Giles Co., VA Revolutionary War Monument

Isaac Smith and wife, Miss Simms, settled in Montgomery Co., VA after the Revolutionary War.  That tract of land is part of present day Giles County, which was formed in 1806.  I am currently searching for the land records.  Nearby lived John Peters and his wife.  Isaac Smith's wife and John Peter's wife were sisters.

There is a monument that lists Revolutionary War soldiers from Giles County on the grounds of the county courthouse.  The photographs below were provided by Bubbie Fraley and Mark Skidmore.  Both Isaac Smith and John Peters are listed.

Did Isaac Smith Have Two Wives?

Isaac Smith has been one of the most elusive characters that I have encountered in my research.  He had a father named Isaac Smith, Sr. (wife Margaret Rucker) and a son named Isaac Smith, Jr. (wife Susannah Smith).  Untangling this conglomeration of Isaacs and proving who is who has been extremely difficult.

It is the middle Isaac that this posting concerns.

We know that Isaac's wife was a Simms, daughter of William Simms.  (We are not certain of her first name)  William Simms mentions his grandson, Isaac Smith, in his Culpeper Co. VA will in 1777.  Johnstone's book states that Isaac and wife Simms settled in the Montgomery/Giles Co area.  This was on land next to John Peters and his wife (also a daughter of William Simms) 

 

William Smith (son of this Isaac, and brother of the Isaac mentioned in the Simms will) married Elizabeth Dingess and settled in what is today Mercer Co., West Virginia.  He died on February 8, 1858.  The Mercer Co. death register shows him to be the son of Isaac and Elizabeth Smith.  You can see a copy of the register here: http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_view.aspx?Id=5231250&Type=Death

 

William and his wife had no known children.  His nephew, Benjamin S. Smith, was the informant.  If you look down that same page a little further, you will see that Benjamin S. Smith, the nephew, died not too long afterward.

 

Benjamin Smith (son of Isaac) also settled in the Mercer County, WV area.  He died on November 10, 1855.  The Mercer County death register shows him to be the son of Isaac and Hannah Smith.  You can see a copy of the death register here: http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_view.aspx?Id=5231761&Type=Death

 

Question:  Did Isaac Smith have TWO wives?  We have no marriage records.  We know that the oldest son, Isaac, and presumably several other children, were from Miss Simms.  Elizabeth maybe???

 

If there are two wives, then the younger children are by this second wife, Hannah ________.  The younger children would include both Benjamin and Henrietta (Haney).

 

Of course, it is possible that the death register for William Smith is incorrect.

 

There are still too many unanswered questions to know for certain.  Hopefully, the answer is waiting to be discovered, and not lost in the sands of time.

Trout Family of Johnson County, Indiana

Rebecca Garrett was the daughter of Sarah Bloss (Sallie) and Benjamin Garrett, Jr.  She was born in Cabell County, (West) Virginia on November 27, 1817.

Rebecca married Abraham Trout on May 8, 1834 in Cabell County.  Abraham was born on February 24, 1812.  He was the son of Abraham Trout and Mary Law.  Rebecca and Abraham had nine known children.  The family moved to Johnson County, Indiana about 1848.

I travelled to Johnson County recently to get some further information on this family group.  In the county courthouse, I found the following marriage records:

• William P. Trout married Elizabeth Kemper on Mar. 30, 1859
• Benjamin Trout married Deliah Calvin on Sept. 5, 1866
• Frank Trout married Sally Holt on July 27, 1877
• Frank Trout married Louisa C. Smith on Nov. 29, 1878
• Warren C. Trout married Louise M Comingore (McConningore?) on Feb. 24, 1887

I also visited the Hurricane Cemetery in Hurricane, Indiana and got the following information from the tombstones there:

• Abraham Trout   Feb. 24, 1812 - Dec. 18, 1891
• Rebecca wife of Abraham Trout   Nov. 27, 1817 - Dec. 26, 1891
• Benjamin C. Trout born Jan. 9, 1842 died March 8, 1881
• Delilah Trout born Jan. 3, 1843 died Aug. 1, 1906
• William P. Trout died June 24, 1864 aged 26y 2m 4d

In the Johnson County Library, I found a book titled History of Johnson County, Indiana published in Chicago by Brant & Fuller in 1888.  The following biography for Mrs. Delilah Trout appears:

Mrs. Delilah Trout, of Pleasant Township, was born in Clark Township, January 3, 1844, and was the daughter of Jackson and Sarah (Parr) Williams, both of whom were natives of Tennessee.  She grew to womanhood in her native township, and was married there January 26, 1859, to John G. Calvin.  He was born in this county, January 9, 1833.  They began housekeeping in Clark Township.  Mr. Calvin served in the Union Army one year.  About 1863, he and wife removed to Morgan County, but Mr. Calvin's health was very poor, and while visiting with relatives in Clark Township in 1864, he died on the 26th day of April.  He left one child: San Francisco, born December 14, 1860.  In 1866, on the 6th day of September, Mrs. Calvin was married to Benjamin G. Trout.  He was born in this county, January 6, 1842, and was the son of Abram and Rebecca (Garrett) Trout who were natives of Virginia.  After this marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Trout settled on a farm in Franklin Township.  In 1872, they removed to Pleasant Township where Mr. Trout pursued farming until March 8, 1881, when he died.  Her last marriage resulted in the birth of three children: Warren W., born October 20, 1867; Harry, January 31, 1869, and Jackson, August 5, 1872, all of whom are living.  Mrs. Trout is a member of the Methodist Protestant Church.  She owns eighty arces of good land, which is well improved, and most of which is in cultivation.  She is very highly esteemed and respected by all who know her.  Mr. Trout served in the Union Army three years.

Darryl's Observations:  There were a few discrepancies that I found in the records.  The Bloss family history lists Abraham Trout's date of birth as February 12, 1812 but the tombstone shows February 24th.  The courthouse shows a marriage date for Benjamin and Delilah as Sept. 5, 1866 while the biographical sketch shows Sept. 6th.

Grandpa's Footsteps

Genealogy is one of my passions.  I have been actively researching my family's history for more than thirty years.  I published a book called The Descendants of Richard Smith of Northumberland County, Virginia in 1996.  The book was printed and sold by me - only a few hundred copies were sold and the book is currently out of print.  However, I have been working on an updated version for some time now.  The original text was 400 pages.  The text, as it currently exists in my computer is well over 1000 pages. 

I would say that it is near completion but a genealologists' work is never done!  There is always one more name to track down, one more date to double-check, one more record to uncover.

This blog was created to disseminate the raw data of my research as I find it.  It is my hope that other family researchers will benefit from this.  I hope to present my information as I find it.  I will also be discussing items that have confounded family researchers over the years.  I will be answering and discussing questions by other researchers.  This is all in an attempt to publish the most correct and thorough work possible.  This site will deal primarily (but not exclusively) with the Smith family and their many, many branches.