Posts Tagged ‘Smith’

by Sherry Stocking Kline
February 16th, 2010

William Arthur Smith - Smith Cemetery, Temple Hill area, Barren Co, KY

I photographed this child’s stone in a small Smith Family Cemetery in the Temple Hill area in Barren County, KY. (the same cemetery as this Tombstone Tuesday post).

William Arthur Smith photograph - Barren County, KY

On the Stone:

William Arthur
son of
M. H. & B. C.
SMITH
July 27, 1910
Nov 2, 1915

Taking the photograph, and looking at the stone, I had to wonder, who was this handsome little five-year-old boy so obviously loved by his parents?

How did he die?  Was it one of the many illnesses that were fatal in that era, and are so treatable now?   Did he fall from a horse?  Was he a “blue baby” a  heart defect that is so treatable now, but eventually killed it’s victims even in the 1940’s?

I did do a little quick research to try to learn who his parent’s were, and if they were related to ‘my’ Smith’s, but that question wasn’t easily answered.

So, on another day when I have more time I will set out and hope to solve at least some of these mysteries.

RELATED POSTS:

Tombstone Tuesday: Lute and Sabina Smith Ruby’s parents.

J. Thomas and Nancy A. (Smith) Harrison down the road a few miles in the Caney Fork Baptist Church cemetery. They may (or may not) be related.

Warner LaRue Jones Tombstone. Warner was born in Kentucky to Willis and Martha Ellen Smith Jones.

George W. Smith & wife Lucy’s Tombstone

The Day the Serendipity Genealogy Angels Smiled

by Sherry Stocking Kline
February 2, 2010

My Tombstone Tuesday is Ruby L. Smith, buried in a small Smith Family Cemetery, Barren County, Kentucky, near the Temple Hill area.

Ruby L. Smith - buried in the Smith Cemetery - Temple Hill, Barren County, KY

On the Stone:

Ruby L. Smith
Mar 15, 1901
Jan 15, 1919

According to the Kentucky Death Record information I found online, Ruby was the daughter of L. H. and Sabina Smith.

What Did Ruby Die of?

She was so young that I had to wonder, what did Ruby die of at the age of not quite eighteen?  It was shortly after Christmas and the New Year?  Did she have flu?  Pneumonia? An Accident?

To get to this small cemetery, we crossed a bridge over a shallow but fast-moving creek that was rushing down the hill, then drove up a long, shady lane where the trees met overhead in places.  This seemed like a road, but it was narrow and may actually have been the home’s private driveway. It led past a home, past the small cemetery, and back to a field.

The home and the cemetery were on a hill that sloped away to a rolling little valley on the west (I think it was west, but I could have been turned around!) The cemetery was located past this home along the lane.

My first thought was that the home was deserted, as neither the yard  nor the cemetery had been mowed for some time.  But looking again at the photograph of the home that I took that day it’s obvious that there are flowers on the porch along with outdoor furniture.

I Kept Thinking About Snakes…

We parked our cars and hiked through the grass to the stones, (I kept thinking about snakes…) and all the time I was hoping to find names that I knew were “ours” but that day, it wasn’t to be.  That day, none of the names were familiar, so we went on down the road where we did find my mother’s great-grandfather’s farm, and then on to the Caney Fork Cemetery where we found numerous family members.

This cemetery’s proximity to other Smith’s that were our family leads me to believe that these Smith’s are related, and I was able to carve out some time today to do more research on this family.

From the death records that I’ve located today, Ruby is the daughter of last week’s Tombstone Tuesday, Lute H. and Sabina Smith.

Drat! The Name Fits But the Dates Do Not…

According to Lute’s Death Record, he was the son of William Basie Smith. (I’ve not done any fact-checking on these facts yet.)    There is a William in my Charles Smith family, but the dates are simply wrong for Lute’s father to be my family’s William.

I’m disappointed, but this small cemetery is very near to my great-grandparent’s farm, Charles and Virginia Hawley Smith, in the Temple Hill area of Barren County, Kentucky, and while they may not have been related, there is a good chance, too, that they were.

Another puzzle to solve, for another day, but as of today I have more clues to work with!

Other Related Posts:

Tombstone Tuesday: Lute and Sabina Smith Ruby’s parents.

The tombstone of  J. Thomas and Nancy A. (Smith) Harrison is just down the road a few miles in the Caney Fork Baptist Church cemetery. They may (or may not) be related to each other.

Warner LaRue Jones Tombstone. Warner was born in Kentucky to Willis and Martha Ellen Smith Jones.

George W. Smith & wife Lucy’s Tombstone

The Day the Serendipity Genealogy Angels Smiled

by Sherry Stocking Kline
January 26, 2010

This tombstone is located in a Smith Family Cemetery in or near the Temple Hill area in Barren County, Kentucky.  (there are several Smith Family cemeteries in Barren County.) It is a small family cemetery, but I would guess there might be as many as 20 or 30 burials there.

The cemetery was located behind a farmhouse, and the whole area was overgrown with tall grass.  One clue to note is that someone (probably on Memorial Day given the plastic flowers are only slightly faded) had placed flowers on their grave. So most likely they have living children or grandchildren in the area.

Lute & Sabina Smith - Barren County, KY - Smith Cemetery

Smith
Lute H.
1857 – 1936

Sabina
1860 – 1940

While I suspect Lute and Sabina Smith may be family, I haven’t verified it yet, and I hope that can be part of this year’s adventures.  I think Sabina is a very pretty name, one that I’d never heard before, and if it truly is unusual, that should make sorting her out of the other Smith’s easier. The name Lute doesn’t seem that common, either.

My next steps when I start working on this couple will be to check on the census for them, get a copy of their obituaries, will(s), and perhaps even give the local funeral homes a call as that has worked well in the past.  Those are my first steps.

If it looks like there is a family connection, I will also contact the South Central Kentucky Cultural Center, as they have several family histories there, along with miscellaneous family information, and see if perhaps they have a family history for the family there that I can use as a springboard to use to locate the documents that would verify relationships.

We were at this cemetery  5  July 2005, looking for our own family burials, but we did not find any names in the cemetery that we knew to be our kin.  We had my mother with us and were trying to locate her grandfather’s homestead.

We did not find my mother’s grandfather’s homestead, but were able to locate her great-great grandfather’s homestead about three miles on past this farmstead.  Unfortunately, my ancestor’s Smith cemetery had already been returned to farm ground.

Related Posts:

The tombstone of  J. Thomas and Nancy A. (Smith) Harrison is just down the road a few miles in the Caney Fork Baptist Church cemetery. They may (or may not) be related to each other.

Warner LaRue Jones Tombstone. Warner was born in Kentucky to Willis and Martha Ellen Smith Jones.

George W. Smith & wife Lucy’s Tombstone

The Day the Serendipity Genealogy Angels Smiled

by Sherry Stocking Kline
January 19, 2009

The following stone is the final resting place of my great-grandmother’s sister and her husband.

J. Thomas and Nancy A. (Smith) Harrison

The Stone Reads:

HARRISON

J. Tom.
May 13, 1844
July 10, 1911

Nancy A.
November 9, 1846
October 13, 1927

Caney Fork Baptist Church - Temple Hill, Barren County, Kentucky

This Stone is located in the cemetery of the  Caney Fork Baptist Church, Temple Hill, Barren County, Kentucky.

Nancy A. (Smith) Harrison was the sister of my great-grandmother, my great-aunt.  And until I began doing genealogy and doing research,I didn’t even know she existed.

Somehow, that feels strange to me, that I have fairly close extended family all over the United States that I don’t even know.  That the person I hand money to in the store, even here in town, might be a cousin that I don’t know exists.

My husband and I experienced a situation very much like that in 2006, and probably I should blog about that soon.  It was one of those serendipitous moments that we’ve had at least three times, meeting people that we were related to, and never knew about.  But I digress.

Nancy A (Smith) Harrison was the daughter of Charles and Virginia (Hawley) Smith, and the sister of my great-grandmother, Martha Ellen Smith Jones.  Now I know where my great-aunt was buried, but to this day, so far, I haven’t a clue where Martha Ellen was buried.

My great-grandmother is not buried next to her husband, and I don’t believe she was alive when he lived in the area he is buried in. Nancy Harrison’s other sibling, children of Charles and Virginia Hawley Smith (the ones that I know about) are: Calvin, George W., Sarah A., Mary E., Martha Ellen, Jones (my great-grandmother), William,  and I believe there was one more child, but I don’t have that child’s name.

Nancy’s brother, George, married Miss Julia Harrison, but I’ve not yet tried to learn if Julia and J. Tom are siblings.  That would be a great addition to my Genealogical Goals for 2010! And a goal that should be fairly straightforward.

For more information about the Smith family, see the following posts:

George W. Smith Tombstone

The Day the Genealogy Serendipity Angels Smiled…

And if you are reading this, and you’re my kin, please leave a note so we can say “hello, nice to meet you!”

Sherry Stocking Kline
January 2, 2010

Holy Cow!  I just realized that this is the first time I’ve written the date 2010!  I’ve stayed home, stayed in, and haven’t even written a check since Thursday.

The following challenge comes from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings!

Thank you, Randy!

Hey, it’s Saturday Night – time for some Genealogy Fun!! I know – you had a great time on New Year’s Eve, and are just recovering from the holidays, so we’ll keep this one pretty easy.

Here is your assignment, if you choose to accept it (frankly, I’ve noticed that SNGF participation has dropped off in the last month – why? Too much eggnog? Too much work? What?):

1) “What was your best Genealogy Moment during 2009?” This could be a research find, a fabulous trip, a found family treasure, etc. Your choice!

2) Tell us about it in a blog post of your own, a comment to this blog post, or a comment to the Twitter or Facebook status line for this post.

I wish I could say that I had one glorious genealogy discovery, one brick wall that I could gloat on breaking down, one great connection with a new branch that I was elated to locate.  But I’ve been spending what little research time I have helping a couple of other folks and butting my head against a Smith and Jones brick wall in Kentucky.

Maybe it’s time to branch out, and spend a little more time on a little less common surnames??

If I have to choose my favorite genealogy moment, can I do it?

Would I choose the moment that I found a clue I’d missed in my Smith and Jones’ previous research?  One that adds a new county in Kentucky to my research possibilities and who knows, may be just the clue that I need to find the information I want. (What I wonder is how I looked at that and MISSED it the first time!)

Or would it be on August 8th, 2009 when I wrote my first blog post, and found out how little I knew about getting a blog up and going.

Would my favorite genealogy moment(s) be when the genealogy blogging community begin sending blogging tips by twitter, leaving me comments, and sending e-mails to help get me up and running and learn each new thing I needed to know.

And oh, my goodness, the kindness you all extended to me each time you did that!  I’d love to thank each one of you here again, but I don’t want to miss even one of you!  (I should have kept a list.)

The Kreativ Blogging Award – One of my favorite moments…

One of my very favorite moments was being chosen by three different genealogy blogging buddies for the Kreativ Blogging Award!

hank you!  That was an exciting moment for this newbie genealogy blogger!

Surviving Wichita Eagle’s Budget Cuts – again…

Another  moment was to continue to ‘make the cut’ with the Wichita Eagle as they downsized the magazine that I wrote for, then did away with the magazine I wrote for, then included my column along with some of my free-lance writing friends in their “Healthy Living” magazine. Whew!  I sure miss my former editor and mentor and the other  neat people I used to work with, though.

And would it be when I learned that my cousin’s husband was as addicted to genealogy as me?  We’re going to get out laptops together and share family info!

Advent Calendar Challenge brought back so many memories…

And I think the most recent genealogy favorite moments have to be the Geneablogger’s Christmas Advent Calendar Challenge!

Thanks to Thomas at GeneaBloggers, so many old memories came flooding back, making my Christmas season a very special one.  Now many of them are written down to be thumbed back through and added to when I have time.  Thank you, Thomas!

And now, I think I will take time to back up my data, (thanks again for the reminder, Thomas,) then set my New Year’s Research Goals (I don’t make resolutions, I usually break those) and pick a day to re-organize the info that I have (again) so that I know which direction to ride off in!

Happy New Year to you all, and Thank you to so Many!

Sherry Stocking Kline
November 21, 2009

For me, it’s a sniffly sneezy, Saturday night. I’m on the mend, but Kleenex still needs to be on stand-by.

Here is our Saturday Night Fun Challenge from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings!  Have Fun!

Hey, genies, it’s Saturday Night, time for some Genealogy Fun!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (where’s my Mission Impossible music…drat, lost it), is:

1) Who is your MRUA – your Most Recent Unknown Ancestor? This is the person with the lowest number in your Pedigree Chart or Ahnentafel List that you have not identified a last name for, or a first name if you know a surname but not a first name.

2) Have you looked at your research files for this unknown person recently? Why don’t you scan it again just to see if there’s something you have missed?

3) What online or offline resources might you search that might help identify your MRUA?

4) Tell us about him or her, and your answers to 2) and 3) above, in a blog post, in a comment to this post, or a comment on Facebook or some other social networking site.

My most elusive mysterious ancestor and the brick wall I most want to break down is my Great-grandfather, Willis Washington Jones.

What do I Want to Know?

Who was his father. If his last name wasn’t Jones, it would certainly be a lot easier.

If I could find a marriage license/record for his mother and father, it would certainly be a lot easier.

If he had been on a census with a Jones mother and father, it would be a lot easier.

Here’s What I Know, and What I Think I Know…

He was born in Kentucky, according to his death certificate and most census records, though one granddaughter thought he was born in Illinois.   He may have been born in Barren, Edmonson, Hart, or possibly even Metcalfe County and he died in Sapulpa, Oklahoma.

Reviewing some of the following  info for Willis, I see a couple of gaps I have that I can probably fill without too much travel involved.

But if anyone out there has a lot of Jones’ family info in one of the above counties, I’d sure be interested!  I’ve nearly come to the conclusion that I need to gather all Jones’ info for those counties in that era, and see if I can by process of elimination figure the puzzle out.

I do have one question that I would like an opinion on, on the 1860 census that my great-grandfather Willis is on, (see below) he is listed at the very bottom of the list, and not with what I believe are his half–siblings.

Any comments would be welcome! Does that mean that Elizabeth is probably not his mother. (Either an obituary or death certificate names her as his mother, and yet, never a mention of his father.)

She, her husband, and one of her daughters also moved to Kansas, and lived near Willis for a time.

The following is part of  a ‘cheat sheet’ that I’ve typed up to take with me when I’m out and about researching.

Willis Washington Jones – Misc Info

Born: Mar. 28, 1853  in Kentucky.

Willis’ mother was Elizabeth Laird Jones (Elizabeth’s parents were Hezekiah Lard/Laird and Patsey Carter.)

I have no idea who Willis’ father is.

I have no proof that Elizabeth married anyone named Jones before she married J. R. U. Crabb.  (5 March 2012 – I have now viewed the marriage  certificate for Elizabeth and her second husband, J. R. U. Crabb and her name is listed as Jones.)  So, apparently Elizabeth did marry Willis’ father,  and either they divorced, or his father died while he was very young.

Willis last name was Jones on the census as a child, and ever after.

1860 Census in Barren County

Is Willis with his mother and a stepfather, J.R.U. Crabb, or is he an orphan taken in by this couple?

1860 Census Page 87 – Metcalfe County, KentuckyPost Office – East Fork4th of July, 1860
Entry 586

J.R.U. Crabb – 28 – Male
Elizabeth – 28  (1880 census says born in KY, mother born in South Carolina)
Daniel U – 02
Patsy S – 1/12

Patsy C. Crabb – 60 – North Carolina
Willis Lard – 25
Catherine Piper – 17
Amanda Gooden – 12
Willis Jones – 7  – born Kentucky

I have not found Willis on the 1870 Census

Willis W. Jones married Martha Ellen Smith, daughter of Charles and Virginia (Hawley) Smith on 27 June 1876 in Barren County, KY.

They were married by Minister Bertram at his home. (later, in 2005, a new-found cousin, Nancy Bertram Bush, told me the minister was Ephraim Bertram, a circuit minister.)

Martha Ellen Smith was born Sept 03, 1852. She died on July 23, 1898.

I do not know where she is buried, but believe it to be in Kansas, Oklahoma, or possibly even Arkansas, as I’ve been told they had a strawberry farm in Arkansas for a time.

No one living knows where the strawberry farm was in Arkansas, and I question the person’s memory who gave me that information.  I’ve done no research in Arkansas – yet.

1880 Sound-Ex Edmonson Co., KY, Brownsville Dist.

Jones – Soundex# – is 520
Roll 40 – Kentucky T-570

Jones, Willis White,  Male, 27 years
Jones,  Martha E. Wife Age 28 Born KY
Jones, Evan B Son 3 KY
Jones, Pearl dghtr 1  KY

1880 Census  – Edmonson Co., KY

Jones, Willis white Male 27  married  Farmer
Jones, Martha white  Female 28  married  housewife
Jones, Evan B white Male   3  son
Jones, Pearl white Female 1 dghtr

Willis W. Jones remarried and had more children, and he died Sept 26, 1929 in Sapulpa, OK (this is certain, I have the death certificate), he is buried there, and some of his descendants live there.

1910 Oklahoma Census – Sapulpa  Township  47, 47(There was a third son later, William)

Jones, Washington W.    Hd  Male         Age 57  born KY  fthr  brn US. mtr brn U.S.

Eliza C. wife white  Age 40  # of yrs of present marriage   2  (or 7 not a good copy)

Bessie B age 18  born KY mtr & ftr born in KY
Vechel N. age 6, born Oklahoma  parents  born KY
Richard T age 1, brn Oklahoma parents KY – Willis Lard

This seems like such a lot of information, but hope springs eternal that someone with the answers will find this post, and contact me.

The thing that makes this more unlikely, is that I doubt that my Great-grandfather Willis had any more full siblings who would have the information that I need.

If  you are reading this after googling one of the names listed above, We need to talk! Please leave a comment, so we can share info!  Thanks….