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

Negative Results Prompt Re-evaluation: 52 Ancestors 2022 Prompt “Negatives”

Negative Results on Eldred Smith Children Leads to Tree Corrections

James Willis Smith: 1928-1935

Estella Smith: 1918-2004

 

Sometimes negative research results mean that I have made an error—I am searching in the wrong place, I have the ancestor’s name wrong, or I missed a death or marriage along the way. Sometimes there just aren’t any records to be found—the area where the ancestor lived didn’t keep records yet, or had lost them in a fire or flood or other disaster. And sometimes, negative search results prompt me to rethink and go back to the beginning, which I had to do when my searches for two of Eldred and Nina Smith’s children turned up negative.

According to most family trees on Ancestry, Eldred and Nina had three children: Robert Cecil, born in 1917, James Willis, born in 1928, and Estella, born in 1918. However, I noticed that Eldred’s obituary only mentioned one child, Robert. Robert’s were also the only records I was finding on Ancestry and Family Search. So what happened to James and Estella?

I quickly found an answer—a tragic answer—for James Willis Smith. I located James’ death certificate from Laredo, Texas, a certificate that left me with as many questions as answers. James died in Laredo on October 19, 1935, just six days shy of his seventh birthday.

The cause of death was listed as “lacerations of brain” due to “fracture of skull”. The injury was caused by an accident on a “public road—auto accident” that occurred on October 17. The location of the accident is the curious part: it happened in Sabinas Hidalgo, Mexico.

Sabinas Hidalgo, Mexico lies in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, and is about 85 miles southwest of Laredo. What were the Smiths doing in Mexico? They weren’t living there. The death certificate also stated that James’ father, Eldred Smith, resided in Jefferson, Texas, a town east of Dallas in northern Texas, a staggering 550 miles from Laredo. Given road and automobile conditions in the 1930s, the Smiths were at least two days away from home at the time of the car crash.

The death certificate also stated that the body was transferred for burial to Jefferson. I found the burial record in the Presbyterian Church records for Jefferson. The notes stated that little James Willis “was not a member but the pastor’s son and was buried in Jefferson. The funeral was in the church.” I was surprised by the notation that James wasn’t a member of the church until I realized the rite of confirmation was probably required to become a member, and James was too young to be confirmed.

The information verified my hypothesis that Eldred Willis was the minister of the Jefferson church, so why was he in Mexico that October? Given his choice of mission work in the 1940s and 1950s (described in the previous post), I speculate that he was in Mexico on a brief mission trip.

What a horrible situation! The family suffered a car accident far from home. Their little son was gravely injured and they were in a foreign country. They must have somehow arranged transportation back to Laredo to seek expert care for James. The doctor who signed the death certificate said he had treated James from 17^th—the day of the accident—to the 19^th when the little boy died, so they must have raced back to Laredo, desperate for help. I wonder if other members of the family were also injured. I could find no newspaper stories about the accident or James’ death, so it is impossible to know.

The photo below is the only one I have of the family with both Robert and James, probably taken about four years or so before James’ death.

So the mystery of James’ absence from records was solved. But what about Estella? The family photo does not include a daughter. Why were there no records for her? I couldn’t even find a birth certificate.

I had noticed that Estella had the same name as Eldred’s niece, his younger brother Charles’ oldest daughter. At first, this didn’t seem that strange. Many families, including the extended Smith clan, re-used names. There were several Willises and Roberts, for example. However, I began to wonder when I realized that the only record cited by all the family trees that included Estella as Eldred’s child was the 1920 census, when Eldred and his family were living in Kentucky. I re-examined the record. Eldred is listed as the head of household. The other family members include his wife Nina, son Cecil (Robert Cecil), brother Charles Smith and Charles’ wife Lillie Smith, and Estella Smith, daughter.

Looking at the actual census form, it is obvious that Estella, listed following the names of Charles and Lillie, is their daughter, not Eldred and Nina’s. However, all household members are supposed to be identified by their relationship to the head of household. The census taker in Jenkins, Kentucky had not followed that rule. Charles was listed as a “boarder” instead of “brother”. Lillie was listed as “wife” instead of “sister-in-law” and Estella was listed as “daughter” instead of “niece”. Therefore, when the record was transcribed and indexed, Estella incorrectly showed up as “daughter” in relation to the head of household, not as daughter to the household’s boarders, Eldred’s brother and sister-in-law.

I had made the same careless error as other genealogists had, adding Estella to my tree from a census transcription instead of looking at the actual record and evaluating its accuracy. I have now corrected my tree, removing Estella as the child of Eldred and Nina. The actual Estella Smith lived until the age of 85, dying in Kansas in 2004.  I am glad that I chose to re-evaluate my original data once my search for Eldred’s supposed daughter produced only negative results.

Sources:

Ancestry records of death certificate, burial record and census. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/60000444:6061?ssrc=pt&tid=81812584&pid=38443076738

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2272/images/40394_b062098-00211?pId=21577163

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/61048/images/43102_3421606200_0462-00300?pId=52404

Seminary Yearbook Offers Window Into a Life of Service: 52 Ancestors 2022 Prompt “Yearbook”

Mechanic to Seminarian to Missionary Minister: A Life Transformed

Eldred Paschal Smith: 1892-1955

Lorene Smith Jandy’s second youngest brother, Eldred Paschal Smith, was a bit of a mystery. I had only discovered census records and draft cards, which offered brief and very scattered snapshots of his life. He changed not just cities of residence every decade, but also moved to new states. He changed careers as well. I was left with many questions until I found his obituary last month. To my surprise, the obituary ignored the years I was familiar with, focusing only on his career as a Presbyterian minister! According to the obituary, this career began at a seminary in Austin, Texas when Eldred was nearly 34 years old. So that’s where I resurrected my research: I searched the online archives of the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and found two yearbooks that revealed a new side to Eldred Smith.

Willis and Cora Smith in back, Nina and Eldred Smith in front

Eldred was born January 14, 1892 in Owensboro, Kentucky. He was the tenth of Willis and Margaret Benton Smith’s eleven children. Willis was a Presbyterian minister in the Owensboro area for decades before Eldred’s birth. Eldred was only six years old when his mother Margaret died of tuberculosis in 1898. Willis married Cora Leachman shortly afterwards, and in 1900 he moved his family to the Oklahoma Territory to do mission work and start churches. Eldred’s half-sister Lorene was born there in 1904 when Eldred was eleven years old.

Eldred and his younger brother Charlie grew up in Oklahoma and New Mexico with their half-sister Lorene. The 1910 census found him at age 18 living in Melrose, New Mexico with his father, stepmother and siblings, and working as a farm laborer.

Rev. Willis Smith returned to Kentucky sometime around 1914 0r 1915 with his wife and daughter Lorene, as they were in residence when Willis’ eldest son Frampton died in January 1916. Frampton’s obituary states that Eldred and Charlie were still living in Melrose, New Mexico.

Eldred must have moved to Colorado shortly after that; he registered for the World War I draft on June 5, 1917 in Denver, stating that he was working as a mechanic, was single, and was caring for his sister and three children (this may refer to his sister Maude Smith Douthitt, who was divorcing her husband and ended up living in Denver). This is very curious, as back in Jenkins, Kentucky, a young Kentucky girl, Nina Roberts, gave birth to Eldred’s son, Robert Cecil Smith, on October 21, 1917. Since Eldred told the draft board he was single just four months earlier, this may indicate little Robert may have been born out of wedlock. I have been unable to find a marriage record for Eldred and Nina, so cannot confirm when Eldred returned to Kentucky, and when he married Nina.

By 1920, Eldred and Nina were definitely married. They appear on the 1920 census living in Jenkins, Letcher County, Kentucky with their two-year-old son. Eldred, age 29, is working as a chauffeur/mechanic at a garage. Nina is only twenty, so had just been a teenager when Robert Cecil was born.

Thus far, Eldred sounds like he was an irresponsible, restless man—not your typical minister’s son. However, that image may be incorrect, or he may have repented and changed his ways, for he ended up following his father into ministry in the Presbyterian Church.

By 1926, Eldred and Nina had moved to Austin, Texas, where he enrolled at the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Nina was also enrolled as a “Special Student”—women in that era were not allowed to become ministers, so she, along with other women and seminarian wives, took classes to prepare her for a supporting role in the church.

The seminary yearbook provided me with a photo of Eldred, who looked deceptively young despite his likely being several years older than most of his classmates.

The yearbook also had photos of the seminary campus and the dining hall—it appears to have been an attractive place to live and work.

The yearbook also provided information on Eldred’s first pastoral appointments: he spent the summer after his junior year (1928) preaching at a church in Junction, Texas, a small town 140 miles west of Austin, and after his senior year, he was posted to a church in Chaudrant, Louisiana.

Eldred and Nina’s second son, James Willis Smith, was born on October 26, 1928 while Eldred was a seminarian.

It isn’t clear when Eldred left the Chaudrant, LA church. He was still there at the time of the 1930 census. He also served as minister in churches in Mississippi and Texas. The 1940 census found him serving as a minister in Marion, Texas, just outside of San Antonio. When he completed his World War II draft registration in April 1942, he was the minister of a church in Brinkley, Arkansas. (His draft card also reveals that he was only 5 feet 2 ½ inches tall!)

His longest ministry was in Arizona. His obituary states that he took a position at the Leupp Presbyterian Navajo Indian Mission in July 1946. He remained as minister of the mission’s Presbyterian church until his death in December 1955.

The Leupp Presbyterian Church

Eldred was probably well-suited to this sort of life, having grown up in rugged New Mexico before statehood, another area with a large Native American population. His arrived shortly after the federal government closed the Indian boarding school in Leupp, where native children had been forcibly enrolled. Many Native American families had horrible experiences with these Bureau of Indian Affairs schools. Students were punished for speaking in their native language, suffered hunger and were severely disciplined and sometimes abused. 

It is to be hoped that Eldred provided a more compassionate and decent example of white America to the Navajo residents. The school had made up the greater part of the town of Leupp, so Eldred’s church and mission lands, identified on the map below, were isolated outpostson the Navajo reservation far east of Flagstaff. Most of the Navajo did not speak English, as the article above alludes to in the mention of Eldred's interpreters, Mr. and Mrs. Everett Curley. It must have been a lonely life, but Eldred and Nina soldiered on for nine years.

Without the information in the seminary yearbook, I would have had a difficult time tracing the latter half of Eldred’s life. His first 34 years of life were a decided contrast to the last 29 years. I am so grateful that I found the last chapter of his life story where he transformed from a promiscuous garage mechanic to a missionary minister.

Sources:

Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary Bulletin (yearbook) 1928 and 1929. https://www.austinseminary.edu/library/austin-seminary-archives/digitized-resources

List of Navajo missions. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED068262.pdf

Cousins and Lobster Rolls: 52 Ancestors 2022 Prompt “Food and Drink”

The Original Lobster Roll and a Jazz-Loving Second-Cousin-Once-Removed

Charles Brasel Smith: 1913-1989

 

While a second-cousin-once-removed may seem a little distant a relative to be the subject of a blog post, the lure of the original lobster roll was too strong to resist!

Charles Brasel Smith was the grandson of Willis Smith’s brother Samuel Weir Smith, so he was Willis’ grand-nephew. Charles was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma on May 28, 1913 to Clarence M. Smith and his wife Bess Kunuell. Clarence worked for the federal government as an agent with what is now known as the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but was then just called the Indian Agency. Clarence died when Charles was only nine years old. The family remained in Muskogee, and Charles attended high school there.

Charles moved to Connecticut shortly after 1935. He met a young woman from the town of Milford, Connecticut, Iselin Jeanette Whitehead, and they married sometime in the late 1930s. Their daughter, Charlyn, was born in 1939 when Charles was 25 and Iselin was 21. Their second daughter, Wendy, was born in 1946.  

By the time of the 1940 census and his WWII draft registration, Charles was working as a musician for a local radio station, WICC in Bridgeport.

At some point a decade or so later, he made quite a career change. Iselin’s parents had divorced when she was quite young, and her mother had remarried to a man named Harry Perry, owner of a local seafood restaurant called “Perry’s”. Harry seems to have turned over the restaurant to his step-daughter Iselin and her husband Charles when he was ready to retire. According to Iselin’s obituary, they became the owners in 1955. Charles and Iselin ran the restaurant until it closed in 1976. Their daughters worked at the restaurant before their marriages.

The intriguing thing about Perry’s Seafood was that it was credited with having created the lobster roll sandwich.

Under Charles' ownership, the restaurant featured live music, uniting his two careers.

According to a June 14, 2010 news article in the Connecticut Post , the Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, a 1999 book by John Mariani, states that the hot lobster roll

"may well have originated at a restaurant named Perry's in Milford, where owner Harry Perry concocted it for a regular customer named Ted Hales sometime in the 1920s. Furthermore, Perry's was said to have a sign from 1927 to 1977 reading, `Home of the Famous Lobster Roll.' "

Other restauranteurs agree. The owners of two other Milford restaurants who serve lobster rolls credit Harry Perry with the original idea, which involved chunks of lobster cooked in lots of butter and served on a hot roll.

Charles and Iselin continued to serve Harry’s creation throughout their years as owners of the restaurant. They eventually retired and moved to the Lehigh/Fort Myers area of Florida. Charles died August 27, 1989, and Iselin died May 22, 1996.

Charles never gave up his love of music. His obituary noted that he was a member of the Lehigh Florida Concert Band and the Grenadiers Jazz Band of Florida, the past president of the Pyramid Shrine Temple Brass Band, and a member of the Araba Jazz and Brass Band of Fort Myers. Lobster and jazz sounds like a good combination for a satisfying life.

Sources:

“Shell game: Milford claims bragging rights as home to lobster roll”. Connecticut Post; Frank Juliano Staff Writer June 14, 2010.  https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Shell-game-Milford-claims-bragging-rights-as-523288.php

Central High School Yearbook, Muskogee OK. Accessed on Ancestry. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/348313672:1265?ssrc=pt&tid=81812584&pid=262355921791

News Press of Fort Myers, Florida. 30 Aug 1989. Obituary for Charles Brasel Smith. https://www.newspapers.com/image/215698521/