Janice,

There was an Edward Smith who was a witness on the 1723 Will of the Thomas 
Smith who apparently married Anne Gregory.  I believe that was in 
Lancaster/Middlesex Co., VA, but I would have to check my notes to be sure 
(could have been Gloucester Co., VA).  There was also an Edward Smith who 
was a witness on the 1727 Will of a John Smith of Middlesex Co., VA.  That 
John Smith was a son of an older John Smith (who died in the 1660s, as I 
recall) who was married to a Maragret Unknown.  That John Smith was a 
neighbor of "my" Alexander Smith (my maternal line; Alexander Smith died 
around 1696 in Middlesex Co., VA), but we have no proof as to whether or not 
those two neighboring Smith families were "blood related" to one 
another....though those two neighboring Smith families eventually 
intermarried.

Note: Alexander Smith and his unknown wife (though some claim that she was a 
Miss Cock/Cocke) had a son who was also named John Smith.  That son was 
typically "styled" as Lt. John Smith, and he married the widow Mrs. Jane 
(Cock/Cocke) Jones.  His neighbor who was also named John Smith (i.e., the 
son of John and Margaret (Unknown) Smith) was typically "styled" as Captain 
John Smith....and he was the above John Smith who left his Will in 1727 
(which was witnessed by an Edward Smith).

While John and Margaret (Unknown) Smith had another son who was  named 
Thomas Smith (who married Ann Petty), the Thomas Smith mentioned above who 
married Anne Gregory was apparently a son of a different (and PROBABLY 
unrelated) John Smith who married Elizabeth Berry....and there is little to 
suggest that this John Smith/Elizabeth Berry family was related to the 
Middlesex Co., VA neighbors Alexander Smith and the John Smith who was 
married to a Margaret Unknown (but no proof).  Do you have any idea if the 
above witnesses on those two Wills were the SAME Edward Smith, or was that 
more likely two different Edward Smiths?  Was at least one of those 
witnesses "your" Edward Smith who married Lettice Green, or is that not 
likely?

I see from some posts on GenForum that some researchers have shown that 
"your" Edward Smith was a son of a Joseph Smith who left his Will in Essex 
Co., VA in the 1720s, as I recall.  Do you agree with that?  If I remember 
correctly, that Will showed that "your" Edward Smith had a brother who was 
yet another John Smith.  Some have also claimed that "my" Alexander Smith, 
who was in Lancaster/Middlesex Co., VA by at least the 1650s, was also a son 
of a Joseph Smith, but I have never found any strong evidence to support 
that.

Comments on any of the above?

Thanks, Bill 

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