Thursday, November 24, 2011
Elbert Smith
Elbert Smith, was the second oldest son of Richard and Adaline, He was born in 1844. He did not as far as I can tell join the North in the Civil War. He did join the New York city Police force and rose to the position of Inspector, a nickname Aunt Emilie use to use. Aunt Emilie also would say he was a commander in the Peruvian Navy. I didn't understand that reference for years, thinking he went down to Peru and joined their Navy. Later I came across a fact that he was a ferry boat captain in Manhattan after he retired from the police force and I think they might of been nicknamed the Peruvian Navy.
Ruth Darrow Smith and Milton Rutherford Moffett and TB
Ruth Darrow Smith is part of a long chain that is one of the reasons we are all here. There was a shown on TV years ago called connections where the narrator showed how one event connected to another to cause something totally different down the line, this is my version.
Ruth Darrow Smith born in 1901 was one of five children. I don't know for a fact but I get the impression Ruth and Emilie were close. Maybe it was the year difference in their ages or the fact that Emilie would look after Cornelia after Ruth's death, but I feel they were close.
Ruth has been described as an out going people person by people who worked with her.
Her brother, Dudley sometime in the twenties got involved with a women named Helen, her last name is lost. She contracted TB. Ruth, Dudley and Emilie's mother Maryann Harden Smith chose to nurse her back to health. TB settles mostly in the lungs and spreads, when active, from a cough or a sneeze. One in ten die from the disease. Helen infected Ruth and her younger sister Cornelia, nick named Babsie. I don't know what happened to Helen, but Ruth and Babsie contracted the disease. Babsie would die of the disease in 1928. Ruth would move to the southwest for her health in the early twenties.
In Philadelphia, in 1905, James Renwick Moffett and his wife Gertrude Stickland Moffett would become the proud parents of Milton Rutherford, their first.
Sometime after 1910, James and Gertrude and their small family would move to Baltimore, where James would open the Moffett Lynch Advertising Agency. It would specialize in ethical advertising.
Somewhere before 1913, James contracts TB and because of his health is forced to move to the southwest. Their son, Milton mets Ruth, they marry.
James would die in 1928 at forty-four. His death would start the downward spiral of Milton drinking as far as I can tell. The great depression a year later didn't help.
When Ruth got sicker, Milton promised to stop drinking and like any good alcoholic he didn't drink again until after her death.
Milton would die in 1965, alcohol was a contributing cause.
An act of kindness sometime in the 1920's would lead to two people from two seperate eastern cities to met and fall in love in El paso Texas.
Their daughter, Cornelia Ruth Moffett would come east to spend sometime with her Aunt Emilie, meet and marry a man who came from a family with an alcoholic father. The two children of alcoholic would have four children. Each Child would deal with alcoholism in their own way.
Ruth Darrow Smith born in 1901 was one of five children. I don't know for a fact but I get the impression Ruth and Emilie were close. Maybe it was the year difference in their ages or the fact that Emilie would look after Cornelia after Ruth's death, but I feel they were close.
Ruth has been described as an out going people person by people who worked with her.
Her brother, Dudley sometime in the twenties got involved with a women named Helen, her last name is lost. She contracted TB. Ruth, Dudley and Emilie's mother Maryann Harden Smith chose to nurse her back to health. TB settles mostly in the lungs and spreads, when active, from a cough or a sneeze. One in ten die from the disease. Helen infected Ruth and her younger sister Cornelia, nick named Babsie. I don't know what happened to Helen, but Ruth and Babsie contracted the disease. Babsie would die of the disease in 1928. Ruth would move to the southwest for her health in the early twenties.
In Philadelphia, in 1905, James Renwick Moffett and his wife Gertrude Stickland Moffett would become the proud parents of Milton Rutherford, their first.
Sometime after 1910, James and Gertrude and their small family would move to Baltimore, where James would open the Moffett Lynch Advertising Agency. It would specialize in ethical advertising.
Somewhere before 1913, James contracts TB and because of his health is forced to move to the southwest. Their son, Milton mets Ruth, they marry.
James would die in 1928 at forty-four. His death would start the downward spiral of Milton drinking as far as I can tell. The great depression a year later didn't help.
When Ruth got sicker, Milton promised to stop drinking and like any good alcoholic he didn't drink again until after her death.
Milton would die in 1965, alcohol was a contributing cause.
An act of kindness sometime in the 1920's would lead to two people from two seperate eastern cities to met and fall in love in El paso Texas.
Their daughter, Cornelia Ruth Moffett would come east to spend sometime with her Aunt Emilie, meet and marry a man who came from a family with an alcoholic father. The two children of alcoholic would have four children. Each Child would deal with alcoholism in their own way.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Charles Walter Smith's life
Charles Walter Smith, father to Walter Charles Smith and son to Richard Madison Smith.
It most of been a tough life for Charles growing up. His father sold patent medicin for a while in his twenties. He dad, Richard Madison Smith would marry several times in his life and even spend time in prison for bigamy.
Alaine, Richard's wife in one census is listed as head of house with her three sons and there is no mention of Richard. He could be in prison or she might of been disgusted by his womanizing and he no longer lived with them.
Charles joined the New York Volunteers for the North becoming a member of the 72nd. He re-enlisted and might of been promoted, I'm not sure. I read over his two enlistment forms and I think in one he was listed as corporal. He served for the duration of the war and one letter from his wife survives asking him to send some money her way. It talkes about the health of the baby and how hard it is to survive without him.
He returned from the war, became a New York City Police officer and retired around 1909 and bought property in Newburgh/New Windsor area which was called Long acres. I have a few pictures of it, but I don't know where it was. He lived there for a few years before moving to Montgomery St. where he died. He was interred in the local cemetery until his wife moved back to the city, to Queens. There was a big procession and a write up in the local paper about him. He is buried with his wife and father in North port Rural cemetery. The marker is gone. Wally said it was a five foot tall sandstone marker. The only thing that marks their grave is two side markers with the letter 's' on them. The officials of the cemetery don't know what happened to the marker. If it fell over it would of remainded there, My feeling is the extra plot was sold by the widow of Elbert Smith, Walters brother and when it was used the stone marker must of fallen apart and they removed it to bury their relative. Not a bit of the marker is visible in the grass.
Many years after his death New York State passed a law that required citizens to turn in all unregistered guns. His children being good law abiding citizens turned his Civil War guns into the local police station. I imagine to this day those gun remain on the wall or in so display cabinet of a former police officer or his children.
It most of been a tough life for Charles growing up. His father sold patent medicin for a while in his twenties. He dad, Richard Madison Smith would marry several times in his life and even spend time in prison for bigamy.
Alaine, Richard's wife in one census is listed as head of house with her three sons and there is no mention of Richard. He could be in prison or she might of been disgusted by his womanizing and he no longer lived with them.
Charles joined the New York Volunteers for the North becoming a member of the 72nd. He re-enlisted and might of been promoted, I'm not sure. I read over his two enlistment forms and I think in one he was listed as corporal. He served for the duration of the war and one letter from his wife survives asking him to send some money her way. It talkes about the health of the baby and how hard it is to survive without him.
He returned from the war, became a New York City Police officer and retired around 1909 and bought property in Newburgh/New Windsor area which was called Long acres. I have a few pictures of it, but I don't know where it was. He lived there for a few years before moving to Montgomery St. where he died. He was interred in the local cemetery until his wife moved back to the city, to Queens. There was a big procession and a write up in the local paper about him. He is buried with his wife and father in North port Rural cemetery. The marker is gone. Wally said it was a five foot tall sandstone marker. The only thing that marks their grave is two side markers with the letter 's' on them. The officials of the cemetery don't know what happened to the marker. If it fell over it would of remainded there, My feeling is the extra plot was sold by the widow of Elbert Smith, Walters brother and when it was used the stone marker must of fallen apart and they removed it to bury their relative. Not a bit of the marker is visible in the grass.
Many years after his death New York State passed a law that required citizens to turn in all unregistered guns. His children being good law abiding citizens turned his Civil War guns into the local police station. I imagine to this day those gun remain on the wall or in so display cabinet of a former police officer or his children.
A few more Smith stories
Everyone know the story about Richard Smith and how he had an agreement with the Indians that he could have all the land he traveled over while riding a bull and when he got to a certain place and he fell off he was preported to say, "opp, I slip" so that is how the town of Islip New York was named.
A lesser known story is that one of our relatives had mills in the city and the British burned them during the Revolutionary war. I think if true it would be the father of Richard Madison, (who when he wasn't making babies he had fifteen kid, Richard being the youngest) his name is Joseph, I think.
Aunt Emilie and her first husband were married in the same church as her father the sixth st baptist church in Manhattan. When she married the second time after her first husband died she was married in the Tappan reformed church, the same one my mom, Cornelia and my dad, Bill were married in. Eric and Lynn were married in that church as was Teri and I. Eric discribed the minister as an old cowboy, a down to earth type of guy. he really liked him. I did too, he was nice.
Aunt Emilie and her first husband lived in upper Manhattan in the twenties, moved to Tappan on Western Hwy. later that decade. And that is where a lot of history happened, nothing earth shattering unless you are related to the people who lived there. the pictures of Walter Charles Smith after he's gone blind are taken there. There are pictures of him in his hamack, that would be on the western side of the house. There are pictures of our family playing in the driveway in the early sixties. there are pictures of Uncle Tonny and his family after they came back from Japan (and it is the first time I remember ever meeting them) . There are too many memories to write down. In the garage there was a car that Wally owned and it was in there forever and it was some English car from the fifties and he was going to fix it up or something and to Karl and I it was really exciting and mysterious and why didn't he come and fix it up and give us a ride or even better if he didn't want it give it to us. I remember going to Aunt Emilies on a junk day and throwing out an old victolla, the kind that played 78's and my dad wanted it and my mom asked him what he was going to do with it. We ended up puting it on the street and my dad said it wouldn't last an hour out there. He was right when we left to go home it was gone.At the time I didn't know upstairs in the attic he had a box of seventy-eights. Not that it is really connected, because at that time everyone had a record player and you could put seventy-eights on it and play them. We used to put 45's and 33's on the record player and turn it to the 78 speed. We thought it was so funny.
A lesser known story is that one of our relatives had mills in the city and the British burned them during the Revolutionary war. I think if true it would be the father of Richard Madison, (who when he wasn't making babies he had fifteen kid, Richard being the youngest) his name is Joseph, I think.
Aunt Emilie and her first husband were married in the same church as her father the sixth st baptist church in Manhattan. When she married the second time after her first husband died she was married in the Tappan reformed church, the same one my mom, Cornelia and my dad, Bill were married in. Eric and Lynn were married in that church as was Teri and I. Eric discribed the minister as an old cowboy, a down to earth type of guy. he really liked him. I did too, he was nice.
Aunt Emilie and her first husband lived in upper Manhattan in the twenties, moved to Tappan on Western Hwy. later that decade. And that is where a lot of history happened, nothing earth shattering unless you are related to the people who lived there. the pictures of Walter Charles Smith after he's gone blind are taken there. There are pictures of him in his hamack, that would be on the western side of the house. There are pictures of our family playing in the driveway in the early sixties. there are pictures of Uncle Tonny and his family after they came back from Japan (and it is the first time I remember ever meeting them) . There are too many memories to write down. In the garage there was a car that Wally owned and it was in there forever and it was some English car from the fifties and he was going to fix it up or something and to Karl and I it was really exciting and mysterious and why didn't he come and fix it up and give us a ride or even better if he didn't want it give it to us. I remember going to Aunt Emilies on a junk day and throwing out an old victolla, the kind that played 78's and my dad wanted it and my mom asked him what he was going to do with it. We ended up puting it on the street and my dad said it wouldn't last an hour out there. He was right when we left to go home it was gone.At the time I didn't know upstairs in the attic he had a box of seventy-eights. Not that it is really connected, because at that time everyone had a record player and you could put seventy-eights on it and play them. We used to put 45's and 33's on the record player and turn it to the 78 speed. We thought it was so funny.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Stories Aunt Emilie told me
Aunt Emilie is a very important person in the history of this family. She was the one who took care of my mother when her mother and father couldn't and she is the one who started me, encouraged me and had most of the facts about the family history in her head to tell me.
I first became interested in genelogy after root's, Alex Haley's book about his family history. I don't know how, but it was most likely through my mother that I found out Aunt Emilie knew alot about the family history. And there was someone, at least one other person before her who delved into the family tree. There are papers, very brittle that spell out in a fancy handwriting from some time in the late 1800's members of the Hardens, the Darrows and the Westervelts. That was later typed up on some grey paper added to by Aunt Emilie and finally after her death acquired by me. I have expanded on the family history of the Smith's of Smithtown. The original history I had was the branch of the family named Smith were related to Richard 'Bull' Smith. Aunt Emilie didn't have the person by person relationships but she had a few stories about Smiths.
The first one about her father, Walter Charles Smith going to North Dakota to try and farm in the badlands. He gave up after about two years of rough going. Wally, her son, has a story about the badlands attached to him in the genealogy.
The next story was about her grandfather, Charles Walter Smith, how he served during the Civil War.
She showed me his mess kit and I think his hat or his powder horn, I'm not sure. After Aunt Emilie's death they were lost.
The final story about the Smith's, for now is about Richard Madison Smith. He was the youngest of about fifteen children and when he grew to be a man he became a patient medicine salesman. I have a 1970's photo copy of the ingredients.It's a poor copy, the original like so many other items were misplaced after Aunt Emilie's death. The medicine contained mostly mead wine.
Armed with all of this information I wrote a few letters to the Smithtown historical society and to my amazement the wrote me back saying that most of the information that I had sent them they did not have on file. They also said the name Muller did not appear anywhere in the book. I wrote back to them several times and they finally connected up Richard Madison Smith and sent me photo copies of his genealogy all the way back to Bull Smith. I found out they had a book called ten generations of Richard Smith for twenty-five dollars, which I purchased. They also said that a foot note would be placed in the book that I provided the information. I asked that Emilie Smith be put as the supplier. I had the impression that a new copy of the book was coming out soon. That was in the early eighties. I visited the Smithtown historical society in 2007 expecting to find a new edition. There was none and the historical society was a little disappointing. It was a Monday after all so maybe Tuesday was a busier day.
I first became interested in genelogy after root's, Alex Haley's book about his family history. I don't know how, but it was most likely through my mother that I found out Aunt Emilie knew alot about the family history. And there was someone, at least one other person before her who delved into the family tree. There are papers, very brittle that spell out in a fancy handwriting from some time in the late 1800's members of the Hardens, the Darrows and the Westervelts. That was later typed up on some grey paper added to by Aunt Emilie and finally after her death acquired by me. I have expanded on the family history of the Smith's of Smithtown. The original history I had was the branch of the family named Smith were related to Richard 'Bull' Smith. Aunt Emilie didn't have the person by person relationships but she had a few stories about Smiths.
The first one about her father, Walter Charles Smith going to North Dakota to try and farm in the badlands. He gave up after about two years of rough going. Wally, her son, has a story about the badlands attached to him in the genealogy.
The next story was about her grandfather, Charles Walter Smith, how he served during the Civil War.
She showed me his mess kit and I think his hat or his powder horn, I'm not sure. After Aunt Emilie's death they were lost.
The final story about the Smith's, for now is about Richard Madison Smith. He was the youngest of about fifteen children and when he grew to be a man he became a patient medicine salesman. I have a 1970's photo copy of the ingredients.It's a poor copy, the original like so many other items were misplaced after Aunt Emilie's death. The medicine contained mostly mead wine.
Armed with all of this information I wrote a few letters to the Smithtown historical society and to my amazement the wrote me back saying that most of the information that I had sent them they did not have on file. They also said the name Muller did not appear anywhere in the book. I wrote back to them several times and they finally connected up Richard Madison Smith and sent me photo copies of his genealogy all the way back to Bull Smith. I found out they had a book called ten generations of Richard Smith for twenty-five dollars, which I purchased. They also said that a foot note would be placed in the book that I provided the information. I asked that Emilie Smith be put as the supplier. I had the impression that a new copy of the book was coming out soon. That was in the early eighties. I visited the Smithtown historical society in 2007 expecting to find a new edition. There was none and the historical society was a little disappointing. It was a Monday after all so maybe Tuesday was a busier day.
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