some evidence taking us around the right side of the swamp.