Apr 29, 2019
Apr 14, 2019
I am a Smith, without a doubt!
Sarah Jane Bailey Smith and her granddaughter Rachel |
On paper it didn't look promising that I was related to the man that all of my Smith relatives believed we were connected to because my great grandfather Joseph Rufus Smith was born when his mother wasn't married. In those days, a woman was ostracized for having a child out of wedlock.
Pleasant, who was called Tom, was married until 1880 when his first wife, Mary Jane, passed away. In 1871, Joseph was born to Sarah Jane Bailey. Ironically, the Smith and Bailey family lived next door to each other in Hamblen County for a long time.
The first time I found Joseph he was listed with his mother and her new husband Duke Manes on the 1880 Census for Hamblen County. But Joseph was listed as a Bailey and he was 8 years old. Duke Manes and Sarah Bailey were married December 27, 1875. On the Next Census, in 1900, Joseph was now listed as a Smith. By this time Sarah had divorced Duke Manes and married Tom Smith on December 24, 1887 (I'm glad that they made things right). Duke set fire to a John A. Overholt's barn and was sent to prison. In April of 1887, when Duke was released, Sarah divorced him. A few month's later Sarah married Tom. I stopped researching my Smith line because I was stuck. I had no idea who Joseph's father really was.
Joseph with his wife Bessie and son Oscar. |
I then asked another cousin, who is a male Smith, to take the DNA test and I compared our DNA matches. Not long ago, I heard that 4th cousins have a common great-great grandparent. I focused mainly on those matches with 40 CM (centimorgans) or more. I finally found several matches to my Smith relatives, but not all with the same testing company.
On Ancestry, I found Sarah Margaret Smith, daughter of James William Smith and Elizabeth Hickey, who was Pleasant's sister. She married a John D. Mason and they moved to Bridgeport, Alabama the same time that Joseph and his mother Sarah lived there. We share 41 CM. The person that tested was a fourth cousin.
Next, I found another 4th cousin, on Ancestry, who is related to my great uncle Jesse Smith. We share 69 CM and he is Joseph Smith's grandson. Pleasant is his 2nd great-grandfather.
Clementine Smith Overholt |