Gregg Family’s Early Years in California: 52 Ancestors 2022 Prompt “Fun Facts”

Covered Wagon Train to Running Citrus Nursery: Gregg Family’s Interesting History

John Henry Gregg: 1836-1891 (husband of 1^st Cousin 3x Removed)

Susannah Vaught Hargrave Gregg: 1842-1923 (1^st Cousin 3x Removed)

Robert Hargrave: 1816-1881 (Husband of 2^nd great-grandaunt Sisera Bland Smith)

 

First cousins three times removed might seem like too distant a family relationship to spend time researching, but sometimes these extended family members have the most interesting stories that bring our nation’s history to vivid, dramatic life. In this case, cousin Susannah Vaught Hargrave was born in Indiana, married John H. Gregg in Texas, and ended up moving to Orange County in the 1870s, a period before it even became Orange County! Since we now live in Orange County, I was intrigued, and began looking at newspaper articles about the family on Newspapers.com. To my delight, I ran across an absolute gem: a photo-studded feature story from the November 18, 1954 issue of the Whittier News titled “Descendants of Pioneer Gregg Family Tell of Wagon Train Trip from Texas.” This article provided a treasure trove of fun facts about the Greggs and their early years in California.

To fit the “Fun Facts” theme, I will recount the information in a bullet-point format.

• ·     The principal source of information for the article was John and Susannah Gregg’s youngest daughter, Blanche Gregg Vaux. Since she was born in 1881, years after many of the events took place, she may have some details wrong. In fact, she omits mention of her two oldest brothers altogether. Samuel and James, who died at 23 and 30 years old respectively, were 16 and 14 years her senior, so perhaps she little contact with them. However, her version of the family’s history follows the paper record quite closely and is worth recording. Therefore, I will recount her following stories as “facts”.

• ·     Robert Hargrave, Susannah’s father and Blanche’s grandfather, moved to California before his daughter and her husband John H. Gregg did. He traveled to Southern California by wagon train, arriving in 1867. He bought a ranch in the Whittier area. The article states that, “He saw irrigation water going to waste, and according to W. H. King (another area ranching pioneer) he dammed it into a reservoir, dug a channel, put in a water wheel, and built a grist mill on his ranch above Telegraph Rd. between Norwalk Blvd and Dice Rd. After turning the water wheel, the water drained into the lake for which Little Lake School is named.” (Note: a Rancho Santa Fe/Whittier area elementary school district is still named Little Lake, but the referenced school no longer exists, and I find no sign of the lake.)

Robert Eldred Hargrave

• ·    According to Blanche, this mill was one of the first two in the area, and her grandfather planted one of the first area apple orchards, pressing and selling apple cider as part of his ranching operations. She incorrectly claims he died in the 1890s. He died the same year she was born: 1881.
• ·    Blanche also fails to mention that her grandfather, a widower, had remarried and fathered a son before moving to California. His first marriage had produced only daughters. His second wife, Sarah, died at some point prior to 1877, when Robert married for a third time to a younger woman named Priscilla Hayes. Robert’s son, Robert C. Hargrave, didn’t follow his father into ranching; instead becoming a music teacher in San Diego!

Robert C Hargrave, music teacher

• ·     Blanche states her parents left Texas with a wagon train of 30 Texas families two years after her grandfather’s 1867 arrival. She was off by about two years. Her parents were living at Fort Concho, Texas in 1870 when the  federal census was taken. Since their fourth son, Lloyd, was born in California in 1872, they probably arrived sometime in 1871. Blanche also states that the Greggs traveled with their toddler son Gus. In reality, they also had the two older sons with them, Samuel, who was nearly 6, and James, age 4.

Wagon train in Texas

• ·    The wagon train supposedly started with 1200 cattle, but much of the livestock was stolen as the group passed through Indian lands in New Mexico and Arizona. They traveled through El Paso, Tucson and Yuma, Arizona before crossing into California, skirting south of the Salton Sea near the Mexican border. This trail, which must have been brutal as it passed through vast expanses of Sonoran desert, had been constructed a southerly extension of the U. S Government’s Pacific Wagon Road, made possible by the Gadsden Purchase of southern Arizona. The map below shows the importance of water to the wagon trains—the trail goes from one spring to another.

• ·     John Gregg lost most of his cattle during the long trek, and stopped in Gila Bend, Arizona to feed and water them for several months while the wagon train with his wife and children continued on to San Diego County, California. Susannah must have been both brave and tough to survive those last months on her own with three children under six to care for, as well as the wagon team.

Colorado River ford at Ft. Yuma--Susannah had to guide her team across by herself as John had stayed in Gila with their cattle.

• ·    The Greggs spent their first year in California in the San Diego area before moving to the Whittier area, then called Los Nietos, where son Lloyd was born May 9, 1872.
• ·    The Gregg family lived in “a little white house on the south side of what [was then known as Kings Lane and] became Washington Blvd. on the place later known as the Cole Ranch.” The area was known for walnut orchards, and the Greggs raised walnuts as well. This house was “longtime home of the Gregg family”. This property was very near Susannah Gregg’s father’s ranch, which was variously described as near the intersection of Norwalk, Dice and Telegraph Rds., so just a couple miles south of Washington Blvd.

Whittier area around 1900

• ·     John Henry Gregg also acquired land in what is now Orange County. “For a period [he] took his family from the little white house to a home in Orange, California, and he opened the citrus nursery which supplied many large orange trees still growing in the Orange-Fullerton area. The nursery prospered for a few years.” This is so amazing! The Greggs helped supply the orange growing industry that gave Orange County its name! The first commercial orange grove in the area was planted in 1875, so John H Gregg’s nursery must have been established shortly thereafter. By the 1880’s oranges were a two million dollar a year crop in the county, so a lot of nursery stock was planted in just 5-10 years, and Gregg took advantage of that.
• ·    According to Blanche, “a panic hit the country, ranchers lost their places to the subdivider, a Mr. Chapman, and John Henry Gregg came back to Kings Lane.” Chapman is of course banker and citrus magnate Charles C. Chapman, the man for whom Chapman University in Orange is named. I don’t quite understand what Blanche is accusing Chapman of doing. The Greggs continued to own their Orange County property until at least 1900 as we shall see in a future blog post about James Gregg, but perhaps the nursery business failed due to Chapman’s competition.
• ·    Blanche notes that she and her brother Wallace were born in Orange, so that establishes the years they lived there as spanning at least 1876-1881. Robert Hargrave’s 1881 death may have also led to the family’s decision to move back to the Whittier area as they seem to have taken over running his ranch as well. I have to assume that the 1882 decision to emancipate the three oldest sons (see my previous post) may have had something to do with the family’s need to manage all these far-flung properties. Did Samuel, James and Gus take over the Orange property for a few years?
• ·    John Henry then bought “sixty acres just east of John King’s ranch at the northeast corner of what is Sorensen and Washington Blvd., and grew walnuts.” This is now an area of small homes surrounded adjacent to strip malls and commercial properties.

Walnut harvest in Whittier area in late 1800s

• ·     Around 1887 John Henry bought a large house from the then-mayor of Los Angeles Henry Hazard, located between Hope and Grand Ave. near 29^th. This area is now a commercial district adjacent to the 110 Freeway, not far from USC.
• ·    After a couple years in that house, John Henry traded it to J. H. Lankershim for 110 acres in a newly subdivided area then called Lankershim, but is now North Hollywood. He planned to ranch the land, and moved the family back into the “little white house” on Kings Lane/Washington Blvd.
• ·    According to Blanche, following John Henry Gregg’s death in 1891, Susannah and the younger children moved to Los Angeles. However, census records find them living at 8 Painter Avenue in Whittier in 1900. They didn’t move to Los Angeles until about 1904, and were living at 1830 4^th Avenue. Susannah and Blanche were still there at the time of the 1910 census. Following Blanche’s marriage, Susannah moved in with her son Lloyd and his family, who were living at and running the Lankershim ranch John Henry had acquired years earlier.  

The facts set out in this feature article provide an amazing window into the wheeling and dealing life of John Henry Gregg. He may have started with nothing but a few head of cattle he brought from Texas, but he ended up with several pieces of prime real estate scattered around Los Angeles and Orange Counties. This land helped to set up some of his children for secure, comfortable lives. I loved discovering the Gregg family’s connections to the region we call home.

Sources:

https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/workspace/handleMediaPlayer?qvq=&trs=&mi=&lunaMediaId=RUMSEY~8~1~204723~3002261

http://coastdaylight.com/ljames1/orange_history.html

Father Confers Adulthood on Three Minors: 52 Ancestors 2022 Prompt “New to You”

1882 Legal Notice that Father Would No Longer Support Three Teen Sons

Susannah Vaught Hargrave Gregg: 1842-1923 (First Cousin 3x Removed)
John Henry Gregg: 1836-1891 (Husband of First Cousin 3x Removed)
Samuel Gregg: 1865-1888 (Second Cousin 2x Removed)
James Gregg: 1867-1899 (Second Cousin 2x Removed)
Augustus Hugh “Gus” Gregg: 1869-1952 (Second Cousin 2x Removed)

 

Nineteenth century newspapers contain the occasional surprise, from the amusing, such as articles about community controversies, to the seriously disturbing, such as casual references to racist attacks and Ku Klux Klan meetings. However, I had never seen anything like the newspaper legal notice published over the course of several days in the summer of 1882 by John Henry Gregg.  He was publicly announcing that he was no longer responsible for three of his minor sons and that he was basically making them “adults”. What in the world?

The text of the notice, published each of three days in August 1882 in the Los Angeles Times, reads as follows:

“Know all men by these presents: That I, John H. Gregg, of Los Angeles County, State of California, by reason of the provisions of section two hundred and eleven of the Civil Code of California, and in consideration of the natural love and affection which I have and bear for my children, Samuel Gregg, James M. Gregg and Augustus Gregg, do hereby relinquish to said children the right of controlling them and receiving their earnings during the remainder of their minority, and I do hereby, so far as in my power, invest them with all the rights, privileges and authority of adults.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this 24^th day of August, A. D. 1882.

John H. Gregg”

This type of notice was certainly new to me! I immediately checked the ages of the three young men in August 1882: they were John’s three eldest children, and were 17, 15 and 13 years of age! What did this notice mean? Was he actually kicking out a 13-year-old child to fend for himself? Where were the boys to go? How were they supposed to earn their keep? What would prompt such action by a father?

Who was John Henry Gregg? John was born in Texas in 1836, and married a granddaughter of Elias Guess Smith, Susannah Vaught Hargrave, in Hopkins, Texas on September 26, 1859. (That would make Susannah the first cousin of Rev. Willis Smith)

When the Civil War broke out, John enlisted in the 23^rd Regiment of the Texas Cavalry on July 10, 1862. He served in the Confederate Army as a private in the cavalry until March 5, 1865.

Following the war, John and Susannah moved their family to Fort Concho near what is now San Angelo, Texas. The fort was the base of the United States 4^th Cavalry, so possibly John continued as a cavalryman, but now for the United States rather than the Confederacy. The 1870 census listed him as a “stock driver” which, according to Wikipedia, was one of the tasks of the 4^th Cavalry, serving as protective escorts to stock herds as they crossed Indian lands on their way to market.

By 1880, the family had relocated. According to information one of John’s grandsons provided in a newspaper article years later, the family left Texas in a covered wagon, moving to California where they bought a walnut orchard. From there, they began expanding their land holdings and moved into ranching and farming in the Los Angeles basin. By the 1880 census, they lived in Santa Ana Township in what is now Orange County. The non-population schedule of the 1880 census shows that John owned 46 acres of land near Santa Ana worth $2000, and that he had five acres of orchard or meadow, and a few hundred dollars’ worth of stock.

So what happened in 1882 that prompted John to publish this bizarre legal notice? I at first assumed that John Gregg and his wife Susannah Hargrave Gregg were impoverished, desperate to feed their six children, and decided to send the three oldest sons out into the world in the hopes they could support themselves. However, my research indicates that John actually owned a considerable amount of land in what is now Whittier, North Hollywood, and Orange County. He was a rancher, raising cattle and also orchards of nuts and fruit. The family does not appear to have been destitute.

Additional property owned by John Gregg in 1880s near Whittier

I next tried to research Section 211 of the California Civil Code. I believe he was referencing what is now called the California Family Code, but it has been amended extensively since 1882 and I cannot find any online references that show the code as it would have read in 1882. All I can tell is that the section had something to do with child custody. This makes sense, as John Gregg was essentially giving up his parental rights to these three children.

But how could something so extreme have been legal, even in the more rough and tumble era of the 1880s? And what happened to the poor young men?

To my surprise, I found a Los Angeles Herald newspaper article dated June 11, 1888, listing all the students at the seminary of the University of Southern California—USC. Among the students were Samuel, James and Augustus Gregg, with their hometown listed as Fulton Wells. So how did the young men go from being tossed out by their father to college students? And where was Fulton Wells?

Google told me that Fulton Wells is now a neighborhood in Rancho Santa Fe, near Torrance, about 16 miles from the USC campus. I wonder how the young men travelled to school, or did they were live on campus during 1888? 

I have been unable to find records indicating where the boys were living between 1882 and 1886. I also found no indication that John Gregg’s sons were estranged from him, as both James and Augustus managed and eventually owned properties their father had acquired. Was the Fulton Wells property also owned by their father?

I have one hypothesis for John’s strange newspaper notice that is a kinder, more humane possibility than abandoning his sons. John owned land in at least three quite separate locations—miles apart and hours away in an era of horse and wagon travel. Perhaps he “emancipated” his three eldest sons in order to place them in charge of one or more of his properties. By granting them the rights of adults, they could handle any ranch-related business that arose without having to consult him. I am hoping this was the real explanation for the strangest newspaper legal notice that I have ever run across.

I will be adding additional blogs on the fates of John and Susannah’s children.

Sources:

Los Angeles Herald. June 11, 1888. Accessed through Newspapers.com.

Los Angeles Times. 15 Sep 1882 Legal Notice. Accessed through Newspapers.com.

Los Angeles Times. 18 Dec 1890. Accessed through Newspapers.com.

Los Angeles Times. 2 Feb 1891. Accessed through Newspapers.com.

1880 Federal Census. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1276/images/31560_204073-00022?pId=1728567

1870 Federal Census. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/7579590:7163?ssrc=pt&tid=81812584&pid=262382596284

Left Out of the Not-a-Will: 52 Ancestors 2022 Prompt “Passed Down”

Elias Guess Smith’s Verbal “Will” Cuts Out All His Children But One

Elias Guess Smith: 1775-1830 (Maternal 3rd Great-grandfather)

William Bundine Smith: 1807-1882? (Maternal Second Great-Granduncle)

 

Following Elias Guess Smith’s death in 1830 at the comparatively young age of 54, his wife appeared with her brother before a local justice of the peace in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, where they swore that Elias had told them he was leaving all his property to his 22-year-old son William Bundine Smith. This wouldn’t have been so surprising if William was an only child, but he was one of twelve children, ten of whom were still living at the time of Elias’ death.

Here is a transcription of the document brought to court following Elias’ death:

“This day personally appeared before me, Solomon Rhoads, Justice of the Peace for Muhlenberg County of State of Kentucky, Simeon Vaught & Hannah Smith & made oath as follows to wit That on the 3^rd day of March 1830 Elias G Smith did voluntarily give & deliver in to the actual possession of his son William B. Smith in their presence all his personal estate without any exception, he the said Elias B Smith being in his perfect mind—further the witness saith oral—sworn to & signed by said witness before me this 30^th day of March 1830.

Hannah Smith (her mark) x

Simion Vaught

Cert. Solomon Rhoads, JP Muhlenberg County JP

March County Court 1830”

The probate court apparently accepted this testimony as truth. A descendant reported on Family Search that, “This oath was, in March County Court 1830, declared to be the ‘nuncupative will of Elias G. Smith, deceased…’”

According to the Legal Information Institute of the Cornell Law School, a noncupative will is:

“A will which is not written, but is declared orally by the testator. Nuncupative wills are not valid in a majority of states.”

The passage goes on to state that they are thought of as “deathbed” wills, and usually happen when the person is near death or too ill to write or sign a normal will. This type of will, when allowed in a state, requires a certain number of witnesses to the deathbed utterances, and the recording of the witnesses’ testimony as soon as possible.

How did William’s siblings feel about this incredibly unfair distribution of Elias’ land and possessions? Some of Elias’ children were already adults, so it is possible he had already made provision for Jesse, Martha, George and Elijah. However, the five younger children, John Everett Vaught Smith, Louisa, Sicera, Elias Jr., and Mary Elizabeth, were still minors, so would not have already received any property from their father as the older children might have. There was no indication in Hannah’s sworn affidavit that Elias had made any provision for Hannah’s care or that of those five young children, who ranged in age between 3 and 17 years of age. Was William expected to care for his mother and younger siblings? Was there any guarantee he would do so?

This whole sworn testimony seems a little fishy. What happened to Elias? Why was this oral will necessary? What caused his death? Why was Hannah’s brother Simeon Vaught present? What interest did he have in his brother-in-law’s property? Was Hannah under pressure from relatives to make this claim? Why was William chosen over the oldest son, Jesse? What happened to William Bundine Smith and to his siblings in the years following his inheritance?

Elias Guess (E. G.) Smith headstone

I will have to continue my research in the hope that I will eventually find answers to some of these questions. This was a fascinating way to pass down property, and I am surprised the court accepted Hannah and Simeon’s sworn testimony. It was my first exposure to a “noncupative will.”

The Two Elias Smiths Who Married Two Vaught Women: 52 Ancestors 2022 Prompt “Mistake”

Double the Confusion: Elias Guess Smith and Elias Smith and Their Vaught Wives

Elias Guess Smith: 1775-1830

Hannah Vaught Smith: 1781-1842

While researching Elias Guess Smith, Bruce’s third-great-grandfather, I was confused by the documents I was turning up on Ancestry. In some of them, Elias was born in 1775, while in others his birth date was calculated as 1778. And while most documents listed his wife as Hannah, with the maiden name Vaught, a few showed his wife as Peggy Vaught. All the documents were from Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, so I felt comfortable attaching them to Elias Guess Smith. After all, what were the odds that there were two Elias Smiths in one lightly populated county who were nearly the same age, and who married women with the same surname? Ridiculously small, right?

Big mistake. There were definitely two different Elias Smiths in Muhlenberg County, and I was forced to clean up the mess I’d made on poor Elias Guess Smith’s records. So how did my confusion arise? What was the relationship between these two Eliases and their two Vaught family wives? Or was there no relationship at all? I had to figure it out.

I was able to verify that Elias Guess Smith married Hannah Vaught in January of 1801 in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. According to Findagrave and Family Search, Hannah was the daughter of Gilbert Fite Vaught and Mary Martin, and was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania on April 30, 1781.

The other Elias Smith married a woman named Peggy Vaught on September 1, 1803. I was able to find Peggy on Family Search. Records there indicate she was born Margaret Vaught on February 15, 1785 to John B. Vaught Sr. and his wife Elizabeth Martin. John Vaught’s will names his daughter Margaret Smith, and one of his executors was Elias Smith, so this all seems to match up.

Marriage record for Elias Smith and Peggy Vaught 1803

When I looked at the records for John B. Vaught, I discovered he was the son of Christian Vaught and Annaetje Hannah Crum. He was born in 1761, and was the younger brother of Gilbert Fite Vaught, who was born in 1756. Assuming this information is correct, that means that the two wives of the two Elias Smiths were first cousins; both were the grandchildren of Christian Vaught. The women may have been double cousins, as the maiden name of both their mothers was Martin.

Peggy Vaught’s husband, Elias Smith, was born in 1778, supposedly to parents John and Mary Smith. The note on his tree entry in Family Search reads “Not to be confused with Elias Guess Smith, who md Hannah Vaught (cousin?), who also lived in Muhlenberg Kentucky, but had more children. This Elias died before 1832.”

Despite the helpful direction from the Family Search wiki, I was still quite confused. How were these two Eliases related, if at all? Were the two first cousins, just like their wives?

Elias Guess Smith from Family Search

I have been able to track down Elias Guess Smith’s lineage through FamilySearch, where his tree entry has a PDF attachment providing a summary of research on his life, parentage, and siblings. He was born to Peter Smith and Jemima Simpson, Virginia natives who moved to Caswell County, North Carolina. Elias and several siblings moved west to Kentucky, most settling in Muhlenberg County, where he met and married Hannah Vaught.

Kentucky Land Deed to Elias Guess Smith

This discovery led me to make more corrections to my Ancestry tree. I had mistakenly listed his parents as a Capt. John Smith, married to a Mary Sinnet, both of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  

Unfortuately, I have been unable to find this type of valuable information for the second Elias Smith. There is only speculation that he may be the son of a “John Smith” who may have been from Pennsylvania—perhaps the Captain Smith I had incorrectly linked to Elias Guess Smith. If he truly is connected to the Pennsylvania Smiths, there would be no familial relationship to Elias Guess Smith, but it might have explained his connection to the Vaughts, who also moved to Kentucky from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

However, it appears the two Eliases knew one another. Obviously, since they married women who were first cousins, they knew one another through their inlaws. In addition, there are references in the FamilySearch research summaries to a land transaction between the two men: Elias Guess Smith sold or transferred land to Elias Smith. The person who noted the transaction speculated that this might indicate the two men were related. However, at this point, I can find no evidence to support this hypothesis.

Elias Guess Smith headstone in Kentucky, photo from Ancestry

I am glad that I was able to recognize my mistakes quickly, enabling me to separate the records and lives of the two men named Elias Smith. My mistakes proved serendipitous. If I hadn’t realized I had mixed up two Elias Smiths, I probably would never have turned to FamilySearch, and would never have found the resources that have given me so much information on Elias Guess Smith’s parents and siblings.

 

Sources:

"United States Census, 1820," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYBZ-3QT?cc=1803955&wc=3L7N-H81%3A1586986501%2C1586986804%2C1586984616 : 16 July 2015), Kentucky > Hopkins > Not Stated > image 22 of 24; citing NARA microfilm publication M33, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

History of Muhlenberg Co. Ky. Pg. 222 Hazel Creek Baptist Church. Cem. Muhlenberg Co. Ky. McDougal Cem. Will of James S. Smith-BL Death record James S. Smith -BL Marriage record JS. Smith- BL Bonnie Lilywhite said there are marriage records available. "Peter Smith some of his Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentuky decendents" written by Pearl O. Smith. possesion of Nina Smith.

Note from FamilySearch: DEATH: will made 18 Apr 1793, proved Oct 1797 Caswell Co,NC-I have copy !MILITARY: Rev War Private NC, by R. Simpson.

Kentucky Marriages, 1802-1850, Author Dodd, Jordan. Record from Ancestry.com

Peter Smith of Westmoreland County, Virginia and Some Descendants. Abell, Richard Bender and Smith, Wolmer L., 1996. Published for authors by Bookcrafters, Chelsea, Michigan. Family History Library; http://www.familysearch.org

Smith, Peter of Caswell County North Carolina d-1797.pdf , by LeAnn Littledike

Smith, Elias Guess.pdf., by LeAnn Littledike. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/LHJZ-Q1S

The Name “Willis” Over Generations: 52 Ancestors 2022 Prompt “Popular Name”

Willis: A Name Carries on Over Four Generations

1.  1.      Willis Smith: 1811-1811
2.      Willis D Smith: 1853-1928—Nephew of #1
3.      Willis Eugene Smith: 1888-1973---Son of #2
4.      Willis Smith Sears: 1873-1963---Nephew of #2 by Willis D.’s sister Sarah Smith Sears
5.      Willis Weir Streets: 1892-1940---Nephew of #2 by Willis D.’s sister Cordelia Smith Streets
6.      Howard Willis Streets: 1917-1962---Son of #5, Willis Weir Streets
7.      James Willis Streets: 1934-2018—Son of #5, Willis Weir Streets
8.      Willis Joel Cox: 1906-2002---Grandson of #2, child of Willis D.’s daughter Alma Smith Cox
9.      James Willis Smith: 1928-1935---Grandson of #2, child of Willis D.’s son Eldred Paschal Smith

As I researched the Smith family line, I noticed that the first name Willis appeared in several different generations of the family. I was curious about the name, and decided to see if I could find the “original” Willis. I tracked back along four generations of the Smith family, and hit a brick wall with Willis P. Smith’s grandfather, Elias Guess Smith. Was the name originally one given to Elias Guess’ sibling? Or an uncle? Was it an old surname? Or was it just a name selected at random? At the moment I have hit a brick wall in my research—I can’t definitively identify Elias Guess Smith’s parents, so can’t look at any earlier generations for an earlier appearance of the name—but I have managed to locate an amazing nine individuals named Willis descended from Elias Guess Smith.

The earliest use of the name I have found so far was in 1811. Elias Guess Smith and his wife Hannah Vaught had a son, Willis Smith, supposedly born on February 3, 1811. Willis does not show up on any Ancestry records, but I discovered him on Family Search. Apparently, a family member in Kentucky inherited the Smith family Bible, which contained the birth dates of all of Elias Guess Smith’s children, including little Willis, and this information was entered in FamilySearch records. According to that Bible, Willis died before his first birthday.

Elias Guess Smith painting from Family Search--see citation below.

There is one small problem with this birthdate for little Willis. His brother, Elijah F. Smith (2^nd Great-Grandfather), was born a scant six months later, on August 4, 1811. I have been unable to find any official record of Elijah’s birth either, but he used that birth date throughout his life and it is even carved into his headstone. Was Willis actually born a year earlier in 1810?

However the conflicting birth dates are eventually resolved, Elijah decided to honor his lost brother by naming his third son Willis D. Smith (Great-grandfather), born February 1, 1853. Willis D. continued the tradition by naming his fourth son Willis Eugene Smith, born January 22, 1888.

While Willis Eugene had no sons to carry on the name, his sister Alma Smith Cox named her son, born in 1906, Willis Joel Cox. Willis Eugene's younger brother Eldred Paschal Smith also named one of his sons, born in 1928, James Willis Smith.

Two of Willis D. Smith’s siblings also named their sons Willis. Sarah Smith Sears named her eldest son, born in 1873, Willis Smith Sears. And the youngest of Elijah Smith’s daughters, Cornelia Smith Streets, named her eldest son, born February 21, 1892, Willis Weir Streets. In turn, Willis Weir used Willis as his eldest son’s middle name; Howard Willis Streets was born October 8, 1917.

Willis Weir Smith (first cousin twice-removed) had a tragic early death that is worth exploring. He married a young woman named Frankie Marguerite Shacklett and by age 25 was working as an assistant baker for the S. A. Sears Baking Co. 

Willis Weir and Frankie Marguerite Streets

However, by the 1920 census, Willis had become a coal miner. He continued to work in the coal mines over the next twenty years, eventually becoming a “shotfirer” by the time of the 1940 census. The job is described as follows by a website dealing with the history of Perryopolis, Pennsylvania.

“Shot Firers, the men who drilled holes in the coal face and inserted tubes filled with black powder, then set off explosions to loosen the coal. This was one of the most dangerous jobs in the mine. The mere proximity of the miner’s oil lamp to the black powder was sufficient to ensure that. Then there was the danger of a premature detonation.”

Shot Firer planting black powder tube

Willis Weir’s first wife Frankie died in 1930. The couple had three children, including Howard Willis. Their third child died in infancy. Willis remarried a couple years later to a woman named Della Mae Stewart. They had a child April 2, 1934, who Willis named James Willis Streets.

Given the hazards of Willis Weir Streets’ job, it is probably no surprise that he lost his life in a mining accident. His obituary reads as follows:

“Willis Weir Streets, 48 years of age, a former resident of the Drakesboro and Paradise section, was killed at the Edd White mines in West Virginia, September 21, (1940). Just as Mr. Streets and his partner were entering the mouth of a room with their timbers, tons of slate fell upon them crushing them both to death instantly. Mr. Streets' remains were brought back to Kentucky for burial. Funeral services were conducted by Rev. Ollie Weir of Livermore, at the Mt. Carmel church, and interment was in the Weir Cemetery. Mr. Streets is survived by his wife and three children by a former marriage, Howard, Marguerite and James Willis; two brothers, John Streets, Drakesboro, and Owens Streets, Indianapolis, IN; and two sisters, Mrs. Nellie Buchanan, Paradise, and Mrs. Effie Lynn Soby, Seattle, WA; and his father, Pat Streets of Drakesboro.”

Coal mining photo which gives an idea of the amount of rock that fell on Willis

.

Willis Wier Streets’ death is a reminder of the grim toll coal mining exacted in Kentucky, West Virginia and other coal-rich states. Mining accidents were far too common. I have been unable to find a single newspaper article about the collapse at the Edd White mine that killed Willis—I suspect the death toll was too small to be newsworthy.

Willis Weir Streets' headstone from Findagrave

While the name “Willis” may not be very common today, it was certainly popular among the descendants of Elias Guess Smith, and was passed down through four generations to nine individuals. Family names like this are a special treasure.

 

Sources:

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L5BY-HC1   Birth and death dates are recorded in the “Old Smith Bible” in possession of Mrs. Hattie Brown, of Island, Kentucky (a great granddaughter of Elias and Hannah).

Painting of Elias Guess Smith, posted to Family Search by Garry Eugene Barnes. Provenance unknown. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/L5BY-HC1

Information on Shotfirers from “Coal Mining” article on the following website: http://www.perryopolis.com/coal.shtml

Coal mining photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

So Interesting, So Unrelated: 52 Ancestors 2022 Prompt “Popular Name”

 

A Mother’s Unending Love or Bitterness?

A Will and a Bequest to a Lost Willis

 

Once in a while, while searching for records for an ancestor, I run across a record for someone with the same name, a record so striking and evocative that I just can’t let it go. As I was researching the first name “Willis” in the Smith line, I ran across a 1902 will with a bequest to a Willis Smith—not the correct Willis Smith I was searching for, but obviously a man with a fascinating story. I just had to write about him, even though he’s not a part of the family tree.

A Union County, Kentucky mother by the name of Lucinda Smith made a will in January 1902, just a few weeks before her death. In the will, she divided her money and possessions among her three daughters, making especial provision for her youngest daughter, Della, who was still a minor.

Lucinda Smith Will Transcript found on Ancestry

Apparently, Lucinda also had one son, who received the briefest mention and strangest bequest in the will:

“And to my son Willis Smith, if he be alive, I will my own picture.”

What does this bequest mean? What was the purpose?

It sounds as if Lucinda was estranged from her son—that he left home and either never wrote to his family, or stopped corresponding with them, leaving them wondering where he was. Lucinda wasn’t even sure he was alive. As a parent, I can imagine the endless worry and sense of loss Lucinda suffered.

But was there also a bit of malice in the bequest? Did Lucinda leave him her photo as a reproach? A physical reminder of the parent he had abandoned, in the hope that he would feel some guilt and responsibility for his lack of care for her?

Lucinda also left young Della a picture of Lucinda’s husband/Della’s father, Yarbrough H. Smith, and a picture of Willis Smith.  I surmise that she wanted Della to remember her long-lost brother, which would seem to indicate that Lucinda still loved her wayward son.

Out of curiosity I tried to track down this Willis Smith, but haven’t been able to definitively identify him. A few other trees on Family Search and Ancestry variously have him living and dying in either Oklahoma or California, and I found another Willis of the right age and birth location who lived in Texas, However, there is little evidence that any of those Willis Smiths were Lucinda’s son.

So it appears I will never know if this mysterious Willis ever received the photo of his mother that she wanted him to have. What a fascinating little research rabbit hole to stumble upon!

Sources:

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/570870:9066?tid=81812584&pid=262378657406&queryId=28cf53a219fbb3f3066b3053fe6722f6&_phsrc=Jng9552&_phstart=successSource