Georgia: Wilkes County: A Smith Family Odyssey, Chapter 1 ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store this file permanently for free access. This file was contributed by: Art Seder ARSeder@aol.com ==================================================================== CHAPTER ONE THE FAMILY ANTECEDENTS I Mittie Olivia Smith's great grandfather, who died in Georgia in 1816, was a Nathan Smith. This information and what little else was known about the family's early history was provided by Mittie's uncle, Rev. Frances Marion Smith. In a letter to Mittie's sister, Annie Thompson Smith (Nan), written in 1908, Rev. Smith recited the following family history: "...what I have heard from my father and mother in my early years in regard to their families as to our descent I think it was pure English. So far as I ever heard unmixed with Scotch or Irish and no characteristics have developed along the line so far as I know that would warrant the conclusion of our descent from either of these. My grandfather Smith was named Nathan ...he served as a soldier on the American Side throughout the Revolutionary War after the war he settled near Washington the county ceit [sic] of Wilkes County, Ga. where he raised a family of I do not know how many children. My father Nathan Foster Smith was born about the year 1802 or 3. As he was a man that did not write or keep any accounts he lost the exact date of his birth he had two brothers uncle Elbert and William B. Smith. Elbert I think was older and uncle William younger than my father, uncle Elbert died comparatively early in life, he lost sight of uncle William and never knew what became of him he had two sisters at least but I never knew their names...." Starting with this rather bare-bones account, it has been possible through census records and various wills, legal documents and other information to reconstruct a reasonably complete family history, going back one generation earlier than Nathan Smith to his father, whose name was James. It is also possible to make an educated guess as to the family's antecedents going back even farther. II As the following chapters will demonstrate, the lives of James and Nathan Smith, who lived in what became Wilkes County, Georgia, from about 1774 until their deaths, can be fleshed out fairly extensively from county records, Revolutionary War sources and other information. However, until quite recently all efforts to uncover any earlier information about the Smiths came to nothing; there was simply no evidence upon which to base inferences, much less conclusions. However, recent information strongly suggests that James Smith and his son Nathan, together with other members of their families, arrived in Georgia from Craven County, North Carolina, whose principal city is New Bern. New Bern lies near the mouth of the Neuse River just upstream from Pamlico Sound- the body of water separated from the Atlantic Ocean by North Carolina's Outer Banks. The likelihood that the Smiths originated in Craven County, North Carolina, rests on the following chain of circumstances: Nathan Smith, who was born in 1750/51 and died in 1817, was married to a Sarah Foster. Her father's family, the Fosters, have been traced back to the seventeenth century. They first settled in Accomack County, Virginia, which is located on the remote eastern shore of that state, then emigrated to Craven County, North Carolina, about 1740. In North Carolina the Foster family settled in an area along Brice's Creek, immediately south of the colonial capital of New Bern. The most prominent member of the Foster family in North Carolina, William Shepherd Foster, and his wife had a large family that included a son, William, who emigrated to Wilkes County, Georgia, shortly before the Revolutionary War. Nathan Smith's wife Sarah was the daughter of that William Foster and was thus a granddaughter of William Shepherd Foster. These facts have been established; what follows are the inferences that can logically be drawn from these facts In Craven County, the Fosters were neighbors and intimately connected with an extended family of Smiths, including several Thomas Smiths, Nathan Smiths and James Smiths. William Shepherd Foster's wife, before her marriage, was Martha Smith. In 1742 a Nathan Smith was witness to a deed signed by William Shepherd Foster and at another time witnessed a deed by which Nathan's father bought land from William Shepherd Foster. In 1766 James Smith and several Smith relatives were designated, along with William Shepherd Foster, to lay out and then maintain a road and bridge across Brice's Creek, which indicates that they were close neighbors. While the facts have not been established with certainty, it appears that there were two principal families of Smiths in Craven County in the mid- eighteenth century. One family, headed by James Smith I and his wife Martha, included children named James II, Mary, Thomas, Martha and John. It was Martha who married William Shepherd Foster. James I died in 1745 and left a Will naming his wife and children. The other family, headed by James I 's brother Thomas Smith, included his wife Elizabeth and children Bazel, Boneta, Sarah, Thomas Rigdon and Nathan Smith. Thomas Smith died in 1750, also leaving a Will naming his children. The likelihood is that shortly before the Revolutionary War James Smith II set out for Georgia along with his son Nathan and his other children. The emigrants also included two of William Shepherd and Martha Foster's sons, William and Kimmie Foster, and their families. Whether William's daughter Sarah and Nathan Smith were married at the time is not known. While much of the foregoing is conjectural, the fact that the Smiths and Fosters were neighbors in North Carolina, intermarried and settled on adjacent lands in Georgia is born out by many records in both places. It is also pertinent to note that a third family, the Rices, were also closely connected with the Smiths and Fosters in both North Carolina and later in Georgia. Here again there is a similarity of given names: for example, the name Nathaniel Rice appears in the records of both Craven County, North Carolina, and Wilkes County, Georgia. It is quite likely, therefore, that the move from North Carolina to Georgia in the early 1770's involved a number of families including not only the Fosters and Smiths but the Rices as well. III On the not unreasonable conclusion that James Smith II and his son Nathan emigrated to Georgia from North Carolina, therefore, it is appropriate to examine briefly the history and conditions of life in Craven County during the middle of the eighteenth century. The first settlers of what became Craven County were French Huguenots, who settled in the Pamlico Sound area in 1690. In 1701 another group of Huguenots moved southward and settled on the Trent and Neuse Rivers near where the town of New Bern was later founded. The land was fertile and free, and they were promised freedom of worship. However, they were soon joined by others of less exemplary character, including outlaws and debtors. This influx was followed in the early 1700's by the arrival of settlers from Switzerland and the Palatinate (a province of Germany near the French border) who were also seeking relief from religious oppression. Most settled around the confluence of the Neuse and Trent Rivers near the site of New Bern, which was founded by Swiss immigrants. The Tuscarora Indians were friendly at first, but relations soon soured, and on September 22, 1711, a massacre of white settlers occurred in and around New Bern, although the town itself was not badly damaged. However, the colonists quickly retaliated and, although the war continued for several years, in the end the Indians were defeated and scattered. In 1723 New Bern was fixed as the seat of Craven precinct and was incorporated as a town. For about ten years beginning in 1736 the colonial assembly met in New Bern, after which there was no fixed meeting place. However, in 1766 New Bern was designated as the permanent capital of North Carolina, and in 1770 beautiful Tryon Palace, the governor's mansion, which still stands, was built there. Although it was not advantageously situated for trade purposes-Pamlico Sound is virtually landlocked by the Outer Banks and is shallow and sandy-New Bern began to enjoy increased commercial activity. It also boasted a pot and pearlash factory and two rum distilleries. Not only was New Bern the largest city in North Carolina, it was also the seat of the colony's only educational and religious institutions and the center of what little society the colony afforded.. The Smiths arrived in Craven County sometime before 1729. In that year James and Thomas Smith purchased 150 acres of land on Brice's Creek, which had been patented by William Brice in 1719. From that time on the names of James, John, Thomas and Nathan Smith appear frequently in the public records buying and selling land, acting as witnesses for various public documents, serving as jurors, being assigned to maintain roads and in other capacities. An earlier Nathan Smith, who is described in court documents as a "planter", accumulated considerable wealth. He was apparently captain of his militia district in 1749, was appointed a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas in 1753, and between 1751 and 1754 sold a total of over 3,500 acres of land. He died in 1765. John and William Shepherd Foster and their families, emigrated from Accomack County, Virginia, to Craven County shortly before 1742. In that year William Shepherd Foster sold land he had inherited from his grandfather in Accomack; his deed was executed in Craven County and witnessed by the earlier Nathan Smith. And in 1746 John Foster, who was probably William's father or brother, was licensed to operate an Ordinary in his house in New Bern. It is possible to identify with some precision the area of Craven County where the Smith and Foster lands were located. Several entries in county records identify members of the Smith and Foster families as landowners on the waters of Brice's Creek, and others task them with responsibility for establishing and maintaining a road from Island Creek to the Neuse River Road, bridging Brice's Creek along the way. Another entry in 1767 appointed William Shepherd Foster a member of the force appointed to patrol from Island Creek down the Trent and Neuse Rivers to Absalom Taylor's land. Whether the "patrols" were intended to protect against slave insurrection, Indian depredations or some other threat is not clear. In any event, the map (Figure 4) identifies these landmarks and provides clear evidence of the general location of the Smith and Foster properties. In Francis Cooper's monograph, Some Colonial History of Craven County (pp. 69-70), the author paints in rather florid colors the following picture of Craven County in the period before the Revolutionary War: "The people of Craven county, as in the other sections of the province, were divided into three classes: First, those educated abroad before or after coming to America. Craven had more of this class than the other counties of Carolina because all the government offices were there. Second, were the men who had made fortunes in land or such. Craven had many of these, especially rich merchants and land-owners, and with that many slaves. We find from reading the wills that this class was predominant in Craven. Third, the common people, farmers and so forth. Craven had her share of these. "Life in Craven, as well as in the other eastern counties, was gay. The log houses of the first settlers by 1729 were mostly done away with and in their places were the frame and brick houses. These houses soon were well furnished, and silver spoons and other such articles were often seen. The stables were full of horses for riding purposes. And nature furnished the eatables with no lax hand. Among the first and second class wealth abounded and was appreciated. But in all the classes hospitality was unbounded, and weddings and other social occasions were largely attended. New Bern was the residence of the higher class, who attended the splendid balls given by Tryon, and those, in return, given by the rich merchants. In fact, New Bern was the gayest, liveliest, and busiest town in the province. Imported wines, rum from the West Indies, and negro fiddlers added charms to the midnight revelry of all classes. The curled and powdered gentlemen and the ladies in their hoops were never so pleased as in walking a minuet or betting at a rubber of whist. Horse racing and fox chasing were in high favor as a pastime." Assuming that most of the settlers of Craven County were represented by the three categories referred to, it seems likely that the Smiths and Fosters fell within or between the last two-large landowners and common farmers. Certainly the Nathan Smith who died in 1765 would have qualified as a large landowner and a member of the ruling aristocracy. Most of the other Smiths, on the other hand, appear to have been smaller farmers although they were apparently substantial landowners and responsible members of the community. They served as road overseers, Grand Jurors and bondsmen. Three of them, the brothers John, Thomas and James Smith II, owned enough property to require a court proceeding to establish their respective rights of ownership in 1756. In summary, there is credible circumstantial evidence that James Smith II and his son Nathan were members of an extended family of Smiths who lived in Craven County, North Carolina, during the middle half of the eighteenth century and that they, along with Nathan's father-in-law, William Foster, and his family set out for the unbroken wilderness of northern Georgia a few years before the Revolutionary War. The question why members of the Smith, Foster and Rice families would give up the relative ease and sophistication of the New Bern area for the Georgia wilderness is difficult to answer. However, the pattern of leaving old, well-established communities for new frontiers occurred again and again, as the following chapters will demonstrate. Often the cause was two-fold: First, the soil in older sections became exhausted through years of crop production without either fertilization or crop rotation. This was particularly true when the one crop was tobacco, which could be grown for only four or five years before the land had to be abandoned. Second, there was insufficient land to support all members of the younger generation, which was sometimes exacerbated by adherence to the rule of primogeniture. Whatever the reasons, mass migrations by members of several families were a common phenomenon. Doubtless the tales of bountiful virgin lands were carried back from the frontier to older settled communities. Often those who promoted emigration had economic interests for doing so. Moreover, notwithstanding the description just quoted of the idyllic life led by settlers in Craven County, it is certain that for many settlers life was not always "gay" and "lively". The full text of Frances Marion Smith's letters is set out in Appendix A. The multiple year shown for Nathan Smith's birth reflects the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar on September 3, 1752. The Foster family genealogy is summarized in Appendix B. To distinguish between James Smiths, Nathan Smith's grandfather will be designated James Smith I and his father James Smith II. The founding and early history of the North Carolina colony is described in Chapter Two of The Granthams, Seven Generations of American Frontiersmen. A Smith Family Odyssey A Smith Family Odyssey The Family Antecedents