Searching for John Smith

One of my brick wall ancestors has been my paternal 4th great grandfather, John Smith. That’s right, John Smith, one of the most common names ever. Searching for him is like searching for a needle in a haystack

Literally everything I knew about John Smith was gleaned from the 1880 Census, his children’s death or marriage records, and his wife’s obituary. This is what I knew:

• He was born about 1840 in New York.
• He married Nancy Ellis sometime between 1863 (when she arrived in Bannack, MT) and 1867 (when their first child was born, also in Bannack).
• In 1880, he was married, living in Oregon with his wife, Nancy, and 4 children: Walter, Emma, Charles, and George. He worked as a farm laborer.
• He died before 1900, when his wife is listed as a widow on the 1900 census (darn that missing 1890 census).

My first thought was to find the family in the 1870 census, not that it would necessarily add new information, but you never know. And I figured, start with what I know and work backward. Easier said than done, as I have yet to find the family anywhere in 1870. Can’t find them in Oregon, Washington or Montana. I even went page by page through the census for the whole county of Beaverhead (where they were living in 1867 when child #1 was born). I also thought searching for a Nancy Smith or Walter Smith would lead me to them, since those names aren’t quite as common as John Smith. Nope.

And searching for him in 1860 was futile, as I wasn’t sure when he’d arrived in Montana, and by which route he would have arrived (there’s a lot of land between New York and Montana). I also didn’t know which area of New York to look for him in, so that was out.

Lastly, I tried to search for an obituary for him, hoping to find when and where he died. Nothing.

And so I ignored John Smith. Set him to the side and figured he’d remain a mystery. Every now and then I’d go back and look through his known information and hit the brick wall again. And then, I looked a little closer. I noticed in the 1880 census, living with the family was John’s younger brother, Luke Smith, born in Wisconsin. Huh. Thankfully his name wasn’t William. My John was born in New York in 1840, and Luke in Wisconsin in 1843, which means the family would have moved in those intervening years.

This led to me looking for a Smith family in Wisconsin with sons named John and Luke in 1850, 1860 and 1870. And I found one in Waukesha County.

1850	1860	1870
Amos, 35, NY	Amos, 45, NY	Amos, 54, OH
Mary, 34, NY	Mary, 44, NY	Mary, 52, NY
Albion, 12, NY
John, 11, NY
Luke, 8, NY		Luke, 27, WI
Henry, 5, WI	William, 15, WI
Mary, 3, WI	Mary, 13, WI	Mary, 24, WI
Charles, 1, WI	Charles, 10, WI

The ages and the birth locations (mostly) fit. Not wanting to get too excited, I built another tree and started following these people forward, trying to prove or disprove them as mine. Unfortunatly, I didn’t find any record of John after that 1850 census, and nothing of Luke after that 1870 census (besides the 1880 census I already had). While I found some fascinating information about the rest of the family members (Albion was a railroad engineer and had a large write-up in papers across the US; Charles died in a horrible shooting accident at the age of 12, described in a very colorful article; Amos drowned while ice fishing), I still wasn’t quite sure they were mine. After all, I didn’t have any information connecting them to John Smith of Montana or Oregon.

I’ve written before about how I don’t often have occasion to research within my own state. So I don’t really know the ins and outs of what is available. But Google does. I found a nice website with genealogy info for 4 counties in Wisconson, including Waukesha. Even better, it is easily searchable. So I punched in Amos Smith, held my breath, hit enter, and was happily rewarded.

AMOS SMITH (deceased), was a native of Oswego County, N.Y. He was married in Livingston County to Mary Frazier, a native of that place; they came to Waukesha County, Wis., in about 1846, and in 1849 he went to California, remaining their two years; he afterward went to Pike’s Peak. On his return from the latter place, he engaged in manufacturing and was a most energetic and enterprising citizen, taking an active part in the progress and development of the interests of Waukesha County. He was accidentally drown in Pewaukee Lake; his death was heard with sadness; he was an open-hearted, generous man; he loved his friends and loved to show, in some natural way, his regard for them. His wife is now living in Pewaukee, a most estimable woman. Their children are John and Luke, in Oregon, Henry in St. Paul, Minn., and Mary J., wife of J. Fields.

From “History of Waukesha County” by Western Historical Company, Chicago 1880

And there was my connection. His death and this biography in 1880 coincided with the known residence of both John and Luke in Oregon in 1880. I still have not found out what John did between 1850 and 1863 and I still don’t know when or where he died.  But for now, I am happy with this additional generation added to my tree.

• I don’t know why Albion wasn’t mentioned in the biography. He lived until 1909 and was residing in the same county in 1880. Maybe they only mentioned the kids living out of town?