Davis Smith Plantation in Monroe County, Georgia
L-R: One of Miranda's daughters; Miranda holding her grandchild; Jennie Smith; Thomas Young Brent; two young boys were sons of Jennie and Ty Brent. Right: Sallie. Photo taken ca 1885.
I first visited the Smith Cemetery in Brent, Georgia, on a cold February day. A chilling wintry wind blew across the wooded landscape where the Smith house once stood. It was the typical two-story plantation house with a hallway down the middle and a separate building for the kitchen. The only evidence a house ever stood on that site was a pile of red chimney bricks. The lane of cedar trees that had once lined the path to the house was gone. My grandmother Evans would be taken to the old home by her parents in the summertime, and all that she remembered of her great-grandfather, Davis Smith, was the story of a piano and a gold pocket watch.
The Piano Story and a Famous Swedish Opera Star
Davis Smith, born in Washington County, Georgia, 1793 was married twice. His first wife bore him two sons, who died young. Both infants were named "William Franklin Smith."
(P. S. - This was a major clue in discovering Franklin's kin back to about 1650, which will be included in this newsletter later).
The second marriage was to Elizabeth Dixon Jordan. In 1850, when Barnum & Bailey brought the famous Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind to America for her popular tour in America, Davis Smith took his wife, Elizabeth, to Charleston, South Carolina, to hear her sing.
On the return visit, he brought back a piano. According to relatives, it was the first piano in Monroe County!
The Gold Pocket Watch Story
Atlanta was burning, and the Army of General Sherman was south of Atlanta, en route to Savannah. The news spread quickly, and as the plantation was off the main road from Atlanta and a patrol was in the area scrounging for food for a massive army (followed by enslaved people), Davis Smith feared for his life. The Smith home was occupied by the daughters and grandchildren of Davis Smith, who had returned home because their husbands were away at war. All of the men in the family had died in the war, including the three sons of Davis Smith. He was an older man in his mid-sixties. As the patrol approached, Davis climbed onto the branches of one of the cedar trees in the yard. But as luck would have it, the Yankee patrol stopped under the tree.
Davis heard the ticking of his gold pocket watch and trembled. If the Yankees heard the ticking, he would be taken as a prisoner or killed. But the soldiers wanted the livestock, so they stripped the plantation of its foodstuffs and rode off. Davis Smith died in 1868.
After the war, Jane Smith Clements, a daughter who had lost her husband in the war, married a veteran from Kentucky, and their children struggled to resurrect the farm. By 1900, the whole had moved to Atlanta in search of work.
That cold, sweeping wind in February did not prevent me from climbing the hill to the cemetery and stepping over a rock wall to see the graves. Long had I searched for the families in this yard and would recognize relationships. The tombstones were ensnarled with thorny vines and the neglect of time. I snagged my hands many times, but the reward was great! A great find that day was the sunken cement slab of Jeremiah Smith, a brother of Davis Smith!
Davis Smith's child by first wife:
William Franklin Smith, born 6/29/1817 in Laurens County, Ga., and died June 30, 1842 in Monroe County, Georgia - child by first wife, Hannah Ferth.
Davis Smith's child by his second wife: William Franklin Smith.
Clues in this research paper:
1. Identifying the family lineages buried in the Davis Smith Cemetery in Monroe County, Georgia.
2. Searching deed records, marriages, and old wills and estates to help establish relationships.
3. Taking notes of the names of administrators and witnesses.
4. Observing family surnames used for naming children.
5. Davis Smith named his first two children "William Franklin Smith."
Georgia Smith Family Genealogies are available to members of GeorgiaPioneers.com in the "Genealogy Vault"