Part VI - THE SMITH FAMILY
Thomas and Mary Smith. The only reference found as to the parents of George, was found in N. N. Hill�s �History of Coshocton County, Ohio� (1881) page 790. Making due allowance for the fact that county histories are often inaccurate, we can still assume that the above information was obtained directly from Joseph Smith himself and is therefore authentic, but yet no proof.
There is a tradition in two branches of the family that the Smiths were �related� to a Revolutionary general, and that George�s father fought at Bunker Hill. We must first be prepared to discount the �general� - he may have been a private. In the second place, it seems unreasonable that a man who was evidently living in Delaware in 1775, should have been in Massachusetts on 17 June 1775, especially since Delaware troops were not organized until 1776. It is well-known fact that family tradition, as handed down by word-of-mouth from generation to generation, often strays far from the truth; however, there is usually a nucleus of truth, which, with luck, can sometimes lead to the facts in the case. We have not as yet been able to discover a Revolutionary soldier named Thomas Smith who can be proved to be the father of our George.
Children:
George Smith, son of Thomas and Mary Smith, was born about 8 July 1780, in Delaware. We do not know where he spent his youth, when he moved into Pennsylvania, nor whether he moved with his father (and family,) or with his brother, James. As we have seen, James married Mary Yarnal of Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1800. We do not know if this marriage took place in Chester County, in Delaware, or in western Pennsylvania, where his son Joseph was born. Fayette County borders Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, on the south, and it is in Westmoreland County, that we first pick up George Smith.
George was married 26 April 1803, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania to Barbara Bash, who was born on 17 September 1780, in Westmoreland County, the daughter of Martin and Catherine Bash. (See: Bash Family, Part VI)
The same year of their marriage, George and Barbara Smith moved with James and Mary Smith, to Jefferson County, Ohio. We believe that George and his family may have lived with James, or at least on property owned by James, for the next twenty-odd years.
Although James moved into Jefferson County in 1803, he does not appear on record there until 27 November 1810, when Thomas and Sarah Drake of Jefferson County, deeded 2 acres of Section 26, twsp 8, Range 3, to the Trustees for a Methodist Episcopal Church, listing James as one of the trustees. Located on the banks of Short Creek, and known as the Holmes Church, it was the first Methodist Church in Ohio. James did not buy land, until 25 June 1812, when he purchased 35 acres in Section 33. He never went in for farming much.
Where did George live from 1803 until 1812? The usual procedure for the pioneer was to purchase a farm as soon as possible after their arrival in a new place (often the land was bought before they actually moved) and erect their log cabins. Failure to buy land presents the following implications: 1. He lived on someone else�s land (query-his father�s), 2. He rented land, 3. He lived in a town and followed a trade. The 1810 Census for Ohio was destroyed, we have no way of knowing where in Jefferson County, George was living. But at no time during his residence in Jefferson County, did George ever buy land. From this, it is reasonable to assume that he was a tradesman in town.
James sold his 35 acres, on 5 September 1818. In the spring of 1820, James and George moved to Harrison County, Ohio, and turned up in the 1820 Census. In 1826, James bought land, but George did not. Shortly after, in 1827, the two families moved to Coshocton County, Ohio. James bought land in Bedford Township. On 18 April 1829, he deeded half of a quarter to his son Joseph, and the other half to his brother, George. This is the first evidence we have of George�s owning land - after 26 years of marriage.
Six years later George bought the other 80 acres from his nephew, and thus owned the whole quarter section for his farm. From present day indications, it was poor land, stony and hilly, and better suited for grazing than for farming.
We next pick up the family in the 1830 Census for Bedford Township. James� son George, was called George Smith, Jr. The early use of Sr. and Jr., was different from that of today. �Senior� literally meant the elder, and �Junior� the younger; these terms were usually applied to a man and the nephew named for him. the terms seldom meant father and son.
On 11 October 1845, George Smith wrote his will, which is recorded in Will book E, p 36, Coshocton County, as follows:
I, George Smith, of the County of Coshocton in the State of Ohio, do make and publish this my last Will and testament in manner and form following that is to say: 1st. it is my Will that my funeral expenses and all other of my just debts be fully paid. 2nd. I give devise & bequeath to my beloved Wife Barbara Smith all my property both real and personal that I am in possession of at my death to have and to hold for her own use during her natural life and at the death of my said Wife, it is my Will that all the balance of my estate that may remain unexpended is to be divided as follows namely: 3rd. I give and devise to my Daughter Elizabeth Smith, one Horse beast not to excede fifty dollars in value and a Sufficient amount of household goods to Set up housekeeping. My daughter, Elizabeth herself, to be the Judge of the amount necessary. 4th. I give and devise all the balance of my property not other-wise disposed of in this will to all my children, Namely: Katharine Watters, Thomas Smith, Elizabeth Smith, Margaret Hogle, Martin B. Smith, Mary Ruby, James Smith, George C. Smith and Barbara Hogle. It is my Will that my executors sell all my property to the best advantage at the death of my Said Wife and divide the whole amount equally between my above named Children to them and their heirs and assigns forever, except my Daughter Katharine Watters. She is to have her equal Share During her natural life, and if there is the amount of fifty dollars left unexpended at the death of my Said Wife, her Son Samuel is to have to the amount of fifty Dollars and the balance if any to be divided between my above Named Children.
George died 18 November 1847, aged 67 years, 4 months, 10 days. His will was probated 30 March 1848. He was buried in the old Smith Cemetery, on top of Smith Hill, now called the Union M. E. Cemetery. In 1941, during family research, the stone had fallen over, but plainly read. Sometime before 1944, the caretakers had �cleaned up a bit.� In replacing George�s stone, they imbedded it firmly upright, and covered up the last two lines of the inscription. The local Newspaper was scoured thoroughly, but no obituary could be found.
During several years before and for the next 10-15 years after his death, George�s children took wing and moved on to �fresh woods and pastures Nebraska.�
Catharine and Nacy Waters were living in Montgomery County, Ohio. To Hancock County, Indiana, had come Thomas J. Smith, Martin B. Smith, Margaret and Nelson Hogle, Barbara and Isaac Hogle, and Mary and Isaac Ruby; here they were eventually joined by Catharine and Nacy Waters. Also, Elizabeth D. Smith, then still unmarried, bought some town lots in Philadelphia, Hancock County, where she evidently lived for a while with some of her brothers or sisters. Then, too, the mother, Barbara Bash Smith, spent some time with her children in Hancock County, during the 1850�s.
One descendant related how Barbara twice made the long trip from Coshocton County, on horseback and carried her large German Bible. (The Bible, unfortunately without any vital records, was owned in 1946, by Wayne Hamilton, of Tampa, Florida.) In the meantime, James began buying out the heirs to the farm. He sold it in 1869, before moving to Madison County, Iowa.
This is, perhaps as good a place as any to insert one family anecdote, which is priceless. Stubbornly holding to one�s convictions may be a Smith trait. At least, here is one example. George�s last unmarried daughter was Elizabeth, the one who received the �horse beast.� Her husband was William Beatty Ruby, called �Uncle Billy.� He was an early sweetheart of Betsy�s, but when he proposed, she refused him because he �used tobacco.� So, in 1831, Uncle Billy married Susanne Landis, by whom he had two children. Susanna died in 1835. Uncle Billy again asked Betsy to marry him, but she again refused him for the same reason. So, in 1836, Uncle Billy married Ann Guiberson, by whom he had four children. They moved to Madison County, Iowa, where she died in 1855. In 1860, Uncle Billy came back on a visit to Hancock County, Indiana, where Elizabeth was then living. Once more he proposed; and this time Elizabeth, at the age of 50 accepted her girlhood sweetheart - on the condition that he give up tobacco! One might feel confident, the filthy weed never touched his lips again.
Her stone, next to George�s, in the Union M. E. Cemetery, is a very beautiful one which reads: Barbara, wife of George Smith Born 17 September 1780, Died 5 February 1859 Aged 79 yrs, 6 mos. & 19 dys �Blessed are the dead which died in the Lord from henceforth; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors.�
All children were born in Jefferson County, Ohio, except the two youngest, who were born near Cadez, in Harrison County, Ohio. (For a complete Genealogy of the descendants of George Smith and Barbara Bash, see Smith Family, KGS Library, Dodge City, Kansas)
Children: