| Smith
Family
It appears three of John Newberry II's children
married into the Smith family. Ironically, both families have the
same
patriarch Samuel Smith - with different mothers. Recent research has
separated these Smith's into two families, with
two different Samuel Smith's as the patriarch. It has become
apparent that there were as many as five Samuel Smith's
in Orange County in the 1790 census.
James Newberry married Mary Smith whose parents were Samuel Smith and Jane
Stephens.
Phebe Newberry married James Smith and Martha Newberry married Jesse
Smith. These boys both had
the same
mother, Mary Mapes and Samuel Smith of Monroe was their father. It has
recently been proven that these two boys
were the descendants of Claudius Smith who was a notorious Tory in Orange
county during the Revolutionary War.
Jesse and James were the grandsons of Claudius.There are many engaging
stories of Claudius. He was hung in Goshen
N.Y. 1779.We know this by examining his will. He had three sons, Samuel
being the youngest and a Whig. The
other
two died as a result of being apprehended and murdered by the Patriots.
Claudius Smith was supplying the British with
goods stolen from the settlers. Samuel was considered to be the good son,
and the one who people respected.
He apparently escaped his father’s reputation.
Three of Mary Mapes' sons are married into the same
John Newberry line. Hozhiah Breffet was her son
and was married to Elizabeth Newberry. .
It is uncanny that two Samuel Smith’s would
contribute to the Newberry line, let alone have three of Mary Mapes
sons marry into the line as well. Are all these Smith's are related to one
another? We're still working on that
question.
Our Ancestor Samuel Smith . . .
At first blush we believed our Samuel Smith owned a
curry and tannery shop in Warwick. These businesses appear
on a reproduction map of Warwick as it was in 1805 – reprinted by
Elizabeth Van Duzer in 1933.
Native people often engaged in occupations such as
basket making, tanning and broom making. Collin Calloway1
and Herbert Kraft2 substantiate this information. According to
records in Groton, a John Newberry was a basket
maker.
However, we now know that our Samuel was actually a farmer and owned a
farm called "Fair Acres" on Bellvale Rd.
near contemporary Sugar Loaf. The farm is still intact and has
several original buildings still on the property. There
is a small cemetery on the property that is thought contain at least nine
graves. Some of the headstones are still visible.
Others are thought to be buried in the decades worth of mulch. Fair
Acres photos.
There isn't much information so far about our Samuel Smith who died in
1811, and is buried on the family farm. One
thing that we do know is that his father was Isaiah Smith, who
apparently had many land holdings in Orange County.
The only reason that we know who Samuel's father is, is because of a
Letter of Administration that was submitted to
the Surrogates Court after Samuel's death. Sam apparently died
without a will, and his father stepped in to take
care of his land holdings, which he apparently gave to Samuel at an
earlier time. The farm transferred it's ownership to
David Stephens.
Jeremiah Stephens who was married to Samuel's daughter Nancy was left with
the farm later in life when Nancy died.
We believe that Nancy is a half sister to Mary Smith who married James
Newberry. It is unknown who Nancy's
mother was, however, Mary Smith's mother was Jane Stephens. Nancy is
buried in the family cemetery on the
"Fair Acres" farm. Jeremiah was a drunk and was unable to take
care of his children by Nancy, who were farmed out
to various Smith relatives. How they relate to our Sam we are still
investigating.
In the Elizabeth Horton papers, (a series of letters
written to Elizabeth Horton by Susannah Whitcomb) Samuel Smith
and Jane Stephens are mentioned along with Nancy whom we believe
may have been a stepdaughter
to one or the
other.
Their daughter Mary Smith was born 1792, and there
was also a son named Samuel Smith, but both are born before |
Nancy. A half sister is mentioned in the family journal as ‘Polly’.
The journal was written circa 1841 by James
Newberry in Lee County, Iowa. Nancy was never mentioned in this
journal.
Another interesting entry in this family group was for someone named
"Aunt Polly". The nickname often used for Mary
is Polly. Could this have been a reference to Mary Mapes? Or perhaps
it was James' sister Mary who was also referred
to as Polly. (See family group.)
Jane Stephens' mother was Elizabeth Holley, and her father was
Ebenezer Stephens. However, we have not yet found
documentation to prove this other than what is written in some of the
older family histories, who did not provide notations
as to where the information was found.
In the Horton papers there is a confusing passage
that mentions that someone was a slave. The
following details that
excerpt from the Horton letters.
“Jeremiah
Stevens b. October 4, 1782 in the town of Warwick, N.Y.
and died September 20, 1846 in the Town of Chester, N.Y.
He married
Nancy Smith daughter of Samuel Smith and Jane Stevens born September
11, 1796 in the Town of Warwick N.Y. died March 17, 1833 Town of
Warwick. Nancy was a child bride. Her
third child was born in 1812.
The other two - born in 1810 & 1811.
Jeremiah
and Nancy are both interred in a small Smith family Cemetery.
It is located on a hill in the sheep pasture.
The original Samuel Smith
home is located on the Bellvale Road and called “Fair Acres”. . .
T he only stones there are Nancy’s stone, it gives her date of birth and
death and that she was the wife of Jeremiah Stevens.
Nancy’s father’s
stone a foot stone with J. S., a stone that says a slave and child of
Samuel and Jane Stevens.”
Admittedly, this is a confusing passage.
It appears that perhaps - Susannah Whitcomb may have become
confused
as she wrote the letter. Perhaps she was referring to Jane Steven’s Smith as having
been the slave, because the initials
on the foot stone are not Samuel’s – they are Jane’s or Jeremiah's.
Mary’s son Abraham’s journal indicates that
his grandpa Smith died at the home of James Newberry, which would now seem
impossible since Samuel is buried in
N.Y. and we know now where.
---------------------------------
Much of the information presented here was
discovered by a genealogist whom several researchers employed to
search the records in Orange Co. N.Y. for Samuel Smith and his
parents. Many thanks to Barbara DiMunno for
her expertise. Copyright on this information October 2002 - Sue
Simonich
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