Much of the following information I also published a few months ago on my RootsWeb page. Probably only interesting to those in my own family, but if you feel compelled to read, be my guest. If you are a fellow researcher on this family, please feel free leave a comment telling me how to contact you so we can collaborate.
I have been working on the age-old mystery: who were the parents of Jeremiah Smith? Decades of effort by amateur and professional genealogists have been given in trying to crack this one.
Here are the facts I'm working with.
Jeremiah Smith (born about 1795 in NY, died 23 August 1842 in Bertrand, Berrien County, MI)
Jeremiah's wife was Abigail Demont (they married 1817 or 1818 in Seneca County, NY).
Abigail Demont's parents were named Mary Sasson and Richard Demont. Her maternal grandparents were named Martha Johnston and Thomas Sasson. Her paternal grandparents were named Abigail Roosa and Richard Demont.
The children of Jeremiah and Abigail were:
Thomas Sasson Smith (born 3 April 1818 in Junius, Seneca County, NY)
Polly Smith (born 17 July 1821 in Junius, Seneca County, NY)
Sarah Alice VanCleaf Smith (born 22 March 1822 in Junius, Seneca County, NY)
Jonathan Smith (born 24 November 1824 in Perry, Genesee County, NY)
Richard Demont Smith (born 10 July 1828 in Perry, Genesee County, NY)
George Edward Smith (born 17 August 1832 in Perry, Genesee County, NY)
Henry Smith (born 15 April 1834 in Monroe, Ashtabula County, OH)
Jesse Willard Smith (born 13 October 1836 in Monroe, Ashtabula County, OH)
Loretta Helen Smith (born 23 May 1840 in Bertrand, Berrien County, MI)
I'm descended from their fourth child, Jonathan.
Over the years I've seen two possible sets of parents proposed for Jeremiah Smith:
1. Job Smith and Lavinia/Lavina _______
2. Jeremiah Smith and Rachel Hathaway
I've recently contacted a professional researcher who has been working closely with the Jeremiah Smith Family Organization for decades, and it turns out there is no solid documentation for attaching the above Jeremiah Smith to either of these sets of parents, though my inquiries and research have helped me see how each of the sets of parents came to be proposed. If you are researching this family, please contact me to learn the reasons these two sets of parents were put forward over the years.
I have a bigger reason for questioning both of these sets of parents: none of Jeremiah's children were named Job, Lavinia, Jeremiah, or Rachel. It is clear that Jeremiah and Abigail named their sons Richard and Thomas for Abigail's father and grandfather (respectively) and I believe their second child, Polly was likely named for Abigail's mother, Mary Sasson Demont (Polly was a very common nickname for Mary in those days). Jeremiah and Abigail lived next door to Mary Sasson Demont until at least 1840, so it would be strange for them to name one of their sons after Mary's husband Richard, but not name a daughter after Mary.
So there are two children who were undoubtedly named after known grandparents (Thomas Sasson Smith and Richard Demont Smith) and a third (Polly) whom I suspect is also named after her grandparent. It's clear that their daughter Sarah's unusual middle name "VanCleaf" must be a tribute to someone, as other family researchers have surmised. I'm 90% sure that VanCleaf is a surname from Jeremiah's family. However, Jeremiah and Abigail didn't just insert ancestral surnames as middle names of their children as is often done even today in naming children – their sons Thomas and Richard were given the *full* names of those they were named for, with "Smith" tacked on the end, so it seems a fairly reasonable assumption that Sarah's middle *and* first names were tributes to a paternal grandmother who was named Sarah and/or Alice VanCleaf.
Similarly, it makes sense that Jonathan, who like Sarah was sandwiched between siblings who were named for known grandparents, was named after a grandparent. It doesn't make sense to skip over him for a "genealogical" name and then give his younger brother a "genealogical" name. I believe the surname of the person Jonathan was named for was also Smith, because unlike most of his brothers, Jonathan has no middle name. I'm guessing that Jonathan Smith was his paternal grandfather. I'm uncertain from my review of online research whether Jonathan's brother Henry did or did not have a middle name. If he didn't, I'd guess he's also named after a Smith family relative; perhaps a great-grandfather or an uncle.
The later children's names (from George on) could also be tributes to family names, but apparently not for people important enough that they adopted those people's full names – the middle names of the later children do not appear to be surnames adopted as middle names.
So here's what I'm proposing based on the names of the children of Jeremiah and Abigail Demont Smith, listed here in order of birth:
Thomas Sasson Smith -- known "genealogical" name (maternal great-grandfather)
Polly Smith -- probable "genealogical" name (maternal grandmother)
Sarah Alice Van Cleaf Smith -- I believe this is a "genealogical" name (paternal family)
Jonathan Smith -- I believe this is a "genealogical" name (paternal family)
Richard Demont Smith -- known "genealogical" name (maternal grandfather)
George Edward Smith -- not clear whether it's "genealogical" name or not (i.e., he has a middle name and it does not appear to be a surname)
Henry Smith -- possibly a paternal "genealogical" name (some research says he had a middle initial "S"; if he didn't have a middle name, this is likely a paternal "genealogical" name)
Jesse Willard Smith -- not clear whether it's "genealogical" name or not (i.e., he has a middle name and it does not appear to be a surname)
Loretta Helen Smith -- not clear whether it's "genealogical" name or not (i.e., she has a middle name and it does not appear to be a surname)
My theory about the origins of the names of the first five children was further strengthened awhile back when I happened upon an explanation of traditional Dutch child-naming patterns. It's clear from Sarah's middle name (VanCleaf) and Abigail's paternal grandmother's maiden name (Roosa) that the family had at least some connection to Dutch culture, so it's possible Jeremiah and Abigail were following the traditional Dutch naming pattern, which, as I just learned, is as follows:
First son: named after paternal grandfather
Second son: named after maternal grandfather
First daughter: named after maternal grandmother
Second daughter: named after paternal grandmother
They named their first child, a son, after Abigail's grandfather, Thomas Sasson, who was a widower, and who lived next to them at the time. It doesn't seem strange that they might break with a naming pattern to honor him while he was still alive and then follow the pattern after that. If you cut their first son Thomas out of the picture as an exception to the pattern, then (if my theory about Jeremiah's parents' names is correct) the next four children, Polly, Sarah, Jonathan, and Richard, follow the traditional Dutch naming pattern precisely.
I have contacted an acquaintance whom I recently discovered is a descendant of Sarah Alice VanCleaf Smith, with the hope that someone in that branch of the family will have inherited stories or documents that might indicate the origin of Sarah's name and prove my theory. I'm also looking at a couple of VanCleaf families (common variant spellings: VanCleef, VanClief, VanCliff, VanCleve) who moved to Seneca County NY before 1800 with the hope that I can determine whether they had any daughters named Sarah or Alice who could be Jeremiah's mother. At the moment I'm particularly interested in Isaac VanCleef, married to a Phebe Quick, with children Tunis, Uriah, Peter, Isaac, James, possibly a Clarissa, and a few other daughters whose names I have yet to learn.
Conclusively tracing the possible Jonathan Smith is harder because of the common surname. My survey of censuses in and around Seneca County, NY show the names Jonathan Smith and Jeremiah Smith popping up at the right time in neighboring Ontario County, in and around the Quaker settlement of Farmington NY. My current working theory is that Jeremiah's father was part of this Quaker settlement or at least his father's extended Smith family was, hence the presence of the names I'm looking for in that area. There is a Jonathan Smith among the small group that founded Farmington NY in 1790. I found his exact date of death: 16 October 1830 in Farmington, NY (he was crushed while helping to build a house and the notice of his death stated that he was the same Jonathan who was among the first settlers). There are a few different families proposed for the Jonathan who died on that date; my task at the moment is trying to find documentation (if any exists) for conclusively linking him to any of those different families. So until I can learn for sure the reasons for linking that Jonathan to families named online, I will consider the identities of the wife/wives and children of this Jonathan to be open for debate. Histories of Farmington that I've read state that in 1823 this Jonathan Smith lost a son about 12 years old in a house fire, but the histories don't give the son's name. There were some other nearby Quaker congregations ("meetings") that were ecclesiastically under the group at Farmington (Farmington was the site of Quaker Quarterly Meetings) that also had residents named Jonathan Smith.
Of course, it could easily be that I'm barking up the wrong tree with the Farmington connection. But for now I'm using Farmington NY as the starting place of my search for Jeremiah's father.
I'll post further information on my search for Jeremiah's parents as I have it. As I said before, if you'd like to collaborate or know more about the details of my research, please leave a comment with your contact info.
NOTE: For the record, I've also been able to determine that the Jonathan Smith who lived in nearby East Bloomfield NY (born 1776, died 1858) was likely *not* Jeremiah's father, though he was married to a Sarah. I found a history that said this Jonathan was from CT and was passing through Ontario County NY on a business trip in 1813 selling clocks, liked the Bloomfield area, bought land, and went back to CT get his family. I could see no real evidence of VanCleafs in Connecticut around the time this Jonathan Smith would have been getting married, and his wife Sarah's middle initial was "W" (likely the first letter of her maiden name). I've not ruled him out 100% as a possible father of Jeremiah, but I'm pretty sure he's not my guy.
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I may have a clue for you. A marriage certificate of my Great Great Grandparents. My Great Great Grandfather was Jeremiah Smith Hathaway born 1824 and was married in Bertrand, Berrien County. According to my research his father was Nadah Hathaway, Grandmother was Phebe Smith and Great Grandfather Jeremiah Smith (1733-1810). The name Jeremiah Smith and the surname Hathaway plus the connection to Bertrand makes me think there is a connection here.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment! I'm familiar with the pedigree you're referring to -- however, you're not the first one to suggest it as a family of my Jeremiah Smith. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, one of the unsubstantiated sets of parents proposed for my Jeremiah Smith are Rachel Hathaway b. 1775 and her husband Jeremiah Smith b. 1769. However, I've seen no good reason to link my Jeremiah Smith to this couple or to the the Hathaway family at all (I've spoken with the researcher who first proposed that possibility and she has no proof of it).
ReplyDeleteAccording to a pedigree on Ancestry.com, Rachel Hathaway was a sister of Henry Hathaway, who was the grandfather of your Jeremiah Smith Hathaway, and apparently Rachel's husband Jeremiah was the brother of Henry's wife Phebe (so a sister and a brother married a brother and a sister :) So both lines share as an ancestor the Jeremiah Smith born 1733, and therefore both lines have a reason to be naming their sons Jeremiah Smith. But all my arguments above are relevant to that proposal -- if this is the family of my Jeremiah Smith, why does he have no children named Rachel, Isaac, Phebe, Abigail? Did he love his wife's family and hate his own?
Another point to consider is that the name Jeremiah Smith was a very common one. In the 1800 Census there were 13 heads of household in New York who were named Jeremiah Smith, and no doubt there were many other Jeremiah Smiths who were not heads of households and so were not included by name in the census. So finding descendants of another Jeremiah Smith who had migrated from Upstate NY to Bertrand, MI could easily be a coincidence, especially as one of the major groups of immigrants into Berrien County MI in its early days were settlers from Upstate NY. I believe that the matching ancestral name is just a coincidence, but again, I don't yet have proof of my belief aside from the child-naming patterns of my Jeremiah Smith, so for now the Hathaway family is still one of the prominent proposals by those researching my line. I hope more evidence turns up soon! Maybe it will turn out that we *are* related :)
Certainly is a puzzle. My Jeremiah Smith Hathaway named his first daughter Abigail.
ReplyDeleteThat could be because (according to one family tree on Ancestry.com) his ancestor who was named Jeremiah Smith was married to an Abigail Aldrich (and there were other Abigails in your Smith family). And of course Abigail wasn't an unusual name back then. I know the Jeremiah Smith/Abigail Aldrich couple well because they and their children keep getting tangled in with my ancestry on NewFamilySearch.org ....I tried to fix it, but I've given up until they figure out a way to keep my changes from getting un-fixed by others. :)
ReplyDeleteI should note that I'm not an expert on your Smith family -- I only know what I've run across in trying to work on my own Smith line -- but it appears that there is some confusion among the researchers on your line. Some say that the Jeremiah Smith who was born 1733 in RI and died 1810 in NY was married to a Lavina Olney in 1759, and some say he was married to an Abigail Aldrich in 1760. I doubt these are both true. I would imagine that his common name has resulted in two different Jeremiah Smiths born in the same area around the same time and their two wives being confused. Maybe their children are being mixed up as well. Good luck with that -- I know the agonies of researching families named Smith :)
To anyone reading these comments, what follows is a response to a commentor named Steve Layton who accidentally posted a comment about this posting on a different posting. To see his comments, visit my very first posting at:
ReplyDeletehttp://idigthedead.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-is-purpose-of-this-blog.html
Here's my response to his great comments:
That's a very good point about the birthdates of Polly and Sarah. Unless the birthdates that I have are off (and I'd assumed they were off -- I don't believe that info, which I inherited, was tied to a primary source), Polly and Sarah are probably too close together to be biological siblings. So that my indicate that Sarah was an adopted child who may or may not have retained names given her by her birth family. However, my question about the "genealogical" names of the other children still stands. Both she and Jonathan are sandwiched between brothers who were given "genealogical" names from their maternal side (and likely Polly -- probably a nickname for Mary -- was given a maternal "genealogical" name as well). Even if Sarah was adopted, I still suspect that at least one of her names was a tribute to the Smith children's paternal grandmother. (Either that, or her younger sister Loretta Helen was named for her paternal grandmother.) It just doesn't make sense that the family so clearly wanted to name their children after their immediate forbears and then skipped over the paternal grandparents, gave a less meaningful name to Jonathan (and Sarah, depending on whether we assume she was adopted or not), and then resumed the maternal family names with their third son Richard. As I'm sure you know, the parents currently proposed for Jeremiah Smith are
Job Smith and Lavinia _______
Jeremiah Smith and Rachel Hathaway
Jeremiah and Abigail named none of their children Job, Lavinia, Jeremiah, or Rachel. So whether or not Jeremiah Smith's parents were, as I propose, named Sarah/Alice VanCleaf and Jonathan Smith, I'm 90% sure both sets of parents currently proposed for him are wrong. And I'm also 90% sure that Jeremiah's father's name will turn out to be Jonathan.
As to the seashell legend, a couple years ago I corresponded with Arlene Eakle, a professional researcher who's been working on this line for decades. She tracked down contemporary newspaper stories about the seashells (not long after the meeting between John Lyman Smith and Thomas Sasson Smith the seashell story become popular in local LDS church meetings and was reprinted in LDS papers, so it's well documented that there were identical seashells in the two families and identical stories attached to them). However, she went further and also tracked down the actual seashells, still held by the respective Smith families. Arlene says (and she presented on it at a genealogical conference in the 1980s) that she hired a molecular biologist to examine both seashells and that he said they had the same molecular structure, were both about 250-300 years old, and were both from the Caribbean. So if there were two Smith brothers who picked up the conch shells, they probably were a lot further back on the line than Asael Smith's generation. However, DNA testing was not available in the 1980s, and I'm not sure how useful analysis of "molecular structure" is in determining whether two organic remains come from the same organism. However, the fact remains that the two Smith families did indeed have identical seashells with identical stories attached to them. Very intriguing.
For what it's worth, Arlene Eakle told me that some Smith relatives had once hired a researcher name George Ott to research the VanCleaf family in hopes it would help crack this line. I've tried repeatedly to contact him by phone and email and have received no reply. I believe he runs a business called Heritage Consulting.
Hi, It is Steve again.sorry about the mix-up. I'm not much into blogging and am still not sure exactly what happened here.Thanks for your response. I imagine you have already looked into Job Smith and Lawrence Van Cleef. Job Smith was the original settler in what is now Seneca Falls NY but unitl 1829 was part of Junius. Lawrence VanCleef bought his 100 acre claim about 3 years later. The two worked as business partners for a number of years afterward. Lawrence's wife died in 1815 and they had a young daughter named Sarah. It is possible that this Sarah VanCleef became a part of the Smith family in one way or another. I know there is no proof of a tie between Job and Jeremiah as father and son but the connection of these families seems intriguing. The VanCleef Inn of 1825 still stand today as a sort of Bed and Breakfast in Seneca Falls. It is on the site of the original Job Smith cabin.
ReplyDeleteSteve again. Sorry about some misinformation. The VAN Cleef in is apparently a later home, not on the Job smith land.
ReplyDeleteJeremiah Smith is my husbands ancestor but I am the researcher, & have tried somewhat to find who Jeremiah's parents are. On a small note in my husbands mother's genealogy stuff I found a note that said, Mary Howe, Jeremiah's mother's maiden name may be Vancleaf. I was not sure what it meant. Is there a Mary Vancleaf who married a Howe? and then Smith?? I have also seen a note that there is a Smith Family Bible at the SL LDS Museum. That is all it said, and I have not been there to check it out.
ReplyDeleteWe served a mission in Nauvoo and Abigail DeMont Smith had property in Nauvoo. I worked at Lands and records and found the map and my husband and I went over and saw it. The property was held for Abigail by Joseph Smith, but she did purchased it after she got there. Jeremiah was already deceased. I found out that Joseph Smith used to go to Ontario, Canada twice a year, so I looked up there and there is a Jeremiah Smith
about the right time frame for our Jeremiah.
and since Joseph was holding property for them under Jeremiah Smith's, name it sure makes me wonder? I haven't gone past this so I don't know?? Just a small bit of rambling information.
I have a copy of the map to Abigail Smiths property. Lands and records in Nauvoo will gladly send you a copy. It is under Jeremiah Smiths name. (Note there are 2 Jeremiah's Smiths in Nauvoo records so it took a bit of study but
Our Jeremiah was deceased when Abigail reached Nauvoo so that was helpful to seperate the two.
Love your comments and site.
Marilyn
mcornish02@msn.com
I forgot I had two unanswered comments here!
ReplyDeleteSteve: I did investigate the Job Smith and Lavinia avenue thoroughly when I picked up this line of research a couple years ago, and quickly discovered the link to the VanCleefs, which certainly made clear to me why they've been favored candidates over the years. And when digging for info on the VanCleafs I found a book with histories of founding families of the Seneca Falls area that mentioned Lawrence VanCleef had a wife named Sarah (though I can't remember if I ever saw that he had a *daughter* also named Sarah). Even if Sarah Alice VanCleaf Smith was a foster daughter of the Smiths, neither Lawrence's wife nor his daughter are in the right age bracket to be candidates, but there certainly could be some sort of other relationship between Sarah Smith and Sarah(s) VanCleef. It is indeed very intriguing and mysterious. However, given that there were a number of other branches of the VanCleef/VanCleve/VanCleaf/VanClief family settling in this area at the same time, and given how common the surname "Smith" is, I'm not assuming that this Smith/VanCleef connection in Seneca Falls is the one we're after.
Marilyn: When I started this research two years ago I found a note about the family Bible and went searching for it (though I had little hope that even if I found it it would contain any useful family history info that hadn't already been mined during pioneer times). The Church Museum told me they didn't have it. The Church *Library/Archives* also said they didn't have it, and I checked their catalog myself to be sure they'd done a thorough search. I'm guessing that if there's any truth to that claim, that the Bible was actually given to some camp of the DUP, and given that organization's reputation for stinginess with their collections, I decided to not dig further. During that same time I was digging through all the existing research I could find and I came across the note you mentioned about Mary Howe, in a PRF source footnote. I had assumed that it was incorrectly punctuated and that it actually meant that someone named Mary Howe had claimed that Jeremiah's mother's surname was VanCleaf. But I could be wrong about that. At any rate, it strengthened my hunch about the names of Jeremiah's parents.
As to Nauvoo, I regretted not leaving enough time to request the land records for all my Nauvoo ancestors when I was there, and didn't realize that I could request records through the mail -- thank you for the tip! I'd not heard that Joseph Smith went to Canada more than a couple times in his entire life -- where did you learn about his regular trips there? It is also very interesting that Joseph Smith held Abigail's land for her until she arrived. I wonder if that was a regular thing for him to do for new converts who'd not yet claimed their pre-purchased land -- if not, then it could very well indicate a special relationship between Joseph and Abigail and/or the late Jeremiah. However, I'd be careful about trying to make links based on a possible place (Ontario) and a name as common as Jeremiah Smith. Unless, of course, you find a Jeremiah Smith in Ontario with a father named Jonathan and a mother named VanCleaf! :)
Thank you so much for your comments -- you're inspiring me to pick this research up again. And I hope if either of you make any breakthroughs, you'll let me know. This family is fascinating and maddening!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFor other family researchers who may not have seen it, I've cut and pasted below the PRF source note related to Jeremiah Smith's birth/parents that Marilyn mentioned above. It is attributed to a Marilyn Mulliner:
ReplyDelete"Source 1: A crumpled hand written sheet of paper, written by Johnathan Smith, a grandson was in the Family genealogy records of Laura Judd Mulliner gives birth & death date, in posessin of son Paul J. Mulliner, Heber City, Utah.
Source 2: New England Histoic Gen. Register Disc 5 Vol. 76 page 264 Rev. Noah Barrell's Record of Marriages. In Perry, Genessee Co., N.Y. Mar 24, 1830 Mr. Benjamine S. Woodward, farmer, aged 21, to Miss Mary Danielson, tayloress, aged 18. Identified to me by Jeremiah Smith of Perry. Geo. Smith & H. C. Howden, attesting witnesses.
Note:Cortland Co. may be where the Smiths came from. A family history said, Mary Howe, Jeremiahs mother 's maiden name may be Van Cleaf??? I do not know if they meant Mary Howe/ Van Cleaf or exactly what was meant."
This is great information on our ancestor. Has any more been found on him that has proven who his parents are?
ReplyDeleteHello. I am a Descendant of this line and wondered how to get in contact with Jeremiah Smith Organization. here is my email eyespaz@hotmail.com.. Thank you!!
ReplyDeleteI don't know of any email address for the organization. Here is the most current address I have:
ReplyDeleteJeremiah Smith And Abigail Demont Smith Family Foundation
1984 W Mark St
Layton, UT 84041-4929