Noted the Loranzo name - wonder if my Loranzo Webb was named for his mother Frances Smothers side of the family. Seems it has been mentioned several times on the Smothers line. Pat Webber -----Original Message----- From: Mitzi Smetters <[email protected]> To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Date: Tuesday, October 17, 2000 8:23 PM Subject: [SMOTHERS] "The Mountaineer" (Haywood County, North Carolina I found this at "The Mountaineer" (Haywood County, North Carolina) newspaper Website Mitzi Smetters <[email protected]> ________________ http://www.themountaineer.com/stories/stories4_14.html April 14, 2000 Smathers descendants leaders in the community now and then By PEGGY GOSSELIN Canton bureau chief CANTON -- Descendants of a pioneer family that first settled in the Dutch Cove area have been leaders in the community, then and now. The families of Mayor Pat Smathers and Pisgah High School Principal Dyatt Smathers changed the spelling of their surname almost 200 years ago. The surname of the first known Smathers ancestor to relocate to North Carolina from France was De Smet. But historic accounts recorded by members of the Smathers clan vary as to how many times the name changed. Some of those names included: Schmetter, Smithers, Smothers, Smotherman, Smethers, Smetters, Smetter, Smittersm, Smatters, Smadders, Smadders and Smatherson. The late Western North Carolina journalist John Parris wrote in 1981 that the Smathers name "has been worn by statesmen and jurists, soldiers and sailors, men of God and men of medicine, by nurses and teachers, engineers and architects." According to an account recorded by Sadie Smathers Patton, two brothers, John and Henry Smathers, were among the earliest known settlers to migrate from the Pennsylvania Dutch region to the Yadkin Valley in Rowan county, and then on to Haywood County to begin homesteading. They moved to an area near Canton known as Fulbright's Cove around 1815. Within a few years the cove's name was changed to Deutsch Cove (German Cove) because of the number of Germans who had emigrated there. It was later changed to Dutch Cove. Patton's genealogical record states that John Smathers was born Dec. 17, 1781, and married Mary Agner in 1803. Their children were Isaac, George, Jesse, Levi and Charley. Isaac Smathers married Mary Polly Miller and their children were Nelson, Mary Ann, Manson and Phillip. Nelson Smathers married Margaret Henderson and their children were Philip Asbury, Celia, Henry Austin, John Wexley, L. Vester, Amanuel Lorenzo, Harriett, Isaac Wexler and Hester. Amanuel Lorenzo Smathers married Ellen Ownby and their children were Walter, Arthur, Grover, Lyde, Lester and Hack Arnold. Walter Smathers married Adeline Deaver and their children were Underwood, Loranzo, Opal, Lucy, Esther, Gertrude and Garrett. Which brought the current generation to Loranzo Smathers' offspring: Pat, Michael and Nancy. Dyatt Smathers' family tree branches back at Isaac Smathers' son Phillip, who married Julia Dorothy Miller. From there, Dyatt's great-grandfather Jeptha Smathers married Luyiane Haseltine Miller. Their son, Dyatt's grandfather, Arphy Echo Smathers married Laura Burnette. And from that marriage came Dyatt's father, Ellis Ray Smathers, who married Frances Fowler. John Smathers died in 1825 at the age of 44. Mary Agner died in 1868 at the age of 92. Years of weathering had left their grave marker at Locust Fields Cemetery in Canton barely legible, so family members raised funds to have a new grave stone erected. The original stones were donated to the Canton Area Historical Museum. Mary Agner Smathers lived many years after her husband, John, died. Mary, who never learned to speak English, spent the last years of her life in the historic Shook House in Clyde with her son, Levi, according to family records. The Shook House, built by Jacob Shook in 1795 in Clyde, became the Shook-Smathers House in 1850 when William Welch, who came into possession of it after the death of Jacob Shook when a deed transferred it to Levi Smathers. The Shook-Smathers House is now owned by Ruth Morgan Jones of Raleigh, according to Janice Smathers of Clyde. "She's had several offers for the house. It's getting in a bad state of repair and we can't understand why she won't sell it," Janice Smathers said. The generations of John and Mary Agner Smathers extend far and wide, including Janice Smathers' grandfather "Dock" D.I.L and father Walter. D.I.L. Smathers, and his son, Walter, both served as mayor of Clyde. D.I.L. also served for years as justice of the peace and county commissioner. Another offspring of John and Mary Agner Smathers, George, gave his son, John, 640 acres of land at the Haywood/Buncombe county line. On that land, John C. Smathers developed the Turnpike Inn, a mill, blacksmith and carpentry shop. Henry Alston Smathers was at one time the only dentist in Canton. J. Bat Smathers served as attorney for the Champion Fibre Company, the town of Canton Carolina Power and Light Company, the Suncrest Lumber Company, the Champion Bank and Trust Company of Canton and a number of other corporations. Among Mary Agner Smathers' prized possessions was a book written in 1795 in German, containing songs, prayers and sermons by Martin Luther, Patton said. That book is still in the possession of Janice Smathers and her brother, Julian. "An inscription on the fly leaf of this old volume, with its brittle paper and ink faded almost beyond deciphering, has preserved the key which opens a door into past history of the Smathers family before its first members came across the Blue Ridge to Pigeon River," Patton wrote. "There, in German script, appears the record, which translated reads: Johannes Smetter was born on the 17th December, 1781." - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- © 2000, The Mountaineer Publishing Company Webmaster - Editor - Publisher - Advertising ============================== Visit Ancestrys Library The best collection of family history learning and how-to articles on the Internet. http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library