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.