A Nearby Smith Mystery

 Recently I discovered a Smith cousin from the 1800s who lived not far from me: John Henry Smith, a great-grandson of my fifth great-grandfather, Col. John Smith.

The cemetery is "Smith at Listening Hill" but it isn’t on Listening Hill Road. It’s on Bar Ridge Road—about a half mile down the road from our Polecat Creek Farm. During the late 1980s, my cousin and I used to ride our horses on this farm. Although, we would have ridden within 100 feet of this cemetery, but I never noticed the marker.  Most likely high grass obscured it.

Only three people are buried there, John Henry Smith (1840-1904), his wife Flora Margaret Ann Housman Smith (1851-1939), and their son Vilos Lanier Smith (1892-1919). 

John Henry’s father, according to the marriage register, is Robert Cunningham, and his mother is “Giddy” (actually Gilly) Smith. Gilly Smith, b. 1805, is my first cousin 5 times removed. Her father was Coleman Smith, son of Col. John Smith (my 5th great-grandfather). Thus, John Henry is my 2nd cousin, 4 times removed.

From Ancestry, I learned John Henry Smith was a Confederate veteran. On 20 May 1861, he served in Company D, 2nd Cavalry, and was hospitalized in Charlottesville with bronchitis during April 1863. As for his service, "1861-10-31 he was On rolls, Present; 1862-09-30 Detailed, As courier for Colonel Munford; 1862-11-15 Returned, Estimated day; 1863-07-15 Returned, Estimated day; 1863-08-15 Detailed, As courier for Col Munford; 1863-09-15 Returned, Estimated day; 1864-08-31 Detailed, As courier for Col Munford, NFR; 1864-10-31 Detailed, As courier for Col Munford." According to the application for a pension by John Henry's wife, he died suddenly of a heart attack. 

From Ancestry, I discovered a bit more about Gilly Smith's father: Coleman Smith, the son of Col. John Smith and Frances Mildred Haynes, was married twice—first to Tabitha Hatcher, then Rebecca Crosby. Coleman's children were Samuel, John, Caleb, William, Mary, Phoebe, Annie, Nancy, Gilly, and Catherine. Coleman and his brother Samuel (who married Martha Hatcher) went to Greene County, Tennessee and then to Cocke County, Tennessee. [This info was from an old Rootsweb file.] Coleman's name might have been William Coleman Smith, but Col. John already had a son named William. 

I also looked at Family Search, where I found this info: "When Gilly Smith was born in 1805, her father, William Coleman Smith, was 33 and her mother, Tabitha Hatcher, was 30. She had at least one son and one daughter with Robert Cunningham."

I wish I could have found out more about about Gilly Smith and her son John Henry, but their lives remain a mystery..

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Note: Pictures are from the FindaGrave site, and they were taken by James Brooks.