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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