SMITH-L Archives

From: SmithinDC <>
Subject: [SMITH-L] Theodore and Samuel, Camden NJ, & MD, NY, PA
Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 19:40:45 EDT

Would appreciate any links, information, or advice on my following SMITH-folk,
who are found migrating between New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New
York. The following page contains everything I know of these people:

Theodore Hall SMITH, b. Jan 23, 1831, New Jersey; d. at Clifton Point,
Somerset Co., MD on Apr 29, 1890. Listed as a farmer in Somerset Co. in 1880.

He married ca. 1850/1855 Anna M. VanArsdale, daughter of Simon VanArsdale &
Deborah Dyer, probably in Bucks Co., Pennsylvania. Anna was b. Aug 8, 1829,
Bucks Co., PA. She died in Philadelphia, PA on Feb 26, 1910.

Theodore and Anna moved the family to Maryland sometime between 1869 and
1880.

They had the following children:
i.Samuel Carson (1856-1903)
ii.Elizabeth V., b.c. 1869 in NJ. (must have married a RICHARDS - she was the
informant on her mother's 1910 death certificate, and identified as Lizzie
Richards, 2008 S. 12th, Philadelphia).

The son, Samuel Carson SMITH, was b. Jan 11, 1856 in PA?, and died in Big
Indian, Ulster Co., NY on Nov 17, 1903; buried in Philadelphia, or Pensauken,
NJ?

Samuel would have been in Somerset Co., MD, in the 1870's. By 1880 he was
away at school (at age 24) somewhere in New York State. On his 1886 marriage
certificate he gave his occupation as farmer and his residence as Westover,
Somerset Co., Maryland. On Sep 21, 1886 Samuel Carson SMITH married Elizabeth
Roxana Drake, daughter of Zephaniah Stout Drake & Lucy/Lucie Sexton, in
Hopewell, Mercer Co., NJ.

Samuel and Elizabeth moved to Maryland after their marriage, where their
daughter Gertrude SMITH was born in January 1887. After the death of Samuel's
father (Theodore Hall SMITH) in April 1890, they moved back to Camden, NJ,
where their son Theodore Howard SMITH was born July 8, 1890. In 1900 Samuel's
mother, Anna M. VanArsdale SMITH, lived with he and his family in Camden.

For most of the period 1890 to 1901 Samuel Carson SMITH worked for the firm of
Smith & Pfeiffer (lumber) in Camden (as a private secretary or bookkeeper).
Have not been able to make any family connection between Samuel and his
employers, but Richard F. Smith and George Pfeiffer witnessed Samuel's will on
Jan. 23, 1896. Samuel was at one point the organist at Camden's Centenary
Methodist Church.

Samuel left the firm ca. 1901, presumably for reasons of poor health. He
moved his family to the Catskills, in or around Big Indian in Ulster Co., New
York. He died there, at age 47, on Nov. 17, 1903. When Samuel C. SMITH left
Camden, his mother presumably went to live with Samuel's sister Elizabeth in
Philadelphia.

Samuel's widow, Elizabeth R. Drake SMITH, remained in New York a while, though
she may have lived in Trenton for a time. She later remarried a man named
McComber or MacUmber. Daughter Gertrude SMITH married George A. Speenburgh on
Nov. 12, 1913, in New Brunswick, NJ. Son Theodore Howard SMITH (1890-1966)
attended school in Philadelphia (Wharton), married Sara Holmes Webster in
Haddonfield, NJ, on Aug. 20, 1923, and lived out his days in Haddonfield.

I have been SO stuck on these people for SO long I would love to hear from
anyone with any connection or any ideas--Marian

This thread:

• [SMITH-L] Theodore and Samuel, Camden NJ, & MD, NY, PA by SmithinDC <>