Not just another William Smith….

James and Susannah’s oldest son was born in 1836 in Darke County, Ohio. I have searched for years for William Smith. It is bad enough that Smith is such a common name, then add William, another common name to the mix and you will understand how my “needles in my haystack” formed. During my search, I obvious had more luck looking for some of the other kids who had more unusual, less common names. William was in the large melting pot with all the other William Smith’s in America. You can image my shock, when he suddenly appeared in the 1870 census living next door to Branson and Emily in Madison County, Indiana. It was like someone dropped him from the sky into my lap!

It took me a few weeks to determine that he was for sure our William but according to the census information he she fit into the family well. The siblings in this family and the previous generation tended to migrate together. It should not have surprised me that William and Branson settled in the same area but it did. It would not take me long to find out that William and Branson married sisters from the Kinnaman family. William married Hannah Kinnaman and Branson married Emily Kinnaman. The information about the brothers seemed to boil up to the surface and came raging out at me in a torrent. One thing that I have learned about Genealogy research is it often comes in wave after long dry spells. I was able to obtain obituaries for both Branson and William which state that they were born in Darke County Ohio! It was my proof that they were the brothers I was looking for.

William married Hannah J. Kinnaman in 1860 in Madison County, Indiana. They had three children; Sarah Jane Smith born in 1866, William Smith born 1871, and Lenora Smith 1878.

Tombstone Tuesday - January 12, 2010

This is the Smith Plot in Mount Carmel Cemetery in Madison County, Indiana.  Today we will highlight some of the Smith's who are buried here. 

This is the grave of Emily (Kinnaman) Smith. She is the first wife of Branson Smith.  She was born on December 12, 1841. She died on October 23, 1881. 

She and Branson had 5 living children when she died.  Two twin daughters are also listed on this stone. They were born and died in 1879.   In 1877, Emily had her first set of twins.  Flora died but Cora lived. I will have to visit the cemetery to see if she is listed on this stone too. Charles, a son of Branson and Emily is also buried in this plot.  His stone can not be read.  Rest in Peace to all that are buried here.

What's in a name? Brunson or Branson?

What is in a name? When you are looking for some evidence of someone in history, it is important to know what their name really is. In the case of Branson Smith, the second son of James and Susannah Smith, I started out on the wrong foot again with a census record. In the 1850 and 1860 Census, Susannah listed him, or should I say the census worker did, as Brunson. Not sure if they misunderstood what Susannah said or if they did not know how to spell it or was it translated wrong. At any rate, when I found the record, his name was Brunson. For years I looked for him, and did not find him. He was 12 years old in 1850 and 21 by 1860.

I looked for him in the Civil War. I looked for him in Allen County. I looked for him in the counties that I had found his siblings in but for the longest time I did not find him. There was a time when I wondered if he had served and died in the Civil War but I could not be sure of it. One evening I decided to try a few variation of two if his name just in case someone had mis-spelled it…Brenson, Brunsen, Branson. There were a few hits on Branson Smith in both Ohio and Indiana. Most are born much later than the one I was looking for but there is one to investigate. The Branson Smith I found resided in Madison County, Indiana born around 1840 in Ohio. Could this be our Branson? As I examine the 1870 census record, I could not miss that he had a neighbor, names William Smith. Could it be his brother, William, who is a couple of years older?

As it turned out there was quite a bit of data on Branson once I figured out where he and his family lived. He would marry Emily Kinnaman. She was the daughter of Hiram and Casandra (Grosley) Kinnaman. Emily's maiden name would show up spelled with an “a” and and an “o” so sometimes it was translated as Kinnoman, or Kinnaman, or Kinnamon. She came from a large family. It appears that when William, Branson's brother first came to the Madison County sometime before 1860, he worked as a farm laborer for a family who were neighbors of the Kinnaman family. William would marry Emily’s older sister Hannnah Jane Kinnaman. William and Hannah will be a story for a future blog.

I have been unable to determine the exact date of Branson and Emily Kinnaman’ s wedding but it was prior to 1865 and the birth of their first child Charles. Charles, I believe was named after Branson’s brother, Charles who died in 1863. I do not have supporting information yet but I believe that he died in the Civil War. I have found information that a Charles Smith from the Fort Wayne area died in the Civil War in 1863.

Branson and Emily remain close to her Kinnaman Family and his brother William in Madison County,Indiana. They would have 7 children; Charles (1865), Dora, (1867), Ida (1868), George Albert(1871), Thomas (1874) and a set of twins Flora and Cora born (1877). I would find evidence of the death of twins in 1879. They are listed on Emily’s gravestone. Charles died as a child too. His grave stone is very hard to read because it is worn. According to Findagrave.com, they list his death as 1810 but it is more likely January 10, 1870 but he is listed in the 1870 census which said it was recorded on the 12th August in 1870. We will need to do a rubbing of this grave stone in order to tell when he died and was buried. Emily died in 1881 and Branson would remarry in 1885.

He married Cynthia E. Whetsel in Hamilton County on May 14th, 1885. We’ll save the rest of this story for another blog.