Kentucky Genealogy Blogger Gives Me a Critical Hint to New Branch of Family Tree
Peter Smith: 1736-1797 (Maternal 4th
Great-Grandfather)
Elias Guess Smith: 1775-1830 (Maternal 3rd
Great-Grandfather)
While researching a different blog topic, I tried the
following Google search: “Muhlenberg County, Civil War”. I was trying to find
out information about two Smith brothers, Samuel and Elias Guess Smith II, who
served on opposite sides of the war. I wanted to learn about army units that were
formed in their home county in Kentucky. The first search result was a post on
“Kentucky Kindred Genealogy”, a blog by genealogist Phyliss Brown. The January
2019 post was titled “Muhlenberg County’s Civil War Soldiers” and profiled four
soldiers who were included in a county history written by Otto A. Rothert. One
of those four soldiers was William H. Smith. A Smith from Muhlenberg
County—surely he was related somehow to my two Smith soldiers. But how? I decided
to investigate—an investigation that led to a whole new set of family tree
branches. That social media post led me to some amazing discoveries!
Ms. Brown’s post said that William Smith was the son of
Leonard Smith and the grandson of “pioneer Aaron Smith.” That caught my
attention, as my two soldier’s grandfather, Elias Guess Smith Sr., had also
been described in materials I’d read as a county “pioneer”. Could Aaron and
Elias Guess Smith be brothers or cousins?
I began researching Aaron Smith, and looked at other trees
on Ancestry that included him. I discovered that his father appeared to be a
Peter Smith, who was born in Virginia and died in North Carolina. Attached to
those Ancestry trees was Peter Smith’s probated will, which was dated 1793 but
was probated in October 1797 following his death at the age of 61.
 |
| Peter T Smith will dated 1793, probated 1797, part 1 |
The images of this will proved to be a treasure trove of
information, including, most importantly, the names of Peter’s surviving
children. And this list of progeny included Elias Guess Smith and Aaron Smith.
The children and their inheritances were listed as follows:
Elizabeth: a slave named Jane, a horse saddle and bridle,
and a feather bed.
Martha: a slave girl named Bess, a horse saddle and bridle,
and a feather bed and furniture.
Jesse: a slave boy named Lewis.
Moses: a slave boy named Edmond
Aron: a slave girl named Fanney
 |
| Peter Smith Will probated 1797, part 2 |
The remaining “property & Estate consisting of land,
Negroes, Stock, Household furniture” was to be “equally divided between the
rest of my sons to witt James, William, Presley W. George, John B., Elias &
Elijah”. One slave was not included in the property division, but had detailed
instructions as to his fate which I will write about in a separate post.
I was thrilled by the information in this original document!
Elias Guess Smith not only had a confirmed set of parents at last, but he also
had two sisters and nine brothers! The tree was expanding at a phenomenal rate!
So due to a single social media post, I was able to not only
confirm that the William H. Smith featured in the Kentucky Kindred blog post
was truly related to Elias Guess Smith and his descendants, but I was also able
to add Elias’ eleven siblings to the tree and start trying to verify accounts
in other trees that possibly seven of Peter Smith’s children ended up moving to
Kentucky. I am grateful to the work of other genealogy bloggers like Ms. Brown.
Their posts not only help to answer questions I already have, but they can also
identify entirely new paths of inquiry. I hope my own blog will prove helpful
to other researchers in the future.
Sources:
https://kentuckykindredgenealogy.com/2019/01/13/muhlenberg-countys-civil-war-soldiers/
https://archive.org/details/historyofmuhlenb00roth/page/74/mode/2up
No comments:
Post a Comment