Who's your Daddy?

Have you ever looked at an early Census record? Looks a bit like chicken scratching. The early Census records were used to count the population in the US and it was done every ten years as it is today. In the Early years, the free persons and slaves were not counted together. For the 1790 and 1800, the census listed the male head of household and a count for each of the male children from 0 to 10 years old in column one of the record. In column 2, a count was entered for the male children from 10 – 20 years old. A count is entered for each of the males for each ten year increment after that until age 100. The second half of the form was for listing all the females in the household and each column was 10 year increments too.

As the population grew, the government decided to break down the children into smaller groups so beginning in 1820 the male head of household was listed and the first column was for males under the age of five years old or 0-5years, then 5-10 years, 10-15years and then 15-20 years and from there it incremented every 10 years until the age of 100 years old. I have seen very few persons listed after the 70 to 80 year column in the early census records.

So in the early census it was difficult to determine a person’s parentage. It was a bit of a guessing game. I would write down the children’s names and year of birth and tally them up in 5 year increments. Then find the father’s names and look at each of the column and see if they matched. Some times it was accurate and sometimes it was a little off. Sometimes a child would die from one census to then next and there would be no real way to know that. Some times you wondered if they could count. Was it the parent’s lack of education or was it the person doing the recording.

Looks like chicken scratching to me….

Some Churches were very good about keeping baptism records in larger cities but not in the small farming communities which dotted the American landscape. As families migrated westward, early churches services were often conducted in person’s homes by lay leaders. A Circuit Minister would come around on a regular interval to conduct a Church service and that was when a child or several children would be baptized. Records were rarely kept until there was a formal Church building in which the families gathered.

Starting in 1850, the US Federal Census required that all of the names of the household members be listed on the Census. Hurray! Now we don’t have to guess who is in the family. As a result, the 1850 census helped me early in my family history research.

In the 1850 and the 1860 federal census all the Smith children were listed in the Allen County Census. The oldest Smith children are in their late teens in 1850 and by 1860 they are in their late 20’s. I really had expect they would have been married and raising their own families by then. So as I searched for marriage records I looked for them after 1860. For years I looked for them, when I did not find them I began to think that there must be a mistake. Eventually I decided that the 1860 Federal Census must have been inaccurate. I suspect that Susannah did not understand what the Census taker wanted. I suspect that she thought that the census recorder ask how many children do you have. Instead of how many children live in your household.

 I would find that Margaret married Benjamin C Davis in 1851 and Mary Ann married Jonathan Kimble in 1853. Eventually I would find that Sarah would marry Robert Hood in 1861. William had moved on to Madison County, Indiana by the 1860 Census and he was counted in both Allen County and Madison Counties. Branson would be found in Madison County a short time after William. I had spent years looking for these children and their marriages in the wrong decades.

James Smith died in 1868 and is buried in the Nine Mile Cemetery with two daughters, a grandchild and two sons who died before him. By the 1870 Census, Susannah, and some of the younger Smith children, John F, Susan and Martha, are found living with Joseph, his wife Mary Catharine and their twin sons, Ashley and Ashland.  Henry C is now listed as Charles H. and he is counted with James W Smith and his wife, Oella and their son William F who live next door to Susanna and the other family members.

So now you know a bit about Census records. They are as accurate as they can be considering that so many woman did not receive and education. They are a tool to be used with other records.

It's Time for a church - 1853

The families living near Nine Mile are prospering. They are settling on the land, growing crops and families. James and Susannah Smith have added two children to their family, John Francis in 1849 and Susanna M in 1852 while two of the oldest daughter would marry and leave home to begin their own families. In 1851, their daughter Margaret became the 2nd Wife of Benjamin Davis, a family friend who came to Fort Wayne from Darke County with the Smith’s, the Miller’s and the Overly’s. Their 2nd daughter Mary Ann married Jonathan Kimble in 1853. Several of the children of John and Hannah Miller’s children have married and began their families too. Charles married to Sarah Dilley and they have 2 children, George and Hannah Jane. Gabriel had married Anna in Ohio prior to leaving for Indiana and Catherine married John W. Maddux. Growing families need a church to assist them in raising their children.

The following is taken from the historical records from The Nine Mile United Methodist church which has a flourish congregation to this day.

James Smith was one of sixteen founding member of the United Brethren Evangelical Church in Nine Mile, Indiana in 1853. The church is presently known as Nine Mile United Methodist Church. Interesting details emerge about James Smith and other founding members in a historical overview written for the churches 100th anniversary which reads as follows: “THE HISTORY OF THE NINE MILE Evangelical U. B. CHURCH” This church was organized at the home of John Miller by Rev. Casey with 16 charter members. Daniel and Lucy Ann Buskirk, sold one acre of ground for $ 10.00 to the trustees of the United Brethren Church, who were Gabriel Miller, Benjamin C. Davis, James Smith, Thomas Overly and Charles Miller, on January 3, 1853. For a period of five years, the meetings were held at the home of the John and Hannah Miller and at the homes of other church members, but in 1859, they erected a log church on the present grounds in section 7, Pleasant Township.”

Rev. P. Landen was then the pastor and dedicated the church. The membership continued to increase but the little log church was still their place of worship until 1868. In that year a frame building was erected. The new place of worship was called "Liberty Chapel". For a few years the church had been served through the Ossian circuit, but in 1869 it was changed to the Zanesville circuit.

In 1879 the 27th annual session of the Auglaize Conference, of which this church was a member, was held at the Liberty Chapel Church. In 1891 Liberty was again placed in the Ossian Circuit which included Ossian, Bethel, Zanesville, Prairie Grove and Liberty Chapel It remained with Ossian until 1906 when it was changed back to the Zanesville circuit along with Bethel.

As it would turn out, our Smith family would play a large role in the beginning of this church.  All the families listed in the historical doument are related to our Smith's in one way or another.  My husband and I visited it in 2003 on the 150th Anniversary.  I am sure that the congregation must have thought I was nuts because I had tears rolling down my face for most of the service.  I was very moved to be able to sit in a church which had such a rich connection to my family history.  Later the congregation would learn that I was the Great, Great, Great Granddaughter of James Smith one of the 16 founding members of the Nine Mile United Methodist Church.  My Grandfather, Rev. Everett A. Smith, himself a Methodist Minister, would have been proud to have known that his family , our family, played such a large role in this church.

Branching out from here.....

It’s 1850 in Pleasant township, Allen County, Indiana  in a small town called Nine Nile.  It’s nine miles from Fort Wayne so what else would you call it? There a Smith Family who lives there and they have 10 children. They came from Darke County, Ohio a few years back along with other Ohio families.  They traveled with the Millers, John, Hannah (Smith) and their children, the Davis', Benjamin C, Letishia and their children and the Overly's, Thomas, Emeline and their children. It was a hard trip in wagons to cover the 80 distance miles to get here but James and Susannah Smith have been married for twenty years now.  They have known hardship before and knew that they would experience it again.  It is a part of living in this time and place. Susanna was the daughter of Martin and Polly Overly of Darke County Ohio when they married on December 9, 1830.  She is the sister to Thomas Overly.  James Smith and Hannah (Smith) Miller are siblings too.

Much has changed in those twenty years since the Smith's were married.  Many people were settling in Ohio and it was getting hard to find a place where you belonged.  Land was being gobbled up and there were not too many opportunities left.  So families were moving further west. Now they live on a plot of land that they are improving. It is in Pleasant Township, in Allen County in the state of Indiana. They must remove the trees and clear fields so they can grow crops on the land. In time the government will make it their land. It is hard work but there will be a reward in the end. Susanna’s brother Thomas and his wife and their family live with the Smiths as do James’s nephew Charles and his new wife Sarah (Dilley).  All the men and family members who are able, work hard to clear the land and get the first crop in with hopes of bright new beginnings.

James and Susanna would have their first child in 1831 in Ohio, her name is Margaret. Then Mary Ann came in 1833, Sarah Elizabeth in 1834 who was followed by William in 1835 and Branson in 1838. They finally had two sons! Branson would be followed by Charles in 1840 and by a daughter named Kisiah in 1842. The next child born would be James W. Smith in 1843. He would be the last of the children born in Darke County Ohio. Between 1843 and 1847 the Smith family left Ohio and settled in Nine Mile, Indiana. Joseph J Smith would be the first Smith child was born in 1847 in Indiana. The next child born in 1849 was John F. Smith.

Listed is the 1850 Federal Census for the state of Indiana, Allen County, Pleasant Township. The last Family listed on this page is James Smith and the remaining Smith children are on the next page.

James, Joseph and John Francis are listed on the top of the next page. The family listed in the Census following James and Susanna is James’s nephew Charles Miller and his new bride, Sarah. The next family is Thomas and Emeline Overly and their children. Thomas is Susannah Smith’s brother.


The time has come for us to give "Thanks".  To Unite as a family and show God how grateful we are for all the blessing that he has bestowed on us.