Transylvanian Dutch blog author John Newmark started the Monday blog theme called Amanuensis Monday. According to John, “amanuensis” means:

“A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.”

A few weeks ago I mentioned that my Grandfather had a match on his DNA to a Smith Family Descendant in Perry County, Kentucky. He graciously shared some of his research materials with me, which included the will of one Richard Joliff of Norfolk County, and state of Virginia.  This will is important because it establishes that Samuel Smith was the husband of Richard Joliff’s daughter, Eunice Joliff, and that at the time Richard wrote his will in 1774 Samuel Smith was deceased. Although it is very clear that Eunice Smith was the mother of Richard Smith of Perry County, Kentucky (my DNA match’s 4^th Great-Grandfather), many researchers of this family believe her husband to have been William Smith. I wrote of this discrepancy and my DNA match’s response in my last post. This will invalidates those beliefs and confirms that Samuel Smith was the husband of Eunice Joliff, not William Smith, and that Richard Smith was the grandson of Richard Joliff.

This is an image of the will of Richard Joliff, not in its entirety. This image shows that Richard Smith was mentioned as Richard Joliff’s grandson. This copy was mailed to me by Mr. Smith, 20 June 2011. He obtained this copy from a paid researcher who obtained the copy from the Norfolk County Will Book No. 2 1772-1788: 133, microfilm reel 48, no. 13851, Sargeant Room, Kirn Memorial Library, Norfolk, Virginia.

This is an image of the will of Richard Joliff, not in its entirety. This image shows that Eunice Smith was mentioned as Richard Joliff’s daughter and Samuel Smith as his deceased son-in-law. (see above description for provenance).

The following is a transcript of the will:

The Will of Richard Joliff

Written 26 April 1774, proved in Norfolk Co., VA court March 1779.

The following will of Richard Joliff was transcribed by Ginger R. Smith,grs3275(at)yahoo(dot)com, on 25 June 2011. A copy of this will was mailed to me by Mr. Smith on 20 June 2011.

 

In the name of God Amen, I Richard Jolliff of the county
of Norfolk being at this time in a tolerable state of health and
of perfect sense and sound mind and memory do make
and ordain this my last will and testament in manner
And form following
Imprimis I leave to my loving wife during her natural Life
the use of Four negroes to witt Will, Bess, Vince, and Leggy [?]
also one Cest bed and furniture and also an Equal part
with my Children of all my household furniture and after
the decease of my said wife, I give and Bequeath the said
Negroes and household furniture to be equally divided am
ongst all my Children
Item My lands and plantation at Ireland I leave to be
sold and I do hereby imp____ [?] my Executors, hereafter
named to sell the same to the highest bidder and the money arising
from such sale, I give to be equally Divided amongst my five grand
children to witt, Richard Jolliff, Richard Smith, John Bray, James

[this is the end of the first page copy I received – there is some part of the copy missing here – according to the research report by the paid researcher the rest of the grandchildren are James Smith and Joliff Holstead. His son James Joliff was mentioned; ]

[page 2]

Item I leave one negro Peg and negro Jack to be hired out for the Bene
fit of James Bray, John Bray, Sarah Bray, and Elizabeth
Bray, during the term or time until the youngest shall be of
age, and then give and bequeath the said negro Peg together
with her increase as also the said Negro Jack to be Equally divided
amongst them or the survivors of them
Item the Negroes I have formerly given to my Children by word of mouth
I now confirm as they have had them in possession
Whom I formerly lent to my Daughter Mary which Negro I
have sence taken home and have given and bequeathed to the
our children of my said daughter Mary
I give to my Daughter Eunys Smith a Bond which was giv
en me by her late Husband Samuel Smith for the sum of Eighteen Pounds
I leave four negroes to witt, Boatswain, Emanuel, Tim, and Amy
To be equally Divided amongst all my children

Source: Richard Joliff will (1774), Norfolk County Will Book No. 2 1772-1788: 133, microfilm reel 48, no. 13851, Sargeant Room, Kirn Memorial Library, Norfolk, Virginia.

Page 40 of Richard Smith’s (Union) Pension application form lists his Confederate service summary, as provided by the Department of the Interior:

One Richard Smith, private in Capt. L. H. Stone’s Co. A Clarkson’s Battalion, Ark and Mo. Cav. C.S.A. – date and place of enlistment not shown, is reported on roll, without date, the only roll of said Co. on which his name is found, absent “Transferred, Aug. 4 – 1862 to Capt Mc Donel.

Roll of Capt. James Mc Donel’s Co F Clarkson’s Batt. Ark & Mo. Cav. C.S.A. dated, Sept 14, 1862, only roll of said Co. on file, shows Richard Smith, age 24, enrolled by Capt. James Mc Donel, May 1, 1862, in Franklin Co., Ark. for 12 Mos. – present. Remark “Stampeded at Camp Riley, C. N. July 3. – reported back Aug 2, 1862.

Roll of Capt Forrester’s Co B, Buster’s 15 Batt. Ark. Cav. formerly Co G. Clark’s Regt. Mo. Inf C.S.A. from Feb 28, 1863 to Apr 30 1863 first on file shows Richard Smith enlisted May 8 1862 at Ozark by Capt. McDonel for 12 Mos. – present.

June 30 1863 last on file “Absent – without leave.” No record of conscription or disability found.

* Co G Clark’s Regt – Mo. Inft CSA appears to have been organized by transfers from Co’s D, E, F, and G of Clarkson’s Batt’n Ark & Mo Cav C.S.A; M. W. Buster was Lieut. Col. Of Clarkson’s Batt. Ark & Mo. Cav. Also of Clark’s Regt. Mo. Inft. And Buster’s 15 Batt’n Ark & Mo Cav C.S.A.

I pulled up Footnote.com and did a search for “Richard Smith” + Arkansas but I could not find any mention of the above Battalions and Calvaries. Then I did another search on Richard Smith, applied a filter of Civil War Records, then applied an additional filter of “Civil War Soldiers – Confederate CSA.” Beneath that under Military Unit, I found Clarkson’s Battallion of Independent Rangers and filtered my results for that!!!

This resulted in a total of 3 pages for Richard Smith. The first page was the standard card that contained the file numbers for the other two pages. The second and third pages contained the muster rolls for Company A of Clarkson’s Battalion from Feb 1, 1862 – Oct 31, 1862 (page 2 of 3) and Capt James McDonald’s Company from Sept 14, 1862 (page 3 of 3).

These documents matched up for the most part with what was written in Richard’s Union Pension files – that he was transferred to Captain McDonald’s Company in May of 1862; However there is no mention of when or where he originally signed up with the Confederate Army prior to May of 1862 when he was transferred to Capt. McDonald’s unit. [Goal: keep looking for these records, although I don't expect to find them since they were not mentioned in Richard's pension file].

The next set of records I found for Richard Smith were from Clark’s Regiment, Missouri Infantry, also on Footnote.com. I found these by searching in the Civil War Collection and filtering my results by “Civil War Soldiers – Confederate – MO.”

I found two muster cards for Richard Smith for Mar & Apr 1863 – he was present in Clark’s Company G; and for May & June 1863, also in Company G, however he was “Absent without leave.”

Richard’s pension records had mentioned a muster card from Captain Forrester’s Company B, Buster’s 15th Battalion AR Cavalry, formerly Company G of Clark’s Regiment MO infantry C. S. A. dated Feb 28, 1863 – Apr 30, 1863 in which Richard Smith was “present.” – I have not been able to locate this card or Buster’s 15th Battalion [Goal: Locate this unit and muster card]; and frankly I find this a bit confusing. How can the 15th Battalion AR Cav be “formerly of Clark’s Company G” if Richard supposedly was present in this unit in Feb-Apr of 1863 and absent in June of 1863 according to his pension papers but yet he is present in Mar & Apr of 1863 and absent in May & June of 1863 in Clark’s Company G unit according to the muster rolls I found on Footnote.com? 

Anyways, that’s for another day. The whole reason I have been looking for these records is to determine when and where Richard Smith signed up for duty.  He supposedly had two brothers, John and Clabe or Claiborne Smith who joined the Army at the same time. If I can determine when and where and in what regiment Richard Smith joined the Confederate Army, then maybe I can find John and Claiborne with him.

So my goals are the following:

1.  To continue looking for Richard’s original enlistment regiment and muster rolls

2.  To obtain Richard Smith’s Confederate enlistment papers – is this possible? Can these be obtained from the National Archives? I have in my grandfather’s notes that Richard Smith’s parents’ names are listed on his enlistment papers, but I don’t have the copies of his enlistment papers.  I wonder what happened to them?

3.  To find enlistment information for Richard Smith’s supposed brothers John and Claiborne Smith – did they all enlist at the same place at the same time? What happened to them?

If you can provide suggestions on how to obtain enlistment papers on Confederate service, please email me or comment below.

Source: “Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations Raised Directly by the Confederate Government,” digital images, Footnote.com (http://wwwfootnote.com : accessed 28 June 2011); Richard Smith (Clarkson’s Battalion of Cavalry, Independent Rangers, C. S. A) index card; imaged from Carded Records Showing Military Service of Soldiers Who Fought in Confederate Organizations, compiled 1903 – 1927, documenting the period 1861 – 1865, M258, (Washington, D.C.: National Archives [n.d.]), roll ?. Records were found by searching on “Richard Smith,” in the “Civil War Collection;” Then I applied a filter for the “Civil War Soldier – Confederate – CSA,” and then under Military Unit, I applied the filter for “Clarkson’s Battalion, Confederate Cavalry, Independent Rangers, L-Y AND Lyon’s Escort, Forrest’s Cavalry CSA AND Martin’s Escort CSA”

Source: “Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Missouri,” digital images, Footnote.com (http://wwwfootnote.com : accessed 28 June 2011); Richard Smith (Company G, Clark’s Regiment, Missouri Infantry, Confederate) index card; imaged from Carded Records Showing Military Service of Soldiers Who Fought in Confederate Organizations, compiled 1903 – 1927, documenting the period 1861 – 1865, M322, (Washington, D.C.: National Archives [n.d.]), roll ?. Records were found by searching on “Richard Smith,” in the “Civil War Collection;” Then I applied a filter for the “Civil War Soldier – Confederate – MO.”

I haven’t exchanged too many emails with my match, but I can already tell that he is a pretty good researcher and has access to a lot of records including deeds, wills, etc. He has been to several courthouses, libraries, cemeteries and such. He sent me the following preliminary information, with his 4th great-grandfather being Richard Smith:

1. Humphrey Smith & Eleanor – came from England to Virginia in 1678
2. John Smith, b. 1684 in Norfolk Co., VA
3. Samuel Smith, b. 1723 in Norfolk Co., VA, md. Eunice Joliff
4. Richard Smith, b. 1771 in Norfolk Co., VA, md. Elitia Combs, 1794, Kingsport, TN

Since we know that my line did not descend from my match’s ancestor, Richard Smith, it is possible that we descend from one of Richard’s brothers or uncles. My match has agreed to send me copies of FGS sheets for each of these 4 men.

I shared this information on my super secret Smith Family Researchers Facebook Group and my cousin Mike immediately started the quest to find more information on this family. He posted a long family history of Reverend Richard Smith that he found at this website: The Annette Potter Family Genealogy. I immediately recognized that they had the name of Richard Smith’s father as William Smith.

SAY WHAT???

Was my match holding out on me? Did I put too much faith in his talk about wills and deeds and cemeteries visited? I quickly shot him and email and inquired about the discrepancy and received the following response:

There are many sites that say that William is the father of Richard but they are wrong. I am the only person that has researched this family enough to know their history. Most people copy from other people and all get the wrong answer. I can prove that Samuel is the father of Richard. I have visited the graves in Chesapeake, Virginia. I had a person visit me from Richmond, Virginia and asked me to prove my findings and when he left my place he was convinced I was right. They say that William is the name of Richard’s father because his oldest son was named William. I have Richard Jolliff’s will who was Eunice Jolliff’s father naming all the children and Samuel whom was dead at the time and forgiving Samuel’s debt he owed Richard. Also I tracked down Samuel until he died through tax that he owed on his estate. This information also gave me the information of all his male children including his slaves. Richard and John left Eunice in Virginia and came to Kentucky after stopping in Tennessee for a few years. William and Samuel Jr. had died by this time and left their will to Eunice. I suspect they died along with Samuel senior in the war with England. They all died very young. William and Samuel Jr. never was married. The only chance that your Grandfather and I are related is through John because Richard was too young at the time he lived in Tennessee. I will send you the information later today. Thank you for your interest.

It is so unfortunate when something like this happens. But it is also very common. I am running into something similar to this on my Maternal side of the family. I believe my ancestor was Nathan Godwin, son of Jonathan Godwin; however there is another group of researchers who say their line of Nathan Godwin is descended from Jonathan Godwin. DNA has proved that our two lines are not related, however.

I am looking forward to reviewing the documents and Family Group Sheets that my match will be sending to me. And I hope we will be able to find a place in this family in which my Smith line might have originated from.

United States Registration Card Claude R Smith part 1

This page says that Claude R Smith of Charleston Precinct in Sebastian County, AR registered on 5 Jun 1917.

United States Registration Card Claude R Smith part 2

Here we see his full name – Claude Rual Smith and his address of 1700 So. R St., Fort Smith, Arkansas. The registration date is too light to read and his signature is across the left side of the card.

United States Registration Card Claude R Smith part 3

According to his physical description, he is 5’9.5″ tall, weighs about 170 pounds, brown eyes and brown hair with light complexion. I cannot read the other obvious physical characteristics from this scan.

WWI Draft Registration Card Claude Rual Smith

His WWI Draft Registration Card that I downloaded from Ancestry.com matches up with the information provided on the card Claude carried around in his wallet above. His name was Claude R. Smith, he was born January 27, 1896 in Ursula, AR, he was 21 years of age at time of registration. He was a self-employed farmer in Bloomer, AR, was married, and had no previous military experience. He was of medium height and slim build, had brown eyes and hair and no distinguishing characteristics.

Gravemarker of John and Sophronia Fox at Park Hill Cemetery, Park Hill, Oklahoma. Inscription: Fox, John A., Sept 2, 1861 - Sept 20, 1922 and Sophronia M. (Maynard) May 27, 1867 - Feb 21, 1917 - Photo was downloaded from Find-A-Grave on 6/25/2010 by Ginger R. Smith.

John A. Fox and Sophronia Maynard were my 3rd great-grandparents. I’m not quite sure what they were doing in Oklahoma or why they were buried there as neither of them were from OK. They might have had children living there when Sophronia died in 1917. I haven’t done much research on this side of the family yet. John actually died in 1922 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He had been living there for 7 years when he died. I believe he was living with his son Dilliard Fox in Indiana when he died. I’m looking forward to doing more research on this side of the family.

Photo of Preston and Phoebe Smith Family taken 1912. Photo privately held by Doris Hamblin, granddaughter of Clyde Smith (Pictured on far right). Copies sent to me by mail February 2009.

“From Left to Right Avery, James, Claude, Preston, Phoebe, Wallace on Lap, and Clyde”

Preston Smith and Phoebe Eunice O’Neal were my 3rd Great-Grandparents. They were the parents of eight children, 5 of whom were pictured above:
Hester Smith, b. 1894, d. 1909
Claude Rual Smith, b. 1896, d. 1975
Clyde Preston Smith, b. 1898, d. 1985
James “Jim” Richard Smith, b. 1900, d. 1988
Avery LaRue Smith, b. 1904, d. 1978
Wallace Bollinger Smith, b. 1911, d. 1977
John Alexander Smith, b. 1915, d. 1993
Juliun Smith, b. 1915, d. 1915

This is the only photo I have of Preston Smith. He had dark hair and dark eyes. His wife, Phoebe Eunice O’Neil had reddish brown hair.

Claude Smith, the 3rd one from the left, was my 2nd Great-Grandfather. He had blonde hair and blue or gray eyes.

By the way, I found my Smith family in these journals by using the Book Index database on rootsweb. Simply type in your ancestor’s first and last name and then select the title you wish to search in and the database will bring back a list of results for that name.

Clark
Clarkesville
Horsehead
Mulberry
Perry
Piney
Pittsburg
Spadra

According to his pension application, John Smith was born 15 Mar 1763 in Anson County, North Carolina. He enlisted in the regular army in 1778 at the home of his father in Anson County. He served five years. He removed to Georgia about 1803, then to Tennessee about 1811 and then to Madison County (near Jackson County), Alabama about 1832.

John Smith was allowed a pension from his application filed 21 Feb 1833 while living near Brownsboro in Madison County, Alabama. Click the following link to see a PDF of the scanned pension application containing 7 pages.

Revolutionary War Pension Application of John Smith