Roger, The only thing I have supporting the name Michael for Josiah Smith's wife is this: my dad (Cecil Shepherd) says he can remember his aunts talking family among themselves and recalling that their parents called Mrs. Smith "Aunt Mickey." There's plenty of room for error in these handed-down recollections, so give it whatever credence you wish. Also, was the second Josiah Smith actually named Richard Josiah Smith? I see him as Richard on one or more censuses and know from family lore that he went by the nickname of Dick. Thirdly, I have a note that says Josiah the first's son Henry was "M. Henry Smith." I don't know where this info came from. Is there any validity to it? Your website is outstanding! I know from my own feeble efforts at collecting and recording data what a phenomenal amount of effort went into it. And I've had my fling with figuring out the Stewart County Smiths, so I know what a tangled web you've had to unravel. I'm looking forward to having a good long look at it. Best wishes, Marcia

On Sun, 3 Oct 2004, trekell wrote: > The only thing I have supporting the name Michael for Josiah Smith's wife is > this: my dad (Cecil Shepherd) says he can remember his aunts talking > family among themselves and recalling that their parents called Mrs. Smith > "Aunt Mickey." There's plenty of room for error in these handed-down > recollections, so give it whatever credence you wish. Well, that's enough to back up the Census record in my mind! Do you know if they were married in Stewart County? Both of them are listed as having been born in NC, but all of their children claim to have been born in Tennessee. So I'm trying to figure out when Josiah moved. > Also, was the second Josiah Smith actually named Richard Josiah Smith? I > see him as Richard on one or more censuses and know from family lore that he > went by the nickname of Dick. I don't know, but that Josiah does seem to disappear for a while, and there is a Richard nearby. I'll have to look into this further. Thanks for the tip! > Thirdly, I have a note that says Josiah the first's son Henry was "M. Henry > Smith." I don't know where this info came from. Is there any validity to > it? His obituary lists him as M. Henry Smith but that's the only document that I know of that does. I have his marriage and death certificates as well as every Census between 1850 and 1900, and he's always just "Henry". I have started to suspect that maybe the obituary should have been "Mr. Henry Smith", and the "r" was left off. Here's a scan of the obituary: http://www.ramawam.com/genealogy/histories/HenrySmith_Obituary.jpg > Your website is outstanding! I know from my own feeble efforts at > collecting and recording data what a phenomenal amount of effort went into > it. Thanks, it's been a lot of work, but I think it's been worth it. > And I've had my fling with figuring out the Stewart County Smiths, so I > know what a tangled web you've had to unravel. I'm looking forward to > having a good long look at it. What can I say, I like a challenge! _\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_ | Roger L. Smith Phone: 662-325-3625 | | Sr. Systems Administrator FAX: 662-325-7692 | | roger@ERC.MsState.Edu http://WWW.ERC.MsState.Edu/~roger | | Mississippi State University | |____________________________________ERC__________________________________|

On Sun, 3 Oct 2004, trekell wrote: > Also, was the second Josiah Smith actually named Richard Josiah Smith? I > see him as Richard on one or more censuses and know from family lore that he > went by the nickname of Dick. Marcia, After looking at the Census records again, you're right, he shows up as Josiah in 1850, 1870, 1880, and 1900, but as Richard in 1860 and 1910, and as Dick in 1920. You know, it's difficult enough to track a Smith as it is, it certainly doesn't help when they use different names and marry twice! I'm going to change his entry in my database to be "Josiah Richard Smith". Since Josiah shows up the most in the Census records, and in Henry's obit, I'm guessing that his first name was Josiah, but since there were so many Josiahs in the area at the time, he started using his middle name for common usage. _\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_ | Roger L. Smith Phone: 662-325-3625 | | Sr. Systems Administrator FAX: 662-325-7692 | | roger@ERC.MsState.Edu http://WWW.ERC.MsState.Edu/~roger | | Mississippi State University | |____________________________________ERC__________________________________|