Henry Smith Journal Information for Transcribers
Henry Smith Journal Pages January 1st 1853 to July 2 1856
Henry Smith Journal Pages July 3 1856 to December 31 1859
Henry Smith Journal Pages January 1 1860 to May 22 1861
Draft transcribed pages (to be updated during the project)
Information packet for transcribers
https://wpthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Henry-Smith-Journal-Info-Packet.pdf
Map of Westport and Dartmouth 1858
Ancestry and descendants of Henry Smith, research by Richard Gifford
https://wpthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Henry-Smith-Descendants.pdf
SOME DESCENDANTS OF HENRY SMITH & RUTH WILCOX
Henry Smith (1815-1873) b. Dartmouth d. Westport married Ruth Wilcox (1821-1907) b. Westport d. New Bedford. They are buried at Rural Cemetery, New Bedford. Except where otherwise noted, all of the descendants below are also buried at Rural Cemetery. They apparently lived on the farm owned by Ruth’s father, Henry Wilcox. Although mid-1800s maps show two houses on the property, census records indicate that the two families shared one house, which is the one located at 775 Horseneck Road. MACRIS attributes this ca1775 house to Capt. James Brightman, but Brightman lived there after the Wilcox-Smith era, and is shown there on the 1895 map, so he was not the builder. The other house on the Henry Wilcox farm, located northeast of the house at 775 Horseneck, closer to the road and directly opposite the Cross Road intersection, may have been a farmhand house. The house at 775 Horseneck appears to be on a parcel owned on the Crane maps by Thomas Ward, and is likely the 83 acre parcel conveyed in 1776 by the heirs of Richard Ward to Richard Kirby, at which point Elijah Gifford is to the north, Joseph Allen to the south, the Acoaxet River to the west and undivided land to the east. It is unclear at this point how the property came to be owned by Henry Wilcox, but it is possible that Richard Kirby, who was Henry’s great-uncle, conveyed or willed the property to his niece (Henry’s mother) following the early death of Henry’s father, Willard Wilcox.
-Hannah Smith (1851-1934) b. Westport d. New Bedford m. 1) Daniel Dexter Smith (1849-1876) b. Randolph MA d. Rutland MA.
–Henry Lawrence Smith (1873-1944) b. New Bedford, d. Wallingford, Delaware Co., PA m. Elizabeth Bennett Pitkin (1887-1967)
—Dr. Henry Lawrence Smith Jr. (b.1908?) m. Juliet Seeley Bacon (b.1918). According to his DAR application Dr. Smith enlisted in the US Army in 1942 and served as a surgeon on Guadalcanal.
Unknown place or year of death or burial.
—-Jonathan Bacon Smith (b.1944) b. Tallahassee, FL
—-Henry Lawrence Smith III (b.1946) b. Tallahassee
—-Julienne Seeley Smith (b.1949) b. Tallahassee
—-Lane Pitkin Smith (b.1951) b. Tallahassee
—Hannah Wilcox Smith (1916-2009) b. Schenectady NY d. Crisfield, Somerset Co., MD, buried at Rehoboth Presbyterian Cemetery, Rehoboth, MD m. John T. Handy (1917-2006) d. Beaverton, Washington Co, OR
-Hannah (Smith) Smith m. 2) William Huston (1855-1927)
–Constance Huston (1886-1977)
–Eleanor Huston (1888-1963).
-Abbott Pliny Smith (1853-1943) b. Westport d. New Bedford m. Sarah Emeline Metcalf (1856-1949)
–Florence R. Smith (1881-1977) m. Arthur Doane Delano (1880-1968) b. NY d. New Bedford
—Ruth Delano (1909-2008) d. South Dartmouth, m. Paul Whitin Jr.
—-Sarah “Sally” Whitin (1932-2018) b. Northbridge, MA, d. Philadelphia PA m. Lawrence Dickey Brownell (1932-2020) b. NYC d. Lafayette Hill, PA. Survived by four children and nine grandchildren.
—-Betsy Whitin (b.ca.1939) b. Northbridge, MA, m. (—) Tyler, res. Pasadena, CA
—-Paul “Pete” Whitin res. Monkton, MD
` —Stephen C. Delano (1911-1980) d. Westport. He married, as her second husband, Sarah Rodman (Scudder) Ashley (1904-1994), widow of Clifford Warren Ashley.
— Ruth Smith (1885-1965) d. Rockport, MA m. Clarence O’Brion (1887-1970) b. Portland, ME d. Cornish, ME.
— Abbott Pliny Smith II (1910-1998) [for some reason Abbott and his brothers went by the surname Smith instead of O’Brion] b. New Bedford d. Kingsfield, ME m. Elizabeth Cooper Saunders (1912-2006)
—Clarence Smith (1914-1980) b New Bedford d. Rockland, ME m. Ruth Ada Comstock (1920- 1980). They had five children.
—Charles R. Smith (1918-1990) b. New Bedford m. Cornelia Warren Curtis (b.1920)
–Abbott Metcalf Smith (1890-1967) m. Catherine Anthony. Burial: South Dartmouth Cemetery.
—Abbott Metcalf Smith Jr. (1918-2015) b. New Bedford d. Barboursville, Cabell Co., WV m. Margaret Ciliax (1921-2018) b. Quakertown, Bucks Co., PA, d. Barboursville, WV. Burial: White Chapel Memorial Gardens, Barboursville WV.
—Benjamin Anthony Smith (1920-2006) b. New Bedford, d. West Palm Beach, FL m. Lois Gibbons. They had five children.
-Henry Wilcox Smith (1849-1909) b. Westport d. New Bedford m. Helen Elizabeth Jennings (1850- 1924).
–Frederic Russell Smith (1875-1941) d. San Diego CA m. Margaret Greenwood (1872-1958) b. Columbus, OH d. Colorado Springs CO. Frederic buried at Rural Cemetery, Margaret at Greenlawn Cemetery, Columbus OH.
—-Ruth Wilcox Smith (1905-1920)
-Mary Burnley Smith (1858-1916) b. Westport d. New Bedford m. George Ferdinand Klock (1853-1911)
- Chicago IL d. Philadelphia PA.
SMITH ANCESTRY OF HENRY SMITH
Generation 1: Lt. John Smith (ca1618-1692) b. England, d. Dartmouth m. 1) Deborah Howland, daughter of Arthur and Margaret (—) Howland. Arthur was a brother of early Dartmouth landowner Henry Howland and Mayflower passenger John Howland, the first two named frequently fined for Quaker activity. John Smith m. 2) Ruhamah Kirby(ca1640->1710), a daughter of Richard and Jane (—) Kirby of Lynn, MA, Sandwich, MA and Oyster Bay, Long Island. Ruhamah’s brother Richard Kirby Jr., an early settler of Westport, owned a 212 acre farm in the area of Fisherville Lane. Her two sisters, Jane (Kirby) Lounders and Sarah (Kirby) Allen, who were also early settlers of Old Dartmouth, were both ordered publicly whipped in Sandwich for disturbing church services, a common form of Quaker protest.
Generation 2: Deliverance Smith (ca1668-1729). Deliverance was arrested by Lt. John Akin of Dartmouth for refusing to serve as a soldier in Canada during Queen Anne’s War, and was several other Dartmouth Quakers was transported to Boston for confinement. Managing to procure an interview with Gov.
Dudley, Smith managed to convince him of the unjust nature of requiring the Quakers to bear arms in violation of their religious beliefs, whereupon the governor ordered them pardoned and free to return to Dartmouth. Deliverance was elected a selectman of Dartmouth at a time that the most contentious issue dividing Dartmouth from Boston was the requirement that the “minister tax” be collected for the support of a Congregational minister. Smith was imprisoned at Bristol gaol for about six months for his refusal to collect the tax. Deliverance Smith married Anne Tripp, a daughter of Peleg & Anne (Sisson) Tripp. Peleg Tripp’s homestead was on Narrow Ave. in Westport near the Tiverton line. Deliverance’s brother Judah Smith was on the list of subscribers contributing to the construction of the original Apponegansett Friends Meeting House in 1698.
Generation 3: George Smith (1701-1769) married Elizabeth Allen.
Generation 4: Deliverance Smith (ca1735->1778) married Hannah Smith, daughter of Jonathan & Phebe (Smith) Smith.
Generation 5: George Smith (1760-1832) married Mary Smith (b.ca1763), daughter of Humphrey & Elizabeth (Howland) Smith
Generation 6: George Smith (1790-1870) married Sarah Estes (1791-1887). George was a farmer who lived, judging from mid-1800s maps, on Potomska Road in the general area of the Lloyd Center. Sarah’s father Joseph Estes was a cordwainer, tanner and currier at Russell’s Mills, and had a one-third interest in a woolen mill there.
Generation 7: Henry Smith
WILCOX ANCESTRY OF RUTH (WILCOX) SMITH
Generation 1: Edward Wilcox. In 1638 he was living on Aquidneck Island and in 1639 at Newport. In 1680 Randall Holden [one of the Ann Hutchinson group, and the master of the apprenticed John Tripp] and John Greene gave a deposition in which they stated that “prior to Richard Smith’s coming to Narragansett [i.e. Wickford in North Kingstown, in the area later called “Smith’s Castle”], a Mr. Wilcox was there. Afterwards, when Mr. Smith came there, he was in partnership with Mr. Wilcox [a trading post doing business with the local Narragansett Indians], whereby he much augmented his estate and had no opportunity to spend anything, for the Indians would not let them have any land to improve nor suffer them to keep a beast there.” Following the Great Swamp Fight, the Narragansetts burned down Smith’s Castle in retaliation and a new building, still in existence, was erected in 1685.
Generation 2: Daniel Wilcox (1633-1702) b. Croft, Lincolnshire, England, d. Tiverton. For most of the 1650s and ‘60s, he lived in Portsmouth. While there is no record of his first marriage, two land records refer to the burial place of his first wife in Portsmouth. He married, second, Elizabeth Cooke, daughter of Mayflower passenger John Cooke. Through his father-in-law, Wilcox acquired ownership of large tracts of land in Old Dartmouth, including the site of the Westport Town Farm and Westport Point, the latter tract sold to Christopher Gifford. In addition, Wilcox was granted several large tracts of land by Mamanuah, the sachem of the Sakonnet/Acoaxet tribe, including a 100 acre parcel whose footprint would include much of the village of Adamsville. There is some evidence that during King Philip’s War Wilcox lived as neighbors of the Acoaxet band of Indians in the area on the northeast side of Quicksand Pond.
Wilcox was fluent in the Wampanoag language and acted as interpreter for Col. Benjamin Church at his meeting with Awashonks, sunksqua of the Sakonnets, at Treaty Rock Farm in Little Compton, at which parley the queen pledged neutrality in the looming war with King Philip. After the war Wilcox lived on the north side of Nonquit Pond in Tiverton. While living here, Wilcox engaged in effort with Christopher Almy and Henry Head to have Tiverton and Little Compton annexed by Rhode Island, largely to avoid the “minister tax” imposed by Massachusetts. Having received news of these efforts, In December 1692 Gov. William Phipps of Massachusetts Bay Colony signed a warrant charging the three coadjutors with “High misdemeanors” and a contingent of 46 soldiers, to be supplemented by a callup of the local militia, under the command of Samuel Gookin was dispatched to effectuate the arrest. Gookin found the conspirators holed up inside of Wilcox’s house at Nonquit and after refusing to surrender Gookin threatened to burn the house down, which caused Wilcox and several others to surrender. Transported to Bristol jail, it was charged that they “riotously and seditiously did unite themselves to the great terror of their Majesties’ liege subjects” and the defendants posted bond.
Wilcox escaped to Portsmouth, out of the jurisdiction, and remained a fugitive from justice for several years until in 1701 his friend from King Philip’s War, Col. Benjamin Church, arranged a deal in which Wilcox would convey land in Tiverton in exchange for dismissing the charges. This site, on the west side of South Watuppa Pond, was used as the first site of Watuppa Indian Reservation, and a few years later swapped for other land on the east side of North Watuppa Pond owned by Church.
Generation 3: Samuel Wilcox (ca1660-before1689) b. Portsmouth? d. Dartmouth? married Mary Wood (ca1665-1721), daughter of William & Martha (Earle) Wood of Dartmouth. Mary married 2) Thomas Mallett of Newport, who was high sheriff of Newport, and 3) John Sanford. She is buried under the name Mary Sanford at the Common Burial Ground, Newport. There are no Dartmouth records of any sort relating to Samuel Wilcox, and he is not mentioned in the will of his father. Some genealogical compilations state his year of death as 1702, which coincides with the death of his father, but this is unlikely. In 1689 Daniel Wilcocks “of Little Compton” deeded a one eight share each of undivided Dartmouth land, together with 100 acres each of upland, for love and affection to grandsons William and Jeremiah Wilcox, who were sons of Samuel. A dwelling house was included on the 100 acres conveyed to William. It seems unlikely that Daniel would have conveyed Dartmouth lands to his grandsons in the absence of ever having made a conveyance to his son Samuel, unless Samuel was already deceased by the date of the grants. In 1705 Mary Willcocks, daughter of Samuel Willcocks of Dartmouth, deceased, and Mary Willcocks conveyed to her brother Jeremiah Willcocks of Newport her entire interest she had in the land that her grandfather Daniel Wilcocks had conveyed to their brother William Willcocks, an “infant” now deceased.
Generation 4: Capt. Jeremiah Wilcox (1683-1758) m. Judith Briggs (1710-1765) b. Little Compton, d. Dartmouth. Judith was the daughter of William & Elizabeth (Fobes) Briggs of Little Compton and through her mother a descendant of Mayflower passengers John Alden, Priscilla Mullins and William Mullins. The 1750 will of William Briggs leaves to daughter “Judah” Wilcox of Dartmouth forgiveness of a 50 pound note owed her father and assigns her 350 pounds due on a note from Fobes Briggs (her brother).
William Briggs’ farm was along the Little Compton/Tiverton line near Pachet Brook.
Jeremiah Wilcox’ homestead of about 150 acres was located on Horseneck Road some distance north of where his great-grandson Henry Wilcox later lived. Jeremiah’s homestead abutted the William Ricketson homestead to the south. Jeremiah was apparently a mariner.
Generation 5: Capt. Benjamin Wilcox (1747-1816) married Patience Tucker (1746-1794). Capt. Wilcox served during the Revolution as a militia commander. Most of the soldiers who resided in what is now Westport would have served under the command of Capt. Wilcox. His estate was valued at $10,143, a respectable amount for that era, including in excess of $7000 in cash and notes.
Generation 6: Willard Wilcox (1773-1801) married Ruth Lawrence (b.1776), daughter of Isaac III & Elizabeth (Kirby) Lawrence of Westport. No land records or probate found for Willard Wilcox.
Generation 7: Henry Wilcox (1785-1870) married Hannah Bailey (1785-1878), b. Tiverton. Henry Wilcox died intestate, his estate was administered by Henry Smith and the sole heir at law was Ruth Lawrence (Wilcox) Smith. Personal estate was $221,890 and consisted mostly of shares in whaling ships and stocks in First National Bank and the Gosnold, Weetamoe, Wamsutta and Potomska Mills.
Generation 8: Ruth Lawrence Wilcox m. Henry Smith