The End of the Smith Line

Town Hall and First Congregational Church in Hadley, MA (Source: John Phelan for Wikimedia Commons)

In my last post, I gave an overview of the three Samuel Smiths who lived in Massachusetts and New Hampshire during the Revolutionary War. Now, we'll continue on with profiles of the three Smith men who came before them. This will take us to our immigrant ancestor and the last known Smith male in this line.

Preserved Smith (b. 1677)
Deacon Samuel Smith's father was Preserved Smith. Preserved was born 16 August 1677 in Northampton, Massachusetts, and died in 1713 in Hadley, Massachusetts. On 15 December 1697, in Wethersfield, Connecticut, he married Mary Smith, daughter of Chileab Smith and Hannah Hancock. The couple settled in Hadley and had at least seven children together.

The household was an extremely religious one. In 1774, Preserved's son Chileab Smith (three years younger than our ancestor Deacon Samuel Smith) wrote a pamphlet called An Answer to Many Slanderous Reports Cast on the Baptists, at Ashfield vigorously defending his religion. The pamphlet includes this sentence about his family: "I was born at Hadley, of religious parents, my father died when I was about four or five years old; and as I grew up, my mother instructed me in things of religion and taught me how to live; I promised to do better and endeavored to reform, but soon found fault with my own conduct.” The pamphlet outlines Chileab's deep concern with religion, a falling out with his church in South Hadley, complaints against him by his community, and his feeling that his children were not sufficiently devout.

The Smith family was deeply involved in the Baptist faith, and there were many reverends and pastors among them. Preserved's grandfather, Rev. Henry Smith, was a very influential church leader, and at least two of his sons would also take up the pulpit.

Preserved died in Hadley in 1715, at the young age of 38. His youngest child was just three years old at the time. Mary raised her children alone for several years, and in 1721, she married Peter Montague. They continued to live in Hadley.

Gravestone of Preserved Smith, Old Hadley Cemetery in Hadley, Massachusetts

Samuel Smith (b. 1639)
Preserved Smith's father was Samuel Smith. Samuel was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut on 7 January 1639 and died on 10 September 1703 in Hadley, Massachusetts. About 1662, he married Mary Ensign, daughter of James Ensign and Sarah Elson, in Wethersfield. James Ensign was an English immigrant who had been one of the first settlers of Hartford, Connecticut. Samuel and Mary had eight children together. They left Wethersfield and moved to Northampton, Massachusetts in about 1666, and then again to Hadley, Massachusetts in about 1680. Samuel died 10 September 1703, at the age of 64, in Hadley. His wife, Mary, lived another twenty years, dying in 1723.

A typical British ship that would have sailed to the new land of America in the 1600s.

Rev. Henry Smith (b. 1599)
Henry Smith, our immigrant ancestor, was born about 1599 in Norwich, Norfolk, England. A number of basic details about Henry's life cannot be proven. Estimated dates of his birth range from 1588 to 1601. Several different wives have been attached to him without concrete substantiation. What we do know is that he attended Kings College in Cambridge in 1619 and became a reverend in 1623. He left England with his wife, Dorothy Cotton Smith and several of their children in 1636 to escape religious persecution. He lived first in Watertown, Connecticut, where he was one of a group of men who governed the newly claimed land. By 1638, he was living in Wethersfield, Connecticut, where he led a congregation. He seems to have been a controversial religious leader, and there were calls for his removal, which he refused to heed. Henry died, of a "grate fever," in 1648, according to his son Samuel Smith. Henry was in his late forties or early fifties at the time of his death and many of his children were still fairly young. Dorothy Cotton Smith remarried John Russell, who succeeded Henry as leader of the church and acted as stepfather to the Smith children.

The book Colonial Days & Ways as Gathered from Family Papers by Helen Evertson Smith (published 1900) transcribes a letter written by Samuel Smith (b. 1638) to one of his sons. This letter illuminates Samuel's early life and includes details about his father. It is probably the best sense we can get of these ancestors, so I am copying some of the text below.

Samuel wrote of his memories of his father, Rev. Henry Smith, and the difficulties of early colonial life.

My Dear & Dutiful son: .... I was of so tender an Age at the death of my beloved Father that I am possessed of but little of the Information for which you seek. My Revered Father was an Ordained Minister of ye Gospelle, educate at Cambridge in England & came to yis Land by reason of ye Great Persecution by which ye infamous Archbishop Laud and ye Black Tom Tyrante (as Mr. Russell was always wont to call ye Earl of Strafforde,) did cause ye reign of his Majestie Charles ye First to loose favor in ye sight of ye people of England. My Father & Mother came over in 1636/37, first to Watertown, which is neare Boston, & after a yeare or two to Wethersfield on ye great River, where he became ye firste settled Pastor. 

Concerning of ye earlie days I can remember but little save Hardship. My parents had broughte bothe Men Servants & Maid Servants from England, but ye maids tarried not but till they got Married, ye which was shortly, for there was a great scarcity of women in ye Colonies. Ye men did abide better. Onne of em had married onne of my Mother's Maids & they did come with us to Wethersfield to our grate Comforte for some Yeares, untill they had manny littel ones of their Owne.

I do well remember ye Face & Figure of my Honoured Father. He was five foot ten inches tall and spare of build, tho not leane. He was active as ye Red Skin Men & sinewy. His delighte was in sportes of strengthe, & withe his owne hands he did help to rear bothe our house and the firste meeting house in Wethersfield wherein he preacht yeares too fewe. He was well Featured & Fresh favored with faire Skin & longcurling hair (as near all of us had) with a merrie eye & swete smiling Mouthe, tho he coulde frowne sternlie eno' when need was.

Samuel also recounts the great fear the colonists had of the native peoples and the predators that lurked in nearby woods.

Ye firste Meetinge House was solide mayde to withstande ye wicked onslaughts of ye Red Skins. Its Foundations was laid in ye fear of ye Lord, but its walls was truly laid in ye fear of ye Indians, for many and great was ye Terrors of em. I do mind me y't alle ye able-bodyed Men did work thereat, & ye olde & feeble did watch in turns to espy if any Savages was in hidinge neare & every Man kept his Muskete nighe to his hande. I do not myself remember any of ye Attacks mayde by large bodeys of Indians whilst we did remayne in Wethersfield, but did ofttimes hear of em. Several families wch did lives back a ways from ye river was either Murderdt or Captivated in my Boyhood, and we did all live in constant fear of ye like. My Father ever declaredt there would not be so much to feare iff ye Red Skins was treated with suche mixture of Justice & Authority as they cld understand but iff he was living now he must see that wee can do naught but fight em & that right heavily. 

After ye Red Skins ye great Terror of our lives at Wethersfield & for many yeares after we had moved to Hadley to live, was ye Wolves. Catamounts was bad eno' & so was ye Beares, but it was ye Wolves yt was ye worst. The noyes of theyre bowlings was eno' to curdle ye bloode of ye stoutest & I have never seen ye Man yt did not shiver at ye Sounde of a Packe of em.

He also wrote of his conflicted feelings for his stepfather, John Russell.

... Mr Russell did opine yt had it not been so it might not have founde us agen, but he was sometimes a littel shorte of ye Charity wch thinketh no Evil, at ye least I was wont to think so when his Hand was too heavy on my Shoulders & I remembered ye sweetnesse & ye Charity of my firste Father, but on ye whole said he was a Goode Man & did well by my Mother & her children, & no doubt we did often try his wit & temper...

Our earliest American Smith ancestors lived lives that are very different that the ones their descendants do today, but their survival in a new and harsh environment paved the way for the generations to follow.