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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