Copied from Ed Smith’s Smith family page:
“Letter from A.A. Smith to Francis Smith
East Haven
April 10, 1872
Uncle Francis, as we have not hurd iny thing from you for som time I thought that I would right you a few lines to let you now that we ar all alive except Mother. She died Mar 22d and also Uncle John thay wer both bured the saim day. Fathers helth is not very good he has had a bad turn and bin thretond with the lung fevor but if he caffol he will com out of it all right.
John left about one thousand dollars in a small plase at Burke hollow he thougt that should get well again that the day before he died he sick only a week.
Phillip he lives at the hollow he works at his traid Summers & in the fall. Father wants know about Uncle David and Aunt Nancy and whether thay ar alive & where thay ar and also Hirum and whether he drinks now or not. thar is three of Warren Hartwells children live in this town Aunt Nancy’s cousins I supose. Jacob lives in Concord Vt. we have not hurd iny thing from Uncle Nathan cince the war broke out. we have had a very hard winter and hay very Scarce. People feed corn mostly that we can buy for ??? pur bushel.
Hay is worth from 20 to 30 dollars pur ton and Scarce at that. we got 4 feet of Snow hear on the level and now Sap to Speak of. last year at this time we was dowing our Spring work. I don’t think of iny thing more this time So I will close hoping that you will ansur this Soon as you get it as we ar ancious to hear from you all.
Yours Truly
A.A.Smith
East Haven, Vermont
The following is a commentary on the letter by Harman Clark:
The A. A. Smith appears to be Albert Abel Smith (b. 9 Mar 1842 – d. 14 June 1922), son of William Smith and Fanny Wier. The death of “Mother”, however, would appear to be William’s second wife Martha Lunt, as A. A.’s mother, Fanny Wier, had died 28 Sept 1842.
The Uncle John who died would be Rev. John Smith, youngest son of Nathan and Elisheba Smith. We already had his death date as 21 March 1872.
A.A. refers to his father’s health as not very good. That was an accurate statement as William died 23 June 1872.
A.A. asks about “Uncle David and Aunt Nancy” — that appears to be a reference to David Clements and his wife, Nancy Smith — Nancy being the 7th child of Nathan and Elisheba. I am getting together some data on David & Nancy Clements, who followed others “west”.
“Hirum” seems to be A.A.’s oldest brother, Hiram C. Smith (b. 28 July 1822). I certainly hope we find out whether “he drinks now or not”.
“Uncle Nathan” appears to be the Nathan who married Martha Benham and apparently was dead when A. A. wrote the letter. [I have that Nathan died 1867 in Johnson’s Bayou, Calcasieu Co., LA].”
The following is a biographical sketch of Francis Smith composed by Ed Smith for the 2002 Smith Reunion:
A middle son of Nathan and Elisheba, Francis Smith became a weaver like his father. I’m sure that Nathan probably taught Francis the art of weaving. Francis was only 17 years old when his father died. We haven’t located him on the 1820 census in Vermont and we feel that he was put out to another family in the area.
In 1822 he married Nancy Hartwell in Newark. They wasted no time starting their family. It grew to include 2 fine sons and 3 beautiful daughters, all born in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. They lived on a farm in the Lyndon area from 1822 until 1833 when the farm was sold. We’ve heard that Francis signed a note for a friend using his homeplace as collateral. When the note came due, the friend defaulted and Francis was forced to sell their home to make good on the note.
In 1837, shortly after their youngest child was born, the family packed up and moved west to Centerville, Indiana where his younger brother, Nathan, was already established and living. The story we’ve been told says that Francis, Nancy and their children headed west in a cart being pulled by the family cow. The cow supposedly died in Ohio; Francis and his younger son, Philip, went on to Centerville to get help from family there, while Nancy, the oldest son, Silas, and the three girls waited with friends.
Once settled in Indiana, the Francis Smith family prospered in the Centerville area. For a short time around 1850, we’re told that they moved to Milton, a town south of Centerville where they were involved in a weaving and carding mill. Remember that Francis followed in his father’s trade of weaving. Francis and Nancy both died in Centerville and are buried in the Crown Hill Cemetery there.
Silas H., the first born child to Francis and Nancy, was born on his parent’s first wedding anniversary. The “H” has become a mystery in recent years, whether it was for “Hartwell” or for “Harvey”, as family in Arkansas has been told. He married Sarah Kirkman and raised a family of 12 children, including 7 boys to help work on the farm. They lived in Indiana until the mid 1870’s. It was then most of the family moved on to Missouri and Arkansas. Silas and Sarah’s children Charles Francis, Elexia and Laura, who had already married, remained in Indiana.
Silas, Sarah and several children eventually settled in Hickory Plains, on the central prairies of Arkansas. A number of the Smith family members are buried at Hickory Plains and several still live in the surrounding area today. At this point, it is interesting to note that Octavia Smith Beall, in her accounts of the family said that Silas was shiftless. He did move around quite a bit, possibly searching for better farmland after hearing tales of greener pastures elsewhere. Maybe he had “happy feet” like so many others in the family…. always in search of a better life in the great frontiers of the west.
Lavina, the second born Married William Henry Wait. They settled in western Indiana and raised a large family there. Their children continued the Smith movement to the west Moving in to Kansas and the Pacific Northwest.
Philip Hartwell Smith seemed to follow more in the footsteps of his Uncle Nathan. He apprenticed to a newspaper in Centerville for a short time. We’ve heard that he also ran mule teams from Cincinnati to Centerville and became quite successful. Also, like his Uncle Nathan, Philip served in the Indiana State Legislature.
Philip bought a large tract of government land in Perry Co., IN, which is today known as Smith Valley. Before leaving Centerville for southern Indiana, he bought a home for his parents on School Street in Centerville. This house remained in the Smith family until the 1970s and is still standing today.
Once in Perry Co., Philip was quite successful raising cattle and grain feeds. In 1859, he married Eleanor Connor, whose mother was a Lincoln. She was a cousin to Abraham Lincoln, whose homeplace was nearby. Some of Philip and Eleanor’s children remained in Indiana, while some moved on south to Arkansas, like their Uncle Silas’ family.
Francis and Nancy’s fourth child, Elexia, never married. She died the age of 21, supposedly oftuberculosis. She must have been quite loved by her brothers and sisters, as three of them named one of their children after her.
The fifth child was Mary Loanda, who married Abraham Lynch. It was with “Lo” that Francis and Nancy lived with until they died. Widowed at an early age Mary Loanda had two children, one of which died in infancy. She made a successful life as a milliner in Centerville, where her descendents still live today.
There is a letter from Albert Abel Smith and his father William, written to Francis, dated April 1872. A.A. was concerned about having not heard from them in quite some time. It mentions that Uncle John and his stepmother had died. By the time the letter arrived in Indiana, Francis had also passed away. We here today can be grateful for that letter and for the efforts of those gone before us, who worked to preserve parts of our past. We are especially thankful for the efforts of Octavia Smith Beall and Lela Joyce “Tootsie” Smith Bell Gustavus for their gathering of information, which led in part, to making this day possible.”
