It has been too long since I wrote a genealogical blog. Things have really gotten away from me but I am glad to be back and want to try writing regularly again. I have been exploring the Smith's from Darke County who emigrated to the Benton County, Indiana area. I am trying to determine how they are related to us. It seems that they are first cousins to our James Smith who settled in the Fort Wayne area. I am working on trying to confirm that. There appeared to be as many as four Smith brothers in Darke County. They included James Smith, William Smith, John Smith and Thomas Smith. Once again we have very common given name which go along with the Smith surname which means the "Needles in the Haystack" saga continues.
Last Saturday, my husband and I spent several hours taking photo's of gravestone in two Benton County cemeteries. The first cemetery was located just east of Boswell, Indiana and is called Boswell Cemetery. I have not counted the number of photo's I took but there was 97 Smith tombstones on this cemetery. It was windy and bitter cold. As you can see from the photo we were out in the open and the wind whipped across the open fields which the local farmers are getting ready for this year's crops. We kept retreating to the car to add another layer of clothing in an effort to keep warm. We have had such a nice sunny and warm spring and the first cemetery photo trip and it turn really cold and windy. Wouldn't you just know it! 
I love to visit this county in Indiana. A few years ago, before I knew there was a possible family connection to this county, my husband and I would ocassionally go to Kentland Indiana to buy a powerball ticket when visiting his folks in nearby, Watseka, Illinois. We discovered the Benton County Wind Farm and have been watching it grow ever since. This county has really jumped on the Green Energy bandwagon and have installed several large wind farms. I just love to see the windmills in action. They just fascinate me! You can see them on the horizon if you look closely to the cemetery photo. I can't help but wonder what these family members who settled here 150 years ago would think about this new industry which is popping up the the rural farms of Indiana. The land is still farmed and the farmers lease the land to the wind farm.Ok, so I got a bit side tracked with my other passion...I'll blog tomorrow about the second Cemetery visit which proved to be very different from the Boswell Cemetery visit......
Happy Haystack Hunting!
Jan Smith
There was an early Smith settlement in South Benton or Tippecanoe county. At the Rainsville Cemetery in Warren county, there are more Smith's and related families, some are connected to the Smith's of the Crawfordsville, Montgomery county. Perry Smith 1815-1884, father supposedly a William Smith had been in Butler county Ohio. Any connection to Smith cemetery at Boswell? Grave marker death 1842 of William Smith correlates to Perry being in the Smartsburg/Crawfordsville area since 1842. Land records make it very confusing, as well as another Perry Smith later from Fayette county.
ReplyDeleteIt seems a lot of land was acquired 1836/1837 by a Perry Smith, but it shows residence as Litchfield county, Connecticut. Unable to find if correlative to Sen Perry Smith of Connecticut, let alone how. The purchase would have been 10-12 after the Indian treaties subsequent to Ft Ouitenon (sp?)/ Tippecanoe.
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