My maternal gg-grandfather was apparently taken-in as an infant by John and 
Mary (Bennett) Brown around 1817 in Middlesex Co., VA....and it appears that 
Mary Bennett was related to that infant's "biological Smith family."  John 
and Mary (Bennett) Brown named (renamed?) the infant Smith W. Brown....with 
the given name of "Smith" being an obvious "tribute" to the infant's 
biological family.

Note: DNA testing on a living male "Brown" descendant of Smith W. Brown 
shows that he was actually a "blood Smith" versus a "blood Brown."  That 
Smith family "traces back" to the Alexander Smith who was in 
Lancaster/Middlesex Co., VA by at least the 1650s.

I have not been able to find any record of the above infant being given to 
the above couple....so I guess that this was one of those situations where a 
family gave away an infant that they were not able to rear to a relative, 
without any written record.  I have "narrowed down" the possible "biological 
Smith lines" to two John Smiths who lived in "next-door" Essex Co., VA (both 
men were descendants of the above-referenced Alexander Smith, per a lot of 
research).  I do not know if I will ever be able to prove which one of those 
two John Smiths was the ancestor of Smith W. "Brown"....but my research 
continues on that.

Just  my luck....I have to research the common  surnames of "Smith" and 
"Brown"....with an "adoption" and a "name change" thrown-in for good 
measure!

Bill Davidson

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