Thursday, November 19, 2009

The Smith Family of Dallas County, AL

A while back I was researching my paternal mother's maternal lineage. I was able to locate and verify my great grandmother and my great-great grandmother through census and vital records. They are as follows:
Lucy Stroggins-Callins b. 1872 - d. abt. 1936 (born and died in Dallas County, Alabama)
Cely Smith-Williams b. abt. 1850 - d. 19 Jun 1933 (Born in Dallas County, AL and died in Bessemer, Jefferson County, AL)

Because Smith is such a common surname, I felt I had no chance on ever finding any of Cely Smith-Williams siblings or any of her other relatives. I did research any Smiths who were living nearby Pierce and Cely Williams in Dallas County.
While conducting research on ancestry.com, I came across a One World Tree in which the name and birth year of my great-great grandmother appeared. I added the information to my tree in order to save it for later research. The Smith Family tree I located went back to a Charity Smith and her enslaver Baxter Smith of Dallas County, Alabama. According to the notes, she and her three children were emancipated in 1825, presumably at the time of Baxter Smith's death. Being that this was 3rd person type of information, I didn't give much credibility to its validity in relation to my research. This could've easily been someone else's family information. I just didn't have enough evidence to verify the information.

Thank goodness for divine ancestral intervention! Recently while speaking to one of my cousins about the most recent Callins-Clay family reunion, I was referred to a distant cousin related to the Smith family of my paternal lineage. After speaking to cousin Philip, it was clear that the Smith family tree on Ancestry was indeed my family. As a matter of fact, Philip personally knew many of my first cousins who lived in Michigan and was always told that they were cousins. However, my specialty in my research is locating ancestors who lived during the 19th century and prior. So Philip referred me to cousin Margaret, who has been researching the Smith family since 1982. I spoke to Margaret for two hours by telephone and she is definitely an old school researcher.

Margaret explained that she came into her genealogical research because the Smith family had property that they own through various family members in Dallas County, Alabama. She started off curious about who the various family members of her grandmother Phoeby Smith were. She quickly made acquaintances with several of the people in Selma, AL and Dallas County, AL who worked at the court house and the city library who assisted in her research. She spoke to several of Smith descendants, including my grandmother Lucy Callins-Lanier. All of her years of work have paid off! She was able to get documents tracking the Smith family's journey to Alabama from Georgia, both black and white. She was also able to get original photographs of some of the Smith children dating back to the late 19th century. I have to give proper due to Margaret who is still working full time, but gives genealogy lectures and African American historical displays in her spare time. We are DEFINITELY related!

This is the story that Margaret relayed to me of the Smith family:
Baxter Smith, a white slave owner brought several slaves from Georgia to Dallas County, Alabama. Included in the inventory of people he brought were Charity Smith (b. 1788)and three mulatto children Harriet, Theodrick and William Smith. In 1825, Baxter Smith's estate freed Charity and her three mulatto children, leaving her other two children by Tom Smith Malinda and Sarah Smith enslaved. Also in the will the white Smith children were the 'guardians' of Harriet, Theodrick and William as blacks in antebellum Alabama had to be sponsored by whites in order to reside in the state as 'free'. Interesting. Harriet (b 1809) was the mother of Elvira, Elizabeth, Candace and Ann Smith (b. 1827). Ann Smith was the mother of Harris, Alice, Namie, Sellie/Cely (b.1852 - d. 1933), Phoeby (b.1860) and Elmira (b.1861). Margaret the granddaughter of of Phoeby Smith and I'm the great-great granddaughter of Cely Smith-Williams.

The confirmation of Charity Smith in the ownership of Baxter Smith and her birth being recorded as 1788 makes her the oldest known relative in my family tree. Currently the Smith family genealogical chart is 40 pages long which documents about one third of Charity Smith' direct descendants.

Family Griot

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Elle, I am a descendant of Tom Smith. I've done extensive research on the family and can share some interesting facts. I have a copy of Baxter Smith's Will. He freed Charity, Tom, and all Charity's children including Malinda and Sarah. He left them land, money, livestock and farm equipment. Over the next twenty years Tom purchased several former Smith slaves and amassed a considerable estate. There's a lot more to tell and a very sad story about the children Tom had with two wives both named Charity that we as descendants of both wives can bring full circle. Lee Snyder snyderl40@yahoo.com

The Family Griot said...

Thank you so much for contacting me, Lee! I'll be sure to contact you and put you in contact with some of our other distant cousins. I will be contacting you soonest. Thanks for posting this information.

Ms Vicky said...

What a wonderful find! Its very remarkable that your Charity was set free along with her children.

Anonymous said...

Hi, I am looking for my Smith family from Bessemer, Alabama. Lemer or Limmer or Lemar Smith (her maiden name) was born around 1899 or 1901. I have a photo of her. She is mulatto but looks white so I don't know if she is listed as black or white on various US Censuses so it is difficult to find more censuses for her. I can email you a photo of her if you like. I was told by my mom that Lemer's father was white. She also married and lived in Stuttgart, Arkansas. I don't know if she was married more than once but it is possible because there are step siblings. I know she got married to a man who's name was Bass.

I was wondering if there is a connection with my Smith family and yours. Linda Johnson lindajo13@hotmail.com

KD said...

I am a descendant of some free mulatto Smiths who lived in Orrville, AL (near Cahaba) and owned quite a bit of land "inherited from an Irishman" since the mid-late 1800s. Is there a way for me to connect with you on ancestry.com so I can confirm my research? I've hit a dead end at the late 1890s with my Smith line.