SMITH-L Archives
Archiver > SMITH > 2000-07 > 0965048972
From: Kathleen <>
Subject: [SMITH] [Fwd: {not a subscriber} Native American Smith Re: SMITH-D Digest V00 #259]
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 07:09:32 -0600
Juli Kearns wrote:
> Hi. Am new to the lsit, getting it in digest form. I am also looking for
> more information on Smiths with a Native American connection. Am looking
> for information on a William Smith who married a Cherokee woman.
> Following is what information I have on them. It is at my website as well.
> If anyone has info, ideas, educated guesses they can make for me on
> William Smith, please post to list or email me. I've not been able to find
> anything on Easter Everidge, Ward Smith, William Smith or his wife.
>
> My website:
>
> http://www.geocities.com/kearns_hennesy_genealogy/index.html
>
> An image of Frances Smith is also at my website:
>
> http://www.geocities.com/kearns_hennesy_genealogy/frances_simmons_orig.html
>
> (1) William Smith married unknown Cherokee woman
> (2) Ward Smith (born in SC according to 1880 census Pike County
> Mississippi) and Easter Everidge (born in AL according to 1880 census Pike
> County Mississippi)
> (3) Frances Smith (1820 to 1898) m. Robert Reuben Simmons
>
> These are the Notes I have from the "Lang Simmons Family History" by Bob
> Ann Breland:
>
> "Ward Smith, the father of Frances Smith Simmons (wife of Robert 'Reuben'
> Simmons) apparently did not come to Mississippi from Alabama with the
> Simmons. Mrs. Ward Smith, Easter Everidge Smith, remembered as 'Granny
> Ward' did come with the Simmons along with her other daughter and
> son-in-law, the Murdock Wilsons...
>
> "Seldon Lang remembers that he was told by his mother that Ward Smith's
> father (Will Smith) was an Indian fighter. He had been reared by the
> Indians and could speak their language, so he could talk with them and knew
> how to track them.
>
> "When Indian marauders burned down the town of Roanoke, VA., there were
> only two people who survived. He became the tracker for a party of soldiers
> who tracked down the marauders. When the soldiers were in pursuit, they
> came upon the home of settlers burned by the same Indians, and the remains
> of the house still smoking.
>
> "The story is told that a Cherokee Indian girl in her teens was out behind
> the place, standing on a stump picking green peaches. The soldiers and
> their tracker, who was Ward Smith's father, took the girl with them when
> they left. Smith took her for his wife and they had a family, which
> included Ward Smith. This is where the Indian line of the family comes in.
>
> "Apparently, this family ancestor was quite a character. He had a dog for
> years to help him in his tracking, and when the dog died he put him in a
> box and buried him in the human cemetery which was illegal. He evidently
> did many things which were unusual, which often caused him to get into
> trouble.
>
> "Ward Smith apparently took after his father, and developed a reputation
> for not working. It was said that because he was half Indian, all he wanted
> to do was fish and hunt. Seldon Lang said that a family saying developed
> because of him; when somebody didn't like to work, they were said to be as
> 'lazy as Ward Smith.'
>
> "In Alabama, the Simmons family (and probably the Smiths) lived in Coffee
> County, where they owned land on the Pea River. Grandmother Narcis Simmons
> Lang had a copy of the land grant for this property for a number of years,
> and finally turned it over to a lawyer in Franklinton to see if she had any
> claim on the property. The lawyer soon left this part of the country, and
> she never did know what became of her papers.
>
> "There is also evidently some confusion about a person named Alf, who many
> believe was one of Grandpa Reuben Simmons' brothers. My father, Seldon
> Lang, said 'Alf' was Alf Boyd, a nephew of Reuben's, who was his fishing
> and hunting buddy. He was the son of one of Reuben's sisters."
>
> "Lang Simmons Family History" Bob Ann Breland.
>
> "Frances Smith, wife of Reuben Simmons, was the daughter of Ward Smith and
> Easter Everidge Smith. They came to Pike County along with her mother who
> was known as "Granny Ward", and the Murdock Wilson family. Murdock married
> Martha Smith, sister of Frances Smith Simmons, wife of Reuben. The Murdock
> Wilsons settled close to the Mississippi line in Pike County.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Juli
>
> (snip)>
> > "Willie D. Smith" wrote:
> >
> > Are any of you aware of members of the SMITH family mid to late 1700's
> in the Goochland-Cumberland County area of Virginia who were either Native
> American or Melungeon? My George Smith (c. 1775-1843) was from Cumberland
> County and settled on Wolf Creek in Smith County, Tennessee by 1810. He had
> sons named Jonathan, George Jr., Charles, Robert and others. The name GUY
> Smith also appears amongst his grandchildren, so I suspect a possible
> connection to old Reverend Guy Smith who died in 1720, who's wife is never
> mentioned in records. She could have been Native American. I see these same
> names in Cumberland County records, and a George Smith DID reside there
> prior to 1810, as evidenced by him acting as surety for the marriages of
> some daughters there. Not sure, however, if he is MY George Smith who moved
> to Tennessee. I have a picture on the way from Texas of Charles Smith's
> brother, Robert Smith who was born in 1817. (snip)
This thread: