From Middlesex County Virginia Wills and Inventories, 1673-1812 and other
Court Papers by William Lindsay Hopkins:
Maurice Smith... 8 May 1795/ 28 Sept. 1795... Son John Smith. Daughter
Catey Smith. My four children viz Frances Webb, John Smith, Catey Smith and
Patty Smith. Exors: Son John smith and Christopher Garland. Wit: William
Robinson, Frances Lee and Nancy Parsons.
This sounds like your man. Getting a copy of the original should help a
bit. It is in Orders 1758-1767 Part 2 (Includes Wills 1794-1795) according
to Hopkins.
Bonnie
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Davidson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 1:45 PM
Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] Representatives of the Heirs
> Bonnie,
>
> Thanks for your response. Per a man who has researched this family for
> over 30 years, the "deceased man" (Colonel Maurice Smith) left a will in
> the 1790s in Middlesex Co., VA, in which he left everything to his son
> John Smith (but John was also deceased by 1822). Back in 1800, the son
> named John Smith (and his wife Sarah) sold the land in Middlesex Co., VA
> that had been left to him by his father Maurice. As such, other than
> maybe slaves, I don't know what was left of Colonel Maurice Smith's estate
> by 1822 (note: the chancery suit mentioned only the estate of the
> Colonel...it did not specifically mention the estate of the son named
> John....though that MAY have been considered to be "one and the same" by
> 1822....but I just don't know).
>
> I have not yet found a will (if any) for the son named John Smith (who was
> living in Mathews Co., VA, versus Middlesex Co., VA, when he sold his
> father's Middlesex land back in 1800). Just recently, however, I found a
> John M. (Maurice?) Smith (age 26-45) on the 1810 Lancaster Co., VA census
> (with an apparent wife (also age 26-45) and several apparent children).
> There are several pretty good clues that suggest that this John M. Smith
> MIGHT have been the referenced son of Colonel Maurice Smith. I have not
> had a chance to see if this John M. Smith died in Lancaster County (but he
> did NOT appear on the 1820 census there), and if so, whether or not there
> is a surviving will for him.
>
> Note: The man mentioned above who has researched this Smith family for
> over 30 years never attempted to "trace" this "John Smith branch of the
> family."
>
> The John Smith who was the son of Colonel Maurice Smith, as well as the
> wife of that John Smith (apparently Sarah Waller), MAY have been deceased
> by 1820, since they were almost certainly deceased when their daughter,
> Sarah Waller Smith, married over in Essex Co., VA in 1823. A death by
> 1820 would actually "perfectly fit" my "theory" that a couple of John and
> Sarah Smith's youngest children were "taken-in" by John and Mary (Bennett)
> Brown of Middlesex Co., VA by about 1820....and these children were
> apparently "reared as Browns." DNA testing on a living male descendant
> shows that my maternal gg-grandfather, SMITH W. Brown (born about 1817),
> was a "blood Smith" versus a "blood Brown," and the living male "Brown"
> DNA donor has DNA that matches two male "Smith DNA donors" who are out of
> the same Smith family as Colonel Maurice Smith. The above Mary Bennett
> (who married John Brown) had an apparent brother who was named SMITH
> Bennett, so there was probably a "Smith connection" that led to John and
> Mary (Bennett) Brown becoming the apparent guardians of a couple of "Smith
> infants/toddlers" by 1820 or so. The 1820 Middlesex census showed John
> Brown with four males and two females, who were ALL under the age of 10
> (plus an apparent wife). This was after the 1810 Middlesex census had
> shown NO children in the home (and John Brown and Mary Bennett had been
> married since 1805).
>
> Bill Davidson
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