| Notes |
- William Smith and family moved to Alabama in 1925 according to an article about Sidney Lanier in The United Daughter Of the Confederacy Magazine, February 1953 where it states William's son, Robert, was one of Sidney's professors. It then states that Robert moved to Alabama in 1925 when he was 15 years old.
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The below article is taken from "AUTAUGA ANCESTRY" Vol. 6, No. 3, November 1996, page 11. Published by Autauga Genealogical Society, Prattville, Alabama.
'PINE FLAT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Established 1829--Built 1871'
The following sketch was written in the year 1886 by Mrs. S. M. Zeigler, as her mother, Mrs. Lucinda Lewis Smith, sat by and dictated to her what to write. It was her intention, at that time, to send this sketch to Dr. Samuel Smith of Prattville, Alabama, who was preparing a history of the early settlers of Autauga County.
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The writer of this sketch came to Autauga County in November 1818 with her father, John, or as he was frequently called, Linton Lewis, and mother, Mary Lewis, with six children, Henry, Nancy, Lucinda, Joseph, Thomas, Mary; two other children were born after we came to Autauga County. These were Jefferson and Catherine. They all lived to be grown and married. In September 1846, Henry died at Pine Flat, a mile from where we first located when we came here; he left three children, two of whom are still living, the other, William Henry, died from the effects of measles soon after he had been elected to the office of Lieutenant in the Confederate Army. Joseph, Thomas, Mary, Jefferson, and Catherine all married in Autauga County and moved to Arkansas where they each reared large families and sent many good boys into the Confederate Army, some of whom were killed, some wounded, and some still living citizens of Arkansas: Father, Mother, Joseph, Thomas, and Jefferson and their wives are buried in Arkansas.
In locating in this county of Autauga within a mile of the home where I now live, my father selected this site on account of the beautiful, level country, the freely flowing springs, and the good range for the stock he had brought with him; however, there was one drawback here to raising stock because of the frequent visit of wolves. The cows and hogs fed themselves, but for the first few years we had to send to the nearest port, the river, and pay $5 per bushel for much of our own bread, but as we were situated on what was then, and is still, the road from Wetumpka to Tuscaloosa which was the only highway and which has been only slightly changed, this diminished the inaccessibility to the purchasing point.
Father fixed up a tent, and as soon as we were comfortably situated, my mother unpacked her little spinning wheel and went to spinning; Father took his axe and went into the woods, the lands were all public then, and chose him a place and by Christmas Eve the house was ready for occupancy, but without a floor so we put down our carpet of green pine straw which made it healthful as well as comfortable.
Christmas morning came in and there was a scarcity of seats. Father went out, cut a tree, hewed it off, made benches and brought them in, so we were all seated and had an excellent dinner of venison, and as the young of this day say, 'had a nice time." Really, I do not know that many in their nice parlors with cushioned chairs enjoy life any better than we did on our benches and straw carpets.
There came in company with my father, Elisha Cain and his family consisting of his wife and three children, also Joseph Lewis, Sr. and his family. They all settled near here and all farmed and hunted for a living. Hunted bee-trees, gathered whortle-berries, etc. The descendants of Elisha Cain are in Wetmpka, Alabama. Joseph Lewis is dead.
When we came here we found the following families: House, Floyds, and Goss; the House and Floyd girls were the first who made us a visit after we settled. The present Mrs. Brown of Bozeman, Alabama, is one of them.
A few years after we came, Anglish Johnson came with a large family and settled near us, which pleased us much for we all loved to visit and could time to visit them {sic}. We did not wait to send a card, but went along when we cared and stayed all night.
The Smith family settled about two miles further North of us on the public road, at a spring called "Poplar Spring", near Wadsworth, a station of the L. & N. R. R. which has since been settled. The old couple with five of their children, four sons and one daughter, are buried near there.
Two or three years after the Smith family came, William and Elizabeth Smith, with their five sons and three daughters, came. They reared all their children to be grown and died at the good old age of 83 and 84. Their oldest son, James, died three years ago in his 81st year, he left two sons and one daughter. W. W. Smith died a bachelor, in his 67th year. John, their third son, and myself were married June 14th, 1832. We lived with the Smith family one year at what is known as the old Smith stand for travelers.
My husband being a tailor, we then moved to Rocky Mount for him to carry on his trade there, and there are some still living to testify to his faithfulness in doing his work well; there we lived four years, surrounded by many good friends of which I might mention a few; Mr. Edwin Fay, Dixon Hall, John Duncan, Malcolm Smith, etc. Then on account of failing health, he decided to get on a little place where, as he expressed it, "He cound have something growing while he slept."
In 1836 with two children, we came and settled where I now live. We were blessed with seven children; three daughters and four sons. The eldest son, James Smith, died a worn out soldier-prisoner near Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1864. Willie Smith died of measles near Norfolk, Virginia, August 7th, 1861. He was one of the Wetumpka Light Guards, in the third Alabama Regiment. David Smith was killed while in discharge of his duty in the Battle of Chicamauga. Henry Smith, the youngest, died in 1881, aged 8 years. Catherine died at two years of age. Mary E. Smith died at the age of 40 years. I now live with my only child, Mrs. S. M. Zeigler, who has four daughters and two sons, and we are living where we first settled 48 or 49 years ago. Mr. Smith died two years ago last April.
I will now give you a bit of the history of the fourth son of William Smith, who was Robert C. Smith. After many years of hard work and study, he at length finished his studies and became a Presbyterian minister and for several years was professor at the College of Milledgeville, Georgia, and from there to Atlanta, Georgia, where he died, if I mistake not in May of 1873, leaving his second wife and a number of children. Robert Hall Smith was his eldest son. Their fifth son, David, died a young man, leaving no family. Their oldest daughter, Catherine, married Mr. Toxey, and reared four sons, the oldest a farmer, the three others were physicians. Two of them, Caleb and Elliott, still live in Mobile. Willie died there with yellow fever several years ago. Their mother, Mrs. Catherine Toxey, still lives in Tuscaloosa, having been a widow many years.
The two youngest daughters of William Smith were Eliza and Mary, twins, remained at the old homestead. Mary died in 1873 and Eliza is still living, but has gone back to good old North Carolina to find the right kind of people, who as some old folks think, are to be found only in North Carolina.
The first we had was a Methodist Chruch, built principally by Elisha Cain and Joseph Lewis. The first preaching near where we lived was by Robert Holman, a Presbyterian, who first came and preached at Mr. Anglish Johnson's dwelling once a month, and we all, far and near, went; there was no staying at home to get a new hat or fashionable dress, for clean, neat clothes were the fashion of the day. After Mr. Holman had preached there a few times, Mr. Graham and Mr. Malcolm Smith, elders of Millennium Hope Chruch, came up with him and they organized a church in Mr. Johnson's house, with five members, this was after 1827, and were as follows: Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and Mary Lewis(these are the grandparents of the present Mrs. S. M. Zeigler). These members then built a log church right where the Presbyterian Church of Pine Flat now stands--a few of the old logs are still there. The Presbyterians are the only denomination that ever organized in it. I believe this was in 1829 or 1830.
I am now living where we settled, nearly fifty years ago, and have not been absent a week at the time in the fifty years, and for honest work have been rewarded with plenty of the comforts of this life, without indebtedness or mortgage have been in position to entertain all preachers and friends who have visited us. Although I have been a cripple four years, I can still see, hear, talk, and entertain well and if you wish to hear anything more from me, you must give me a call at Pine Flat, Autauga County, Alabama.
Father: John 'Linton' LEWIS b: 1777 in Virginia
Mother: Mary KENDRICK b: ABT 1783 in VA
Marriage 1 John SMITHb: ABT 1808 in NC
Married: 14 JUN 1832 in Autauga Co., AL 3
Children
Mary E. SMITH b: ABT 1833 in Autauga Co., AL
David SMITH b: ABT 1840 in Autauga Co., AL
Sarah "Sally" Maria SMITH b: 1847 in Autauga Co., AL
James SMITH
William SMITH
Henry SMITH b: ABT 1853 in Autauga Co., AL
Catherine SMITH
Sources:
Type: Census
Title: United States Federal Census
Place: Alabama, Autauga Co., Enumeration District 6, house 259, page 123
Date: 1880
Media: microfilm
Location: Dallas Public Library, Dallas, TX
Type: Book
Author: Claudie Norris Cargill
Periodical: The Lewises of Mt. Holly And The Ark-La-Tex
Publication: Mays Printing Company, Ruston, LA, 1978
Page: 29
Text: Autauga Ancestry, Nov. 1996, vol. 6, no. 3, p 12
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Alabama Bound
1771 - 1856 (84 years)
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