Tombstone Tuesday - June 22, 2010

For the next few weeks there will be mores Smith’s from Smith Cemetery. This stone is for Mary Ann, wife of Joseph Smith. The stone is difficult to read. I believe that the years is 185? but it could have been earlier. Cleaning the sod away from this stone will help us to determine what the dates are on it I hope.

The next time we go to the cemetery, I plan to take some tools so I can clean up some of these gravesites and we will be able to get more information about this family. Searching through the 1850 census data does not help me find Joseph and MaryAnn. There was a Joseph listed in Jasper County who may have been a brother to James. He was born in 1797. I can not be certain at this point where he is buried. There are empty spaces between grave stones at the Smith cemetery which tells me that stones have either been moved, broken, buried under sod or just carted off.

There is a Joseph in Fowler, Indiana listed in the 1860 census. He was most likely a son of James Smith but I can not be certain just yet. I will continue the research this family to try to help sort the "haystack" out.

The second photo is a tombstone for Josephene Smith who was the daughter of Joseph and Mary Ann. We should be able to clean this stone up too and get more information from it.

More Smith's from Benton County to follow!

Have a great Tuesday!

Jan

Mommy and Bambi - June 2010

It has been an interesting week last week. We came home from a weekend camping trip to find a baby deer had been born in our back yard. Oh he was so sweet. I know that this has nothing to do with Genealogy but I could not help blogging about it because it was fun to watch the interaction between the mother and the baby.

The baby stayed in the back yard for the week as Mommy came and went during the day. Our neighborhood is very quiet during the week with most of the residence working our side of the home. The baby found many plant to sleep under when he wanted to hide.  It is a good thing that I never got around to getting the weeding done in the back yard because it gave him lots of places to hide.

By the end of the week, Bambi was no longer hiding! By Saturday morning, mommy and baby were really comfortable in the back yard. They spent the morning playing. Mid morning the neighbors began to start their weekend projects and Mommy decided that there was too much going on in the neighborhood so she urged the baby to leave the safety of the back yard through a gap between the gate and the fence so off they fled! Good Bye Mommy and Bambi! It was fun watching you grow!

While I know that this has nothing to do with my family,  It has everything to do with family.  A mother and a baby and what can be mre special that that!

Hope you enjoy!

Jan

Tombstone Tuesday - June 15, 2010

Smith Cemetery near Boswell, Indiana in Benton County.

William Smith - Born: Dec 14, 1809

          Died: July 28, 1884

                                     

      

Hannah Smith  - Born:  1811    

Died: April 15, 1873                                                 

William Smith is the son of James Smith who was one of the original Smith brothers from Darke County, Ohio.  James, his sons and daughters with their families immigrated to Benton County, Indiana area about 1836.  The elder James died almost immediately after arriving in Benton County and is the first to be buried in the cemetery.  This William Smith is likely a first cousin to our James Smith who left Darke county for the Fort Wayne area in about 1844 or 1845.

The Artisans….Haplogroup R1B

“So Matt, will you do a DNA test for me if I pay for it?” I asked him. I think he thinks I’m nuts sometimes…but you can blame it all on Grandma Smith with her dusty old box of photos. I did explain to him that it was for our family history search. I explained that I had been stuck in 1809 with James Smith for years. I explained that maybe this would help us to isolate whether we were descend from Smith’s in the Northeast / New England area or Smith’s from the Maryland/ Virginia area. I have wanted to do this for some time.

I needed a Smith male volunteer and Matt seemed the most logical. After all he is the father to Nolan, our last remaining male Smith from our immediate lineage of the family. He agreed with a grin, “Sure I’ll do it!” he replied. I did the maternal test. I ordered the kits online through Ancestry.com. I got a little break on the price because I bought them both at the same time. It is a 47 marker test which I hope will give us a bit more information that the 25 marker test offered from some of the other DNA projects which are available online.

The test itself was interesting…and really quite quick and easy. The direction said to wipe the inside or you right cheek with one swab for 30 seconds and place it in the envelope provided fro mailing the test back. Then repeat with swab 2 on your left check and around your gums for swab 3. Place them in the envelope and leave it open for 30 minutes. Then seal it and mail it… We did them in May and I sent them off right away. About two weeks later I received notification that Matt’s results were in. So I went out to look at them.

We are from the Paternal Haplogroup R1b, “the Artisans”! Great…..What the heck does that mean? Well, the report stated that our ancestors were likely responsible for the first cave drawings and probably lived in the areas of what is present day England, France, Spain or Portugal! The report goes on to say that “the Artisans” first arrived in Europe about 35000 – 40000 years ago at the dawning of the Aurgnacian Culture. This culture was remarkable for its subtle, yet significant, technological progress. Aurignacian People collected and shaped flint into tools which they learned to use in their everyday life. They were also the first people known to have made beads and jewelry. They were the culture to exhibit this first sign of the uniquely human quality of self-awareness and adornment.

Well heck, I was hoping for a bit more current data…Like maybe around the time of the Pilgrims or Columbus….That goes back a bit too far. On the ancestry site, there are no other close matches…as a matter of fact; our closet match is not even a SMITH! It is a Musgrave from 5 generations or at least 250 years ago. Can you believe it! I am glad that we are now in the database so when other Smith’s get their DNA tests done, we will be there for possible matches.

So my blog, the “Needle in the Haystack" and my search continues….. I think I’ll stick to searching for wills, obits and death records next time…they are cheaper!

Happy Smith Hunting! 

Jan

Tombstone Tuesday – June 7, 2010

The Smith Cemetery is located south of the town of Boswell in Benton County, Indiana.

These are the tombstones of James and Mary Smith. James is the son of James and Sarah Smith.

James was born in 1819 in Ohio. Mary was born in 1825 in Indiana.

James Smith                                                                Mary Wife of James

born December 31, 1818                                            born February 1823   

 Died Mar 2, 1896                                                      died October 1, 1882                      

Our Smith line….

I am stuck on our Smith family in Ohio on our GGG-Grandfather, James Smith born around 1809 and I really have been for years. Occasionally, there is a new bit of information but I am having trouble going any further back . I have so many questions and no answers right now!

Who is James’s Father?

Where did this family come from?

Are they Smith’s who came from the Maryland / Virginia area?

Or did they come from the New England?

Last winter I decided to take a real close look at all the Smith Families in Darke County in an effort to determine where we come from!  I have confirmed the location of my GGG-Grandfather, there were two brothers who both have a son named James. These two brothers probably had other brothers in the area, namely Thomas, Stephen and John. These brothers with son’s named James are James and William Smith. The fact that both brothers have son’s named James came from “last will and testament” transcripts which I have received from other area researchers. It is my belief that we are connected to these Smith brothers and I am attempting to make this connection.

One of the brother’s, James and his family, I am able to follow to Benton County Indiana in 1836. It is James’s brother, William, who I think is our James’ father. (I know that was confusing huh?) I had been told previously that William was a Revolutionary War Vet and that he was buried in Auglaize County, Ohio. I have not found his burial in Ohio or any evidence to support this claim. While investigating the brother James, I found the burial for James in the Smith Cemetery which I referred to in my previous post. Interestingly enough, the Cemetery sign refers to his brother William and Thomas! It is stated that they too settled in this area. So that leads me to ask, "did my GGG-Grandfather James’ father William, leave Darke County prior to son’s departure in 1844?"  Maybe he did!

Upon searching this cemetery, I was able to locate the burial of the James and his wife but did not find the burial of the brother Thomas and William. We will be returning to the Cemetery some time this summer to continue our search. James’s stone was located in tall weeds along a fence line and there seems to be stones missing and broken which we will continue to look for. These stone are very old and difficult to read. We have some special paper that we can use to lift the images off the face of the stone which should allow us to have correct dates from these stone.

We plan to bring our garden tools so we can remove weeds and see if we are able to locate other early burial in this cemetery. A trip to the county seat may be necessary to check for burial records and death records.
 
Til Next Time!

Jan