SMITH FAMILY
The known history of the Smith
family begins with a William Smith born before 1530 in Owlcotes, Yorkshire,
England. His son, Andrew married a Susan Waterhouse about 1570. The 3rd
generation of this Smith family begins with a John Smith born 1579 in Owlcotes,
Yorkshire, England. John married a Margaret Burnley November 17, 1600 at
Calverley Church. John worked as a clothier and he made his will dated May
23,1640. On June 6th 1640 he was buried at Calverley Church graveyard. Andrew,
son of John, was born on July 17,1619 in Farsely, England.
The 6th generation lists yet another
Andrew Smith. Andrew was born April 17,1643 and he married an Olive Pitt. This
is the first generation of Smith’s to America. Andrew and his wife sailed on
the Kent from Kingston-upon-Hull in the summer of 1677 for the Colony of West
Jersey. Andrew Smith was a surveyor as well as a farmer. This Andrew Smith gave
the name of Hopewell to the first purchase of land, 200 acres, made in the
township by him, in 1688, from which came the name of the town. According to
Ralph Ege in his book “Pioneers of Old Hopewell,” 1908,pp 114-115:
“To Andrew Smith may be given the
honor of naming Hopewell township, and a short sketch of his history may not be
out of place just here as he was the progenitor of a distinguished family in
the early history of the township. In the deed of Cornelius Empson of
Brandywine Creek, now Wilmington, DE, to Andrew Smith dd 20 May 1688, the tract
is called “Hopewell”, and when on 20 Feb. 1699, application was made by the
inhabitants north of the falls of the Delaware for a new township, they
requested in the petition that it be called “Hopewell”. There were 3 Andrew
Smiths in succession, among the early settlers of Hopewell township, all of
whom distinguished themselves: but in the published histories of the family
they have not included the first Andrew, giving the credit of naming the
township to the second.”
So from the 6th generation of
Smith’s to John Evan Smith we have the following descendent chart:
Andrew Smith: born 1643
Olive Pitt
Andrew Smith: born 1689/1690
Sarah Stout
Andrew Smith: born 1709
Anna Mershon
Andrew Smith: born 1744
Sarah Hart
George W Smith: born 1790
1st wife Anna Ege
(children: Julia, Sarah, Mahala, Benjamin)
2nd wife Phoebe Smith
(children: Alfred, John Evan,
George, Andrew)
Note that the Smith family loved the
first name Andrew and it is at times difficult to keep the different
generations clear.
George W Smith lived in Woodsville,
New Jersey. He married twice. His 1st wife was Anna Ege and his second wife was
Phebe Smith. Phebe was a cousin to George Washington Smith and had the same last name as George. It
appears there were at least eight children of George W Smith. For the eight
children of George Washington Smith we
have the following marriages:
Julia Smith
+ Charles Hoff
Sarah Smith (b. April 8, 1805 – d. March 1, 1881 in Hopewell, New
Jersey)
+ John Atchley
Mahala Smith (b. October 8, 1813 – d. August 2, 1891 in Cordova,
Illinois)
+ Joseph Rue Sexton
Benjamin Smith
+ Sarah Van Cleve
Alfred W Smith (b. 1821 – d. January 1, 1896 in Mercer County, New Jersey)
+ Mrs. Mary A [-?-] Smith
John Evan Smith (b. October 22,1826 – d. July 5, 1881 in Chicago, Illinois)
+ Sarah Marshall
George H Smith (b. February 12, 1830 – d. April 10, 1894 in Mercer County, New
Jersey)
+ Margaret Harbour
Andrew S Smith (b. April 24, 1832 –
d. July 20, 1902 in Albany, Illinois)
+ Susan Burd (1st wife)
+ Sarah Ann Sells (2nd wife)
Mahala Smith, daughter of George W
Smith and Anna Ege Smith, married a Joseph Rue Sexton and moved from New Jersey
to Cordova in 1838. Mahala Sexton and her husband are buried in the Cordova
Cemetery.
I am unsure at what date John Evan
Smith came to Cordova, perhaps he joined his sister and brother in law in 1838
at the age of 12 ,or perhaps he made the long journey from New Jersey to
Cordova at a later date. John Evan Smith married Sarah Marshall in Rock Island
County on October 24, 1850 and he is listed as having purchased Public Domain
Land on three different occasions: December 16,1851, April 3,1855, and February
1, 1856. From these 3 purchases alone he owned 272 acres of land in 1856
(provided he did not sell any of the prior pieces of land).
John Smith died on July 5, 1881 in
Chicago. The Cook County Police Department determined that John Evan Smith died
as a result of an accident. He was crushed under a train at the Michigan
Central crossing at Forty-first Street, in the town of Hyde Park. He was listed
as a man of five feet six inches tall, with dark brown hair, blue eyes, and
sandy whiskers cut short. He was wearing brown woolen pantaloons, a stripped
gingham shirt, gray cotton undershirt, light gray coat and a soft black hat. In
his pocket was found a tintype portrait of a little girl. Family lore has it
that John Evan Smith was taking a load of cattle to Chicago and had just got
paid. He was robbed and murdered by being pushed in the path of the train.
To give a bit of historical
perspective, another incident on July 2,1881 happened at a train station.
President Garfield was shot by a disgruntled civil service employee in 1881.
The President lingered throughout the summer and died on September 16.
The children of John Evan Smith and
Sarah Marshall were: Ella W Smith, Julia Smith, Phoebe Smith, Henry George
Smith, Judson Smith, John Smith, Alfred W Smith, Jacob Lincoln Smith, and
Elizabeth Mary Smith. Linda’s maternal great grandfather was Jacob Lincoln
Smith.
Jacob Lincoln Smith married Henrietta
Bell on June 3, 1867 in Cordova, Illinois. Jacob and Henrietta had six
children: Charlotte Bell Smith, John E. Smith, Clyde Smith, Maude Luella Smith,
Sarah Smith, and Julia Smith.
Children of Jacob and Henrietta Smith
Sarah, Maude, Julia, Charlotte, John, Clyde
Charlotte married Lewis Henry
Armstrong on March 12, 1913. They had one boy and three girls.
John E Smith married Mary Mabel
Durbin on April 20, 1921. They had seven boys and two girls.
Clyde Smith married Florence Mose on May 3, 1922. The couple
had two girls.
Maude Smith married Henry Mose on February 21, 1923. They
had one boy and two girls.
Sarah Smith married Merle O’Dell in 1924. They had 3 boys.
Julia Smith married Lawrence Murphy November 28, 1928. They
had seven children; 2 boys and 5 girls.
THE MARSHALL FAMILY
Linda’s 2nd
great grandmother was Sarah Marshall, wife of John Evan Smith.
Marshall
Descendants:
Conrad
Marshall (1729-1813)
+ Mrs. [-?-] Marshall
John Marshall (1762- 1803)
+ Rebecca Hart
John Marshall (1795-1832)
+ Charity Golden (1795-1878)
Sarah Marshall (1826-1906)
+ John Evan Smith
John Marshall
(1762-1803) served in the Revolutionary War as did Charity Golden’s father. It
is also interesting that John Marshall’s (1795-1832) nephew was James Wilson
Marshall, the person who is credited with discovering gold at Sutter’s Mill in
1848 that lead to the California Gold Rush.
The early history of the Marshall
family in Cordova may at times be confusing because there were two different
John Marshalls, William Marshalls and Charity Golden Marshalls.
As described in the book “Cordova
Illinois ‘Then and Now”’ by the Cordova District Library. the first settlement
of Cordova occurred in the fall of 1836. In that year an Amiziah Rathburn and a
Dr. Thomas Baker from near Geneseo, Illinois set off to find new land. They
staked their claims near an old blockhouse in Cordova. The following spring, in
1837, a John Marshall from Hopewell, New Jersey, arrived on horseback near the
Rathburn home in Geneseo and accompanied the two gentlemen to what is now
Cordova. Dr. Baker, John Marshall and Archie Allen laid out the original town
of Cordova during the summer of 1837.
Late in 1837 John Marshall returned
to Hopewell, New Jersey and persuaded his father William Marshall Esq. to come
to Cordova, Illinois. William Marshall “The Squire” was the brother-in-law to
Charity Golden Marshall. The John Marshall mentioned above was the son of
“Squire” William Marshall. William Marshall Esq. was a merchant in New Jersey
and served in the New Jersey Legislature from 1830 to 1836.
“Squire” William Marshall and
family, Mrs Elizabeth Cool and family, Jerry L Cool and family, Joseph Rue
Sexton and Mahala Sexton, and J.S. Phillips moved into Cordova township from
Hopewell, New Jersey in 1838. Mahala Sexton, wife of Joseph Sexton was the half
sister to John Evan Smith.
On May 16, 1839 John Marshall and
his brother William G Marshall left New Jersey with a sister. Mary Ann and her
husband Andrew S Ege. Notice that these Marshalls are brothers and the sons of
Charity Golden Marshall, widow to yet another John Marshall (1795-1832). The
group arrived in Cordova at the end of six weeks travel, arriving in July 1839.
John Marshall, son of Charity, purchased 76.67 acres of land at a cost of $1.25
per acre on October 1st 1839 for his mother on section 3. In addition, John
purchased 152.57 acres of land for himself in section 6. As described in “The
High Prairie” by Mr. Halberg. which gives the history of Coe Township. “that
year (1840) they (John and William G Marshall) raised their first crop and
erected a log cabin. They also worked other tracts on the shares. The grain was
stacked on the land where the cabin was and that fall before the threshing was
done a prairie fire came that way and the cabin and all the grain were
destroyed. The cabin was soon replaced, and the next season corn and wheat were
raised. The wheat was threshed with flails and trampled by horses as was the
custom in the era.”
Mr Halberg continues: “In the fall
of 1841 William returned to his boyhood home in New Jersey. In the spring of
1842 the homestead there was sold and he, accompanied by his widowed mother and
the remaining members of her family, located on land the brothers had entered.
Then all began to work and they were strong, healthy and ambitious family. Mrs.
Charity Marshall was a good financier, and she added to her possessions as did
her sons, so that they owned thousands of acres of Coe township. The eldest
child, Mary Ann Marshall, married an Ege, John Marshall married Mary Cool;
William G. . .was married first to Catherine Phillips and later to his first
wife’s widowed sister, Elizabeth Phillips Humphrey, then there was Henry
Marshall. (Henry married a cousin, Charity Golden, daughter of Jared Golden.
Henry later died in the Civil War.) Elizabeth Marshall who married a Crosby and
Sarah the wife of ... (John Evan) Smith, there was Jacob Marshall, ... and
Theodore or Dory; and the youngest was Jared Marshall, making the family of
nine. When Mrs. Marshall died, she willed her favorite sons the sandy land in
Cordova Township because she thought it was the best soil for the growth of
crops.”
James Bell and Charlotte Reams Bell
were the parents of Henrietta Bell Smith. Henrietta married Jacob Lincoln Smith
February 21,1923. The ancestors of Charlotte Reams are presently unknown.
Charlotte Reams Bell died in Port Byron on March 10,1883 in Port Byron. Her
husband, James purchased a grave plot in the lower Port Byron Cemetery (Oak
Grove) in this same year. We have no record of her burial (and have found no
gravestone), however one of her sons, John Bell is buried in the same plot that
James Bell had purchased. John had died on January 1890. John and his wife Emma
have a gravestone. It is believed that Charlotte Reams Bell is buried next to
her son John.
The James Bell and Charlotte Reams
Bell family had nine children: John, Mary Jane, Frank, Emma Alice, Henrietta,
Luella May, Charlotte, Freeman, Susan Rosalie.
James Bell was a carpenter by trade.
His son, Freeman wrote this brief note on February 11,1928:” (James Bell) came
to Port Byron in 1863 was a general contractor and builder. Built a great many
houses and barns in Port Byron and adjoining township”
It is believed that James Bell was
the son of a David Bell from Donegal Township, Westmoreland County,
Pennsylvania. David Bell was a teacher and he had seven children. Their names
were Susan, John R., Nancy, James, Andrew, William, and Thomas Jefferson Bell.
These children (except James) are listed in the 1850 census. There is a James
Bell listed in the 1850 census who was 20 years old living in Donegal Township
with a Henry Williams family. James is listed with the occupation of carpenter.
Henry Williams is also listed as a carpenter. Perhaps, James was serving as an
apprentice to Henry Williams in 1850.
In the July 11,1884 issue of the
Port Byron Globe is the following notation:” James Bell’s brother, from
Westmoreland County, Pa. came to Port Byron Wednesday evening. He came through
to Chicago with a Democratic delegation”. The 1884 Democratic National
Convention was held in Chicago from July 8 to the 11th. This
convention nominated Grover Cleveland as President of the United States. I
could find no listing of the delegates from Pennsylvania in 1884, however I believe
that John R. Bell was the visiting brother. John R Bell had a son, Albert, who
is listed in a book written in 1890: “Biographies of Westmoreland Co., Pa.” In
this biography John R Bell’s parents are listed as David Bell and Mary Robinson
Bell. Mary’s father fought in the Revolutionary War.
After the death of Charlotte Reams, James Bell married
Martha Hollister on May 29,1884. Martha’s father was also a carpenter. This
couple had no children and they later moved (in 1892) to Altoona, Kansas. It
appears that Freeman and Susan Bell accompanied James Bell and Martha to
Kansas. Martha Hollister Bell died in Kansas in March of 1900 and James Bell
died in May 1900.
James Bell with his 2nd wife Martha Hollister
CHILDREN OF JAMES BELL AND CHARLOTTE REAMS
John R Bell
Mary Jane Bell
Frank F Bell
Emma Alice Bell
Henrietta Bell
Luella May Bell
Charlotte Bell
Freeman G Bell
Susan Rosalie Bell
John R Bell married a Emma Hubbs
September 25,1887 in Rock Island County. John R died at an early age on January
27,1890 and is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, Port Byron, Illinois.
Mary Jane Bell married an Edmund
Ambrose Leathers on June 3, 1883 in Rock Island County. This couple had seven
children. Edmund Leathers served as a County Treasurer in Van Wert County Ohio
from 1919-1923.. Edmund’s father was Harrison Leathers who wrote a historic
journal that depicts the life of a civil war soldier.
(1 do not know if David Leathers is
related to Edmund Ambrose Leathers).
Frank E Bell married Anna Ward July
14, 1884 in Dow City, Crawford County, Iowa.
Emma Alice Bell was married to a Mr
? Yather. Emma resided in Tarr, Pennsylvania in 1945.
Henrietta Bell married Jacob Lincoln
Smith September 3, 1892 in Rock Island County.
Luella May Bell married Edmund
Hollister Coe on January 8, 1889 in Port Byron, Illinois. Edmund’s
mother was Lucy Cornelia Hollister.
Lucy’s father was Edmund Hollister and was originally from
Glastonbury, Connecticut. (Edmund
Hollister Coe is the 1st cousin once removed of Martha Hollister,
James Bell’s second wife. Martha
Hollister’s father, Isaac, and Edmund Coe’s maternal grandfather,
Edmund, were brothers)
Charlotte Bell married a David
Leathers December 9, 1897 in Van Wert, Ohio. David Leathers died at and early
age in 1903. Charlotte and David had one child a Lawrence Leathers. Charlotte
later married a Mr.? Baxter. In 1945 Charlotte resided in Circleville, Ohio.
Freeman G Bell married a Grace B
Long on April 4, 1900 in Wilson County, Ohio.
Susan Rosalie Bell married a Nathan
Pickup on February 3, 1897 in Wilson County, Ohio. The Pickup’s later moved
to the Fresno California area. Susan died in Clovis, Fresno County, California
in 1936.
