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Ok, to business.

I previously had a write up about Andrew Smith and Hannah Bracken and, after re-reading it, decided I needed to better document my findings.

My search for the father of my 4th great-grandfather, Isaac Smith who married Nancy Hendricks picks up in 1809 Woodford County, Kentucky.

This marriage record shows that Coonrod Hendricks, Isaac’s new father-in-law, was his bondsman for his marriage to Nancy, Coonrod’s daughter.

There is a second half to this document. I am finding it difficult to locate on Ancestry.com at the moment, but luckily I have a backup.

This affadavit is the first time we encounter Andrew Smith, the father of Isaac, Samuel, and probably Sally Smith.

Before we look at the next record, which is only supplementary in the discussion of Andrew, we need to understand who was among Coonrod Hendricks’ family. His wife was Julia Ann Rice, daughter of William Rice and Nancy Williams. They were from Caswell Co, NC.

The following note from a William Rice to Capt. John McKinney states that he approves of the marriage of Elizabeth Rice, his daughter, to a Samuel Smith.

We see that Peter Duncan was a witness to this affidavit. We also see a “Samuel Rice”. Isaac named one of his sons “Samuel Rice Smith”. This could have been an homage to his brother, could have been for this Samuel Rice. I do not know. Could be both.

So who was Peter Duncan? He was a neighbor to Isaac Smith.

The following shows how closely Peter Duncan lived to Isaac Smith and Nancy Hendricks, and their proximity to the family of KY Militia General and Sherriff of Rockcastle County, Kentucky (SRC) William Smith.

William’s son Col. Elisha Smith was an attorney in Mt. Vernon, Rockcastle Co, KY. He was hired by Henry Smith of 1810 Knox Co, KY (who married Elizabeth Ledford) to manage his Revolutionary War pension application. It is this DNA match to Henry Smith that allows us to narrow in our search for the origins of Andrew’s father, an old Robert Smith (b. c 1730) I will provide information on later in this article. Edit: I’m going to leave the DNA info up for refernce. Please be aware we are re-examining it.

Side note: Our search takes us to Brunswick and Greensville Co, VA near the families of Roger Smith m. Mary Davis whose son Eaids Smith had a daughter Mary who married Captain Andrew Jeter. Henry and his brothers enlisted under Andrew Jeter. Mary’s sister Olive Smith married Nathaniel Harrison, and their daughter Olive Harrison married Stephen Smith, son of Cuthbert Smith, brother of Josiah Smith, and they were sons of William Smith and Anne Isham. These families lived in Meherrin Parish on or near the Occoneechee Swamp and Fountains Creek c. 1735-1780. Additionally, unpublished research of mine autosomally links descendants of Josiah Smith m. Elizabeth Collier to descendants of a yDNA matched line in our group of Stephen Smith m. Nancy Rainwater. Given that Fountains Creek is where an old Nicholas Smith m. Elizabeth Flood lived, and the fact that we have an old Nicholas Smith (b. c. 1730) m. Polly Burke in our yDNA group, it is a strong possibility that my Smith group belongs to the Smith/Flood family. I’m still not completely clear about the papertrails, however.

Descendant of Isaac and Nancy have a very strong autosomal DNA connection to descendants of Henry. This was identified by comparing matches to descendants of John Madison Spurlock whose mother Elizabeth Smith was likely related to the Elizabeth Smith who married John Shelton, Jr in Grainger Co, TN.

Update: 31 Oct 2021 – While Henry did appear to know Col. Elisha Smith, a further in-depth examination of the paper records shows that the best we can say at this point is that Henry Smith lived up river at Poor Fork from William Spurlock on Martins Fork [RevWar pension app].

I will be making a new blog post about my examination of the family of John Shelton, Jr. who was associated with the family of John Spurlock who married Sarah Ann Mason. John Shelton, Jr married an Elizabeth Smith on 19 March 1800 in Grainger, Co, TN. Based upon further autosomal analysis, It appears that the two Elizabeth Smiths in the story were likely related, and the families intermarried.

There is also some information I want to cover regarding Jonathan Smith of Poor Fork.

While the connection to Henry is now less immediate, I still believe we have identified old Robert Smith of St. Mathew’s Parish, Orange Co, NC in the Meherrin Parish area in Brunswick Co, VA.

Based on land transaction records, William would have lived in the area known as Roundstone Fork and Skagg’s Creek along the Rockcastle River in Rockcastle Co, KY. I have those records elsewhere on my blog.

There is a bit to unpack here.

The Moses McClure is listed as 26-44 years old. This puts his birthyear at around 1766-1784. This is likely the brother of Halbert McClure who purchased the Buckner grant in 1833. We find that William’s son Thomas J. Smith, a Deputy Sherriff of the county, conveyed the claim of 10,000 acres of land lying in the county of Rockcastle on the waters of Rockcastle River, purchased for $15, to Holbert McClure. Sounds like a good deal.

It is because of this information, and other items I will later discuss, have I speculated that Buckner Smith belongs to our Smith group, but that’s for another posting.

The Phillip and Middleton Singleton who were neighbors to Isaac Smith were related to William’s first wife, Elizabeth Singleton, daughter of Col. Richard Singleton of the Battle of Kings Mountain and his first wife Anne Whitesides. This family name, Whitesides, will become more relevant later on.

We see Peter Duncan living near Hethey or Hetty Hall. She is highlighted because she is mentioned in some of the land transactions with William as well. These can be found on my other pages pertaining to Rockcastle County.

Ok, getting back on track here…

This image is of a marriage index for 1809 Woodford Co, KY. The fourth line is Samuel and Elizabeth. At the bottom on the last line we see a “John McMinnimy” who married a Sally Smith. This was likely John C. McMinnimy, son of Ensign John McMinnimy of the Caswell County Regiment (Col. William Moore).

With the previously presented information, I am now able to show you how we can locate Andrew Smith before 1809.

Among the Orange County, North Carolina records, we find references to an Ensign John McMinnimy who served in the Caswell County Regiment.

ODB 8/241 Thomas Mullhollan to Thomas Bird, 25 Dec 1795, 364 acres on waters of Back Creek, adj Jacob Huggins, Andrew Smith, Walker, Samuel Whltsell, McMinimy, John Reeves.

I would like to thank Mark Chilton for writing the AMAZING book “The Land Grant Atlas of Old Orange County – Volume II – Saxapahaw Old Fields“. The following cropped image was taken from it’s pages, with permission. Buy a copy. No, seriously. Do it.

I have found other researchers that show the Whitsett family is the same as the Whitesides family.

June 10, 1799: Samuel Whittsides (sic); warrant issued, entered [recorded] March 1794, Book no. 101, pg. 284; 190 acres on Back Creek adjacent John McMinnemy, Richard Cope, George Boyd, William Bradford and Samuel’s own line. Deed states land was adjacent John Reeves, Boyd, Bradford, McMinnemy, Thos. Linch’s corner, Boyd’s corner. (Entry 2392, Grant 1517, and Deed Book 10, pg. 42)

With these land records, we can demonstrates there was a Whitesides and a McMinnimy family in the immediate vicinity of an Andrew Smith.

These men, William Smith, Andrew Smith, and John Smith, were sons of old Robert Smith of St. Mathew’s Parish. Their brother Robert Smith (Jr or II?) married Elizabeth C. McMunn.

I believe, based upon a name on old Robert Smith’s will, we can link him to a Joseph and Neil McCafferty, and he was related to the Holbert McClure previously discussed in the Rockcastle Co, KY records. This is a very obscure and poorly documented relationship, however. Please verify it yourself.

Additional supporting information for this being the correct Andrew Smith is the fact that the yDNA matched Smith line of Bennett Smith of McNairy Co, TN has on his estate record a J.F. Jopling. This was James Francis Jopling, son of John Sutton Jopling. John was a son of Daniel Jopling. Daniel Jopling had a brother, William Jopling. William had a daughter Catherine Jopling who married a… Thomas Smith. Thomas and Catherine were wed in 1814 in Caswell County, North Carolina. I believe Thomas served under Ensign John McMinnimy along with Jeptha Rice.

On the marriage record of Thomas Smith and Catherine Jopling were bondsman John Fitch and witness Alexander Murphey.

John Fitch was a son of Thomas Rosewell Fitch who married a “Sarah Elizabeth Bird”. I put her name in quotes because she appears to be referred to as both Sarah and Elizabeth depending on which family tree you examine. The Fitches lived off to the west of Andrew and his brothers.

Sarah Bird was a daughter of James Bird who had a son Empson Bird. It is my belief that James Bird was a descendant of an older Thomas Bird who married a Sarah Empson, a daughter of a Charles Empson. The Robert Bird living next to Andrew Smith was related to the family of Empson Bird.

Additionally, we have a 67/67 yDNA match with the line of William Smith m. Mary Powell. His family is documented as having lived in Caswell Co (previously Orange Co), NC on Hogan’s Creek before they moved to Georgia. William’s parents were Nicholas Smith m. Polly Burke.

I believe I have set out very clear connections between Isaac Smith of 1809 Woodford Co, KY and Andrew Smith of 1770-1780’s Orange Co, NC.

Speculation currently leads to the hypothesis that Isaac’s mother was Hanna Bracken, but this has not been proven.

-Chris