Husband John Smith
Born: Abt 1769 - Ireland or N. Ireland
Christened:
Died: 1847-1854 - near London Britain, Chester, Pennsylvania
Buried: - said to be Flint Hill Cem, London Britain, Pennsylvania
Marriage: prob bef 1790 - Ireland
Wife Isabella Smyth (Smythe)
Born: Abt 1769 - Ireland or N. Ireland
Christened:
Died: 1843 - near London Britain, Chester, Pennsylvania
Buried:
Father: William Smyth (Smythe) ( - )
Mother: Elizabeth King ( - )
Children
1 M William Smith
Born: prob bef 1790 - prob Ireland
Christened:
Died: Infant - On Ship To This Country
Buried:
2 M William Smith
Born: 4 Feb 1797 - London Britain, Chester, Pennsylvania
Christened:
Died: 23 Sep 1863 - London Britain, Chester, Pennsylvania
Cause of Death: Heart failure
Buried: - Flint Hill Ch, London Britain, Pennsylvania
Spouse: Mary Dehaven (1803-1882)
Marr: 10 May 1821 - New London Presb Ch, New London, Chester, Pennsylvania
3 M Adam Smith
Born: 8 Jul 1798 - London Britain, Chester, Pennsylvania
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
4 M John Smith
Born: 29 Jun 1800 - London Britain, Chester, Pennsylvania
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
5 F Mary Smith
Born: 29 Jun 1802 - London Britain, Chester, Pennsylvania
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
6 F Isabella Smith
Born: 17 May 1804 - London Britain, Chester, Pennsylvania
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
7 M George Smith
Born: 10 Sep 1806 - London Britain, Chester, Pennsylvania
Christened:
Died: 29 Sep 1842 - prob Cecil Co, MD
Buried: - Flint HIll Cem, London Britain, Chester, Pennsylvania
Spouse: Mary ( - )
8 F Eliza Jane Smith
Born: 28 Jun 1810 - London Britain, Chester, Pennsylvania
Christened:
Died: 2 Jan 1894 - Allerton, Wayne, Iowa
Buried: - Allerton, Wayne, Iowa
Spouse: J. William Dean (1811-1858)
Marr: 1833-1834 - prob London Britain Twp, Chester, Pennsylvania
General Notes (Husband)
John and Isabella were married in Ireland, landed at New Castle, DE, in "September" sometime at the end of the 18th century, worked for a time for John Whitten (family tradition they worked for Davis Whitten clearly confused, as latter was a child at the time), a farmer and justice of the peace (like Davis after him) in London Britain, PA. They had a baby, William, in Ireland or on the ship and he died on the voyage over. They landed at New Castle. They were employed by John Whitten/ Whitting, the father of Justice of teh Peace DAvis Whitten, who was also a justice of the peace, and owned a very large farm and was one of the few people in Chester County to own slaves. His farm was near and farms of his brothers bordered the land that John Smith bought (from another estate).
In 1798 they bought a small, 29 acre farm near the present town hall in London Britain. John Smith is consistently listed as a weaver and paid taxes primarily on his loom; also taxed on his land and a horse and a cow. In 1803 or therabouts he took out a mortgage on his farm, for which he originally paid cash, for $200, and in 1831 a judgement for the entire amount of the mortgage and interest forced him to sell the farm to George, one of his sons, and he sold it again in 1832.
The land is located near the current London Britain town hall, and across the road from the house that was Jesse Dehaven's tavern, where a family currently lives. It was split from the larger property of Robert Roney. It is a very irregular piece of land and is intact on the 1880 farm maps of Chester County.
Yvan Kellar currently owns what was the Smith farm; the current house was built around the log cabin the Smiths built, and another half of the house added on. A fireplace in the cellar of the original log cabin suggests that John and Isabella, who had a one year old child and a small baby, lived in the cellar of their uncompleted cabin the first winter. They must have really have struggled, and one wonders at their failure to have made friends in eight years they could have stayed with. It seems like if they had had people they could have gotten indoors with with those two little babies, they would have.
A history of weaving, in addition to showing the large manual loom he would have used, says that just between 1830 and 1832, the first industrial textile mills started operation in the PHiladelphia/ southeastern Pennsylvania area, particularly around New Garden, and the price of textiles plummeted severely. Village/ cottage weavers like John Smith were unable to make a living, and many, like John Smith, were ruined.
Second cousins told me they understood the Smiths came from Londonderry Ireland.
Another clue to their origins is that John and Isabella acted like rather hardfast Presbyterians. They travelled twelve miles to worship at a Presbyterian Church; the other mainstream Protestant church at which the Whittens worshipped was much closer. Eventually two offshoot churches of teh New London Presbyterian Church were built in southern New London and London Britain (near the town line); both shared their quarters with Methodist congregations and gradually the Presbyterians at those churches went over to being Methodists, this included the Smiths.
George did not live in Chester County but plainly lived nearby as he not only was around to bail out his father but is buried with his wife in Flint Hill Cemetery. It is likely that he lived over the state line in Cecil County, MD, like many members and relatives of the Smith family. In fact, GEorge and William, two sons of John, for a time had an extremely prosperous farm machinery selling business in Maryland. John and Isabella may well have gone to live with him. The census would tell; I've had no chance to check.
John and Isabella are believed according to family tradition to be buried at Flint Hill Cemetery in the same grave or under the same marker as William Smith and his wife Mary Dehaven, but their names are not on the marker, and noone can find their graves. The Smiths were all buried together in a common lot, with several children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Of course, John and Isabella would have been buried sooner than the others, and the church long ago burned down and the graveyard is neglected and overgrown
. A family history written by William Henry Smith Sr refers to the place as "Wesley"; that church was at one point called Wesley Chapel, though not many remember that. And "Southside" which my great grandfather identifies as the location, means southern Chester County, which has an identity distinct from Northern Chester County.
In the 1840 census, William Smith of White Clay Creek had a man age 60-70 and a woman aged 70-80 living with him. It was not the Dehavens. Family records suggest that both John and Isabella were born around 1769, which is consistent with both being around 70 in 1840.
From Biographical Encyclopedia of Delaware:
His paternal grandfather, John Smith, a farmer and weaver, was born n Ireland in 1769, died in 1854; he married Isabella ____, born in Ireland, 1769, died in 1843. John Smith was a Presbyterian, and afterwards a member of the M. E. Church; he and his wife emigrated to America.
In the latter part of last century, and the closing days of September, an emigrant ship sailed up the Delaware River and cast anchor at New Castle, then the "Castle Garden" of the country. The town beautiful for situation, on the western shore, nestled in the outskirts of the tehn widespread forest, was inhabited by a thrifty people, many of whom gathered at the landing to welcome the newly arrived, who, following the western instinct of emigration, had come to seek a new home on the American shore. Among them was a newly wedded pair, John and Isabella Smith, the grandarents of William H. Smith. The husband of brawny arm, steady step and honest face; the wife, slight in form, sprightly in movement and intellectual in feature. There were traces of sorrow in their anxious faces, for not only had they severed the ties of the fatherland, but also, during the tedious voyage, had committed to the sea their child, a bright baby boy, and now, friendless, homeless and bereaved, they went they knew not where. A kindly farmer and justice of the peace, Davis Whitten, who lived some twenty miles inland in Pennsylvania, offered them a home and employment, and being industrious and frugal, they became possessed of a small farm, on which they reared a numerous family, whose labor was divided between the loom and the plow. Prosperity smiled on the home,
In the 1880 census, Eliza Jane, then named Dean and living in Iowa, told the census taker that her parents were both born in Ireland. Her husband was born in England.
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Tax Records for London Britain ancestors
1799
Weaver Jon Smith 2 J Do W Dollars $116.
1805
John Smith 29 acres 4 - 1.07
Buildings .50
Shorn or l horn .10
or loom?
2 cattle .20
Trade .20
Total value $207
Assessed value - $127
tax 0.32
1808 John Smith
Buildings .50
Land 29 acres @ $4 ll6.
Horses 1 @ 10 10
Cattle 2 @ 12 24
Weaver ----- 200
Total value 160
Assessed value $160
Tax 0.
64
1811 John Smith
Buildings 40
29 acres @ 2 Boll 87
2 cattle @ 10 boll 20
Weaver 30
Total Value 177
Adjusted or assessed value 131
tax 0.65
1814 John Smith
Buildings 80
29 acres @ 6 174
1 horse 24
2 cows 24
weaver 50
352
Adjusted value $1232
tax 0.98
1820
John Smith
30 acres @40 $1200
buildings 200
2 horses @45 90
1 cow @16 16
dog
trade 40
1546
adjusted 695
tax 1.39
John Smith 1823
29 3/4 acres @25 $743.75
buildings @ 500
l horse @25 25.
3 cattle @ 10 30
Weaver 50.
Total value 1348.75
Adjusted value 1186
tax 2.37
John Smith 1826
29 acres @ 20 580
Buildings 200
l horse 20
3 cattle @ 9 27
weaver 100
Total value 927
Adjusted value 927
tax 2.13
John Smith 1829
29 acres of land @ 20 580
Buildings 200
l horse @ 5 5
2 cattle & a doll? bull? 18
l dog
823
tax 2.05
John Smith 1831
29 acres @ 20 580
Build 200
1 Horses @ 40 40
2 Cattle @ 12 24
2 dog $844
tax $2.11
Benjamin Whitten 1799
170 acres 1960
l stone 2 storey " 20 by 25 300
1 stone kitchen ? ft square 100
l log barn 20 X 25 ft loft 100
3 horses @ 30, 3 cows @ 10 120
1980
Mary Whitting 1802
Buildings $300 300
land 170 acres @ ? 1360
Kattle 2 24
1684
Mary Whitting no longer on tax rolls in 1805.
John Whitting 1802
Buldings $175
land 200 acres @ 10 2000
horses 3 @ 150
CAttle 5 95
2420
Davis Whitting 1845
58 Acres @ $36. $2088
Money 500
3 Horses @ 25 75
5 Cattle @ 14 70
Dog
Carriage 10
$2733
tax $4.10, $8.30
1790 John Whitting census
Whitting, John 1 3 7 2 2 two free servants, possibly John and Isabella Smith,
and 2 slaves. He was nearly unique in London Britain township
in owning slaves.
Whitting, Benjamin 2 - 2 4 3 note confirmation of l girl l boy children
John Smith does not appear as a head of household on the census until 1800.
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Letter about John Smith's house from current owner of the property (see multimedia for photos and a scale map of the property.)
Letter from:
Yvan Keller
117 Good Hope Road
Landenberg,PA 19350-9621
Dear Mrs. Smith:
As promised a while ago I dug through my old slides and found a
picture of the house my wife and myself bought at the end of
1968.
The two pictures were taken at the end of 1968. The one picture
shows the house as seen from the driveway. The other one is a
close up.
We can give you a few explanations about this house:
The left part of the house i.e. the part of the house which is
directly behind the covered porch was most probably the first
house built on the property and it was a small log house. Later
on the right part of the house was added and was made out of
stones. When we bought it the stone part of the house had a wood
floor laid directly on dirt. In the process of excavating to
make a sitting pit we found a dry pit filled with rubbish which
did not reveal anything of interest. This stone part was
probably added ca. 1850 since we found some news papers of the
1850's which had been used to seal off the frame of the backdoor
of the log house.
The addition of the stone part seems to have been a major change
since wood frame work was set on top of the log cabin to be able
to join the two parts with a common level roof as you see in the
picture.
I should add that the log cabin part had a small basement which
had in one corner a small sealed off fire place which was
probably used during the first winter before the log cabin was
completely finished.
The log part of the house has since been replaced. The stone
part is still here.
I believe that all the researach you mention in your letter is
correct. The house on the picture is at the end of the triangular
piece of land we bought in 1968. This land corresponds to the
survey made in 1798 when your ancestor bought it.
I hope I have filled in some of the questoins you had. That's
all for now.
Sincerely yours,
Y. Keller
General Notes (Wife)
In the 1840 census, William Smith had a man aged 60-69 and a woman aged 70-79 living with them. This is consistent with John and Isabella's approximate birth dates of 1769.
b abt 1769 Ireland, according to family records. d 1843 LB or WC. Described by a grandson as slight and intellectual of feature. Her parents were William Smyth and Elizabeth King, according to Jim McVey's family records.