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James SMITH notes

James Smith
Posted by imaquila in Smith/Schmidt Queries and Most Wanteds on June 19, 2023 Views:(5379) Replies (0)
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wives:
In the 1850 census you'll notice that America is only 14 years older than Sarah. A marriage license for James H Smith dated 1893 lists his birthplace as St Clair Co, IL and his parents as James Smith and Mary Dunham. A check of St Clair co marriages indicates a marriage between James SMITH and Mary Ann DUNAVENT 21 Apr 1837 lic. # 169 My suspicion is that what James remembered as "DUNHAM" was really "DUNAVENT" or some variation of that but the only source we have is his marriage license so we'll call her "DUNHAM" for now. For that reason, I've placed him and (at least for now) all children older than James with Mary Dunham as their mother. We know William listed his father as William not James so there's also the possibility that at least one of these older children *could* be William's sibling but there is no evidence yet to support that. So, after Mary Dunham, I have America Gibson (no marriage record found but the marriage record for George W lists his mother as America Gibson. We also have a marriage record for James Smith and Mary E Wright dated in 1874 Greene Co, IL. Lastly, we have an obituary from Mary Caroline (Smith) Bradley, presumably a daughter of James as she was listed in his household in the 1850 Greene Co, IL census along with most of the "survivng" siblings that are mentioned in her obituary. One that is NOT listed in either the 1850 or 1860 Greene Co census is the mention of a half sister, Mrs Henry Bradley of Nodaway, MO. This is a Laura Ann Smith b. 1863 IL. The fact that Laura is the ONLY sibling mentioned as a "half sibling" strongly suggests there was yet another wife after America Gibson but prior to Mary Wright. I found no marriages in Greene Co within that time frame so that wife remains a mystery.

children:
I have currently attributed to Mary Dunham/Dunavent:
Sarah E b. 10 May 1838 IL m. John Little
David H b.1839 d. Jan 1928 Yates Center, Woodson, KS m. Sarah A Gibson 10 Aug 1864 Ellis,TX **
Mary Caroline b. 22 Nov 1840 St Clair, IL d. 11 Ap 1917 Prairie, AR m. James Reuben Bradley
James H b. 1846 Belleville, St Clair, IL m. Mrs Mary Ann William 13 Jul 1869, m. Mrs Ruth SMITH 29 Aug 1893 (indicated as James' third marriage, so there is another marriage still missing)
Children attributed to America Gibson:
George Wesley b. Sep 1848 IL d. 4 Jun 1919 Adams, IL m. Leona Cummings 1884
Joseph b. 1849 IL
Arthur b. 1854 TX d. 22 May 1933 Quincy, Adams, IL m. Florence L Ingham
Child attributed to unidentified wife:
Laura Ann b. 16 Mar 1863 IL d. 14 Apr 1923 Nodaway, MO m. Reuben Henry Bradley
Children attributed to Mary Ellen Wright: m. 8 Oct 1874 Greene, IL
Isaac Robert b. 15 Nov 1875 Greene, IL d. 13 Dec 1950 Hill, TX m. Ella Mae Bell
Lewis Elmer b. Jul 1878 IL m. Etta F Reynolds in 1907
Bertha Edith b. 3 Aug 1881 Saguache, CO (location of William Henry Smith) d. 25 Aug 1965 Wagoner, OK m1. ? Perkins, m2. William Jasper Bradshaw, m3. James F Durbin, m4. Mccann, m5. ? Krebs

** David H Smith notes: As far as I know, I am the first to connect THIS David H Smith to Sarah A Gibson so I thought I should include some information on WHY I've come to this conclusion.
Most trees that I’ve seen have the parents of David SMITH who married Sarah A GIBSON attributed to a David Smith and Eleanor W Spencer. This couple can be found in the 1850 Upper Alton, Madison Co, IL census with a son b. 1839 IL named David H Smith. Then it appears that the younger David moved to Clinton County (borders Madison County) by the 1860 census until his "suggested" marriage to Sarah in 1864 Ellis, TX.
David Smith and Eleanor W Spencer were married in Madison Co, IL 1 Dec 1830. They purchased and sold lands with in that county until their deaths in the 1850s.
In both 1850 and 1860 there is ONE David Smith in Greene Co, IL and he’s living with James and America.

After David's marriage to Sarah Gibson in TX, he moves to Greene Co, IL. By 1880,his growing family moved back to TX (this time Tarrant County, where a lot of the Gibson family migrated to and settled before the marriage of David and Sarah).
My conclusion is based on the facts that :
The James SMITH and America GIBSON family already had established ties to the GIBSONs which would make contact between David and Sarah very likely.
After the marriage in Texas, David Smith returned at least for a while to Greene Co, IL for a reason, I *think* because of family there.
Besides the above reasons, the trees of the DNA matches (that our line shares with known SMITH cousins) indicate that we also have DNA matches with the descendants of David Smith and Sarah Gibson.

I've never seen any indication of the reasoning behind linking David who married Sarah A Gibson to the parents, David Smith and Eleanor W Spencer but my guess is that name, age and the fact that the Gibson family also spent time in Madison Co, IL around 1850. Upon closer inspection of a Madison Co, IL map. It is clear that while David and Eleanore SMITH were living in Upper Alton (in the Northwest corner of the county) Sarah Gibson's family was living near Troy in not far from the border of St Clair County, IL.

SIDE NOTE: I keep seeing the middle name "Hezeka" used for David Smith but I’ve never seen it used in any source. I’ve no idea where that began or why so I have NOT adopted it. I’ve seen the initial "H" used in the marriage record, military info, the 1880 census (although it was transcribed as an “N” but looks like an H to me.) and the 1910 census.

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