Growing up, I knew my grandfather about as well as I could for not having lived close to him. We would visit him in Brooksville, FL every now and then, and we even made a few trips up to Asheville, NC where he and “Granny” decided to retire. He would also come and visit us in Pinellas. I can remember him surprising me at preschool one day when I was very young. That was a happy day. I can remember Papaw pretty well, but not as well as I would like.
My dad knew “Papaw’s” father pretty well. Vernon Smith was a farmer and a school teacher. He taught in a one room school house in southern Illinois during The Depression. We have quite a few pictures of him with other Smith men.
Vernon’s dad died in 1889 when Vernon was very young, only three years old. His name was Daniel Rice Smith. Daniel appears to have been killed by a train in Carmi, IL. I do not know the exact details. Daniel’s wife, Vernon’s mother, was Nancy Jane Acton. She is buried next to William J. Goforth, her second husband.
“Dan” and Nancy are chronicled in the book “The Salt Creek Colony of [Little] Egypt” written by Robert M. Smith. Interestingly, I have seen the book cover with two variants of the title, one with “Little” and the other without. Robert M. Smith was a son of James Wheeler Smith, a brother to Daniel Rice Smith. Both James and Daniel were sons of Samuel Rice Smith and Hulda Wheeler.
[Note: a very generous cousin in Freetown was nice enough to send me original drafts of “the Salt Creek book” written by Robert M. Smith. So amazing.]
Dan and Nancy helped Nancy’s sister Mollie Acton escape an unhappy marriage to Buck Denny. It is described that all three of them rode off on horse back together in the middle of the night. Mollie’s other suitor was a John McKain.
Both Mollie and Nancy were daughters of Richard Acton and Aurena Lorance. They lived in Salt Creek Township as well.
It is said that a Thomas J. Smith and Catherine Holmes moved to the area known as “Little Egypt” around 1860-1870. Thomas was a son of Isaac Smith and Nancy Hendrix. Daniel Rice Smith went with them, as well as quite a few other relatives. This is how my Smith line made it to Carmi, White County, Illinois from Salt Creek Township, Jackson County, Indiana.
[Note: This “Isaac Smith, Sr.” (as I refer to him) can be found online listed as a “Conrad Isaac Smith” and his wife listed as “Nancy White Hendrix”. I believe the name “Conrad” was accidently misattributed to him due to his father-in-law’s name being “Coonrod Hendrix” and the “White” name being that of Nancy’s sister’s (Isabella Hendrix) husband’s last name.]
The Salt Creek book has been and will continue to be a precious treasure for our Smith family and others. Using it and the census records as a basis for further research, I feel I can very conclusively trace our Smiths back to Rockcastle Co, KY around 1810.
More to come.
Thanks for reading,
Chris Smith
Tracing my Smiths - by Christopher A. Smith - © 2021 