In examining my dad’s DNA matches, I find listed multiple cousins who descend from Isaac Smith, Sr. and Nancy Hendricks (later Bridgewater) of Salt Creek Township, Jackson County, Indiana. This post will attempt to document my findings pertaining to the significance of the major segments that are common to many of them.

Chromosome 3

The first segments we see are on Chromsome 3.

It is this region that can link our Smiths to the families of Andrew Jackson Shelton and William Spurlock, a neighbor of Henry Smith and Elizabeth Ledford, via descendants of John Madison Spurlock and his siblings.

It was this finding that leads me to hypothesize that KY Militia General William M. Smith (also a Sheriff of Rockcastle Co, KY (abbrv. SRC) and KY State Senator) was a son of Henry Smith and Elizabeth Ledford. Henry hired William’s son, a KY Militia Col. Elisha Smith (also a SRC and KY State Senator in the 1830’s) to handle his pension record (but never filed it for some reason?). Gen. Smith was a neighbor to Isaac Smith, Sr. and Nancy in Rockcastle Co, KY in 1810. I have determined that the chronology for this hypothesized relationship between William and Henry can not work.

Chromosome 7

Moving on to the next interesting segment, we find Chromosome 7 to be abundant among these matches.

This segement has been more difficult to research as I did not initially find many individuals outside of the Salt Creek Smiths who possessed it. That has recently changed, however.

To preface this next part, I need to mention that yDNA matching and autosomal analysis has demonstrated that the line of William Smith who married Susan Silcox on April 10th, 1896 in Scott County, Tennessee is related to my Smith line.

I believe this William Smith was a son of Leonidas Smith who married Sarah Elizabeth West. This is based upon a paper-trail research effort to trace William through the censuses. I can provide my research if you send me a request. Additionally, a Ewell Smith was a neighbor to Susan Silcox’s grandmother, another older Susan Silcox, mother of Stephen S. Silcox.

Leonidas had a brother Ewell Smith (m. Louvina Marcum), and they were both among the sons of Rev. Isaac M. Smith and Matilda Rose Elliott (marrried on Jan 8th, 1818 in Washington County, Virginia).

Now, a word of caution! There is much to validate in the online trees about Isaac M. Smith and I will urge you all to double-check anything you find that states who his parents were without source information. Isaac’s WikiTree entry has been influenced by the research of members of FTDNA Smith Group R-M269-32. It links Isaac M. Smith to another unrelated Smith line (provable by yDNA comparison) by way of unverifiable and unsourced research. Also, this Isaac M. Smith is completely different from my Isaac Smith, Sr. who married Nancy Hendricks Bridgewater.

Latest information as of 27 May 2023 is that Isaac M. Smith m. Matilda Rose Elliott is NOT a yDNA match to my line. Thank you to Paul Smith of Alaska for helping me correct my research. He is a direct male descendant of John L. Smith, a son of Isaac M. Smith, and his yDNA results show this Smith line is in fact Haplogroup I, not R, as is my group’s.

John Reynolds and Mary Polly Smith

Among my dad’s DNA matches are also descendants of the following families of Scott Co, TN:

While we find John Reynolds and Mary Polly Smith in the 1870 Campbell Co, TN census next to the family of an (A)ndrew (J)ackson Smith, son of a James C. Smith and Nancy W. Meadors, yDNA matching can demonstrate that my yDNA group (FTDNA Group R-M-269-9) is not related to this Andrew Smith (R-M269-42). This A J Smith may have also been a “Anderson J Olin Smith” who married a Harriet Barrett. More research is necessary.

Looking in the 1880 Lower Elk, Campbell Co, TN census, we can find John and Mary.

A side note, John G. Reynolds was a son of (C.)laiborne Reynolds. Claiborne was a neighbor to a Joseph Hatfield.

This Joseph Hatfield married a Rachel Smith, but currently is it suggested that this Rachel Smith was a descendant of a Hans J. Smidt who originated out of Falun, Sweden and was a member of yDNA Haplogroup I. This is based upon some court records that show her brother Andrew Smith (ironcially, as my Isaac’s father’s name was Andrew) was an assignee (placed under the guardianship of) Ericus Smith. That said, Hans’ descendants appear in multiple places of interest at the same time as my Smiths. I’m trying to figure out the cause of this common migration pattern involving Orange Co, NC, Russell Co, VA and Scott Co, TN. I suspect it may have something to do with the Battle of King’s Mountain (see Col. Richard Singleton), but I am not certain at this point.

An alternate bit of information I have that has yet to be understood is that Joseph Hatfield was a brother-in-law to a “Thomas Smith of Horsepen Mountain”. It’s not quite clear who Thomas was.
Wikitree For Thomas Smith
Hatfield Family History

William Smith m. Phereba Jeffers

Moving on, I have identified that a descendant of William Smith m. Phereba Jeffers (below, blue) matches my dad.

Two segments on Cr7 are shared with my dad that are also ICW the other descendants of Isaac and Nancy.
2.48cM with my dad’s 3rd cousin (MRCAs Samuel Rice Smith m. Hulda Wheeler)
14.43cM with a 4th cousin (MRCAs Isaac Smith, Sr. m. Nancy Hendricks).

Because we can demonstrate that the two larger segments overlap (see earlier notes), suggesting that they were ancestrally part of the same larger segment that my dad inherited, we can infer that the non-matching portion of the blue segment is what was replaced as recombination happened in the past. This suggests that William Smith could be related to my Smiths. [Edit: as of 1 Feb 2022, 67 level yDNA matching (67/67), supplemented by paper trail and autosomal matching analysis, has confirmed that William Smith is of my larger Smith population.]

I’m not very certain about who these other Smith families are (in blue).

What is more interesting is that William lived very near John Marcum, father of Louvina Marcum who married Ewell Smith.

Louvina can be found in the 1860 census.

Stephen Silcox m. Mourning Loudermilk

This next couple was identified via two matches of my dad’s who descend from this couple.

The top kit we will recognize as the descenant of William Smith and Phereba Jeffers. The match on line 5 is also a cousin to my 67/67 yDNA match who is believed to descend from Leonidas Smith (but match via different DNA). The match on line 6 is a cousin to the match on line 5 via Stephen Silcox and Mourning Loudermilk. Stephen Silcox was the father of Susan Silcox who married William Smith.

Since the Loudermilks mainly came from Germany, this could suggest that the Silcox family (a surname also found in England) has a common ancestry with my Smiths (FTDNA Group R-M269-9). I am unable to prove who Stephen Silcox’s parents were. The Richard Silcox in many trees does not make sense as his given age exempts him from being a potential father of Stephen. This match could also be via a wife of a Loudermilk man.

John Smith m. Mary Bonney

This next couple was a very unexpected finding. The first descendant of John and Mary was identified via a FTDNA chromosome browser search.

Upon initial inspection of their tree, I was excited to find that they did not have any ancestral connections to North America. I e-mailed the match with an initial inquiry as to whether they may have Smiths in their tree, and more specifically if they were from Essex in England. Their initial response was that they were not aware of any Smiths in their ancestry. Not dissuaded, I began researching the tree they provided and, indeed, they did have Smiths of Essex in their tree. After some memory jogging, this finding was confirmed with them. Unfortunately, since I only had one kit to which I could refer, I could not conclusively prove that this match was via a Smith line.

Jumping forward a few years, a few months ago a 2nd cousin of this first match contacted me on Ancestry.com. They were interested in the tree I had created (cough, cough yes I copied it from one of their other cousins [thank you!]) in my account. We began chatting and they disclosed to me that they had taken an AncestryDNA test and that they were curious if we matched. I told them I too was curious about this, so thus began the shared months long wait to find our answer.

And time did not disappoint. We matched.

What is very useful about this match to these two cousins is that they are related by half-siblings. Their MRCA (most recent common ancestor) does indeed descend from the Smith side of their tree.

This Smith family descends from the Ongar, West Ham, Netteswell and Epping areas of Essex ,with earlier connections to Magalen Laver and Rye Hills.

I have found that the Essex area is rich with a variety of Smith families, many having histories that go back into the 15th century (or earlier). Couple this with the uncertainty of the whole of the Smith/Bonney tree with which we are working, the best I can leave this finding at is a hypothesis. That is, I find it possible that my Smiths could have emmigrated out of Essex before they came to North America.

Some disclaimers. The DNA on Cr7 that I have examined could have been inherited by any of the families from which Isaac and Nancy descend. If any of those families had common ancestries with any of the families of the above mentioned couples, that could also explain how/why this segment of DNA is present in these populations we have examined.