Christopher Smith (abt. 1591 - 1676)

Born about 1591 in England

Husband of Alice (Gibbes) Smith — married 1 May 1616 in Stratford-On-Avon, Warwickshire, England

Descendants

Died Jun 1676 at about age 85 in Newport, Newport, Rhode Island

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Biography

Christopher Smith was born in England.

Christopher was a Friend (Quaker)

Christopher Smith is a qualifying ancestor of the National Society, Descendants of Early Quakers.

Christopher Smith migrated from England to New England.

From "List of One Hundred and Fifteen Colonial Ancestors." Eighth in descent from Christopher Smith (...-1676). Deputy to the General Court of Massachusetts, 1655. Chosen sergeant at Providence, Rhode Island, 1655.^[1]

Need to get this book: CS71.S643 2003 Ancestry & descendants of Judge Rufus Biggs Smith 1854-1923: a descendant of Immigrant Christopher Smith of Providence, RI by Harrison Black

New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial By William Richard Cutter Vol. 1 p 474

Christopher Smith, a member of the Society of Friends in Providence, who died in June 1676, in Newport, having removed to that town for safety during the Indian wars, with many others in the outlying districts of Providence. He was taxed 3 shillings and 4 pence in Providence, September 2, 1650, was a freeman, April 27, 1655, and juryman in the same year. He was granted a share of the meadows, March 16, 1656, to be laid out in the meadows called "World's End, "in lieu of a share formerly laid out to him beyond the great meadow. He took up sixty acres of land and a share in the meadows, July 7. 1658, and in a division of lands, February 19, 1665, he drew lot No. 25. He subscribed to the oath of allegiance, June I, 1667. He sold twenty acres of land, August 21, 1660, and another parcel, November 28, 1672. His wife Alice survived him by about five years, dying in 1681. Children: Susanna, died 1692; Thomas, mentioned below; Benjamin, born 1631, died December 23, 1713.

"A History of the Episcopal Church in Narragansett, Rhode Island" By Wilkins Updike, James MacSparran, 2nd edition, 1907 "Christopher Smith." Vol I p. 579

"The date of Christopher Smith's birth is not known. He first appeared upon the records in Providence, September 2, 1650, when he was taxed 3s.4d. He was granted or took up several tracts of land, and married a wife named Alice, having by her four children, of whom Susannah, who became Mrs. Lawrence Wilkinson, was the eldest. At the time of the breaking out of King Philip's War, Mr. Smith took refuge in Newport, dying there soon afterward, in June 1676. He is called, inthe Friends' records of that town, "an ancient Friend of Providence." "

CHRISTOPHER, Providence, in the list of freem. there 1655, had d. Susanna wh. m. Lawrence Wilkinson; engag. for alleg. to Charles II. June 1668. In 1672, his w. was Alice; but what was her fam. name, or whether she was first, sec. or later w. is unkn.^[2]

"Christopher Smith, immigrant ancestor, and progenitor was a native of England, whence he came to the American colonies at a date unknown. He is first of record in Providence on September 2, 1650, when he was taxed three shillings, fourpence. In 1655 he was admitted a freeman, and on April 27 of the same year served as a juryman. On March 16, 1656, he was granted a share of meadow to be laid out beyond the meadow called World's End, in lieu of a share formerly laid out to him beyond Great Meadow and Pawtuxet Path. On July 27, 1658, he took up sixty acres and a share of the meadow. On February 19, 1665, he drew Lot 65 in a division of lands. On June 1, 1667, he subscribed to the oath of allegiance. On August 21, 1668, he and his wife, Alice, sold Asten Thomas twenty acres. On November 28, 1672, he and his wife sold to Shadrach Manton a parcel of lowland. Christopher Smith went to Newport at the outbreak of King Philip's War, and died there in June 1676, as declared by the records of the Society of Friends, which call him an ancient Friend of Providence. The surname of his wife, Alice, is not known."^[3][4]

From the Ancestry of Emily Jane Angell^[5][6] the earliest mention of Christopher in the Providence records was 3rd 9th month 1649 when he was one of six who might, by lot, receive Mris Lea’s lot. ^[7]

Christopher was a juror in 1652, 1655 and 1656.^[8] He volunteered “to ye good example of all younger Persons” to help the constable return a prisoner to the constable at Secunck

Christopher swore his allegiance to King Charles II, 30 May 1667^[9] and was on a list of freeman 4 May 1669^[10] although he had, evidently, been a freeman a long time before that.

There are many land transactions in his name in the Providence records. He received grants, bought, sold and traded property. He signed his name to many of the deeds. Both he and Alice, his wife, made a mark.^[11]

There were 19 men on a June 1652 rate list. Christopher and 4 others paid the second to top rate of L1. 10.00. Most of the list paid 4s.0d.^[12] June 1671, he paid a rate of 5s, his son Edward paid 10s.^[13]

In 1676, Christopher and Alice’s house was burned down by Indians.^[14] He is believed to have evacuated to Newport prior to the attack. He died there within a few months

Death

"SMITH Christopher, an "ancient Friend," Providence, died at Newport, June -, 1676."^[15][16]

Note: "ancient Friend" in Quaker terms is used to describe the first generation of Friends. Glossary of Quaker Terms and Phrases

Burial

Gravesite is unknown but said to be in Newport, Rhode Island. ^[17]

Officials from the Newport Historical Society state:

"Smith's burial is only known through the Friends records..." and ..."there is no physical evidence of it that I've been able to find."

"If Smith was buried in Newport, the two Friends burying grounds that he could have been interred in are Clifton/Golden Hill and Friends. He could also have been buried in the Common Ground or perhaps in the family burying ground of a friend. If he was a Quaker his grave was probably either unmarked or marked with a simple fieldstone."

and

"There is no day of the month in the Quaker records. His burial place is not known and there were no local stone cutters in Newport at that time."

Religion and church excommunication

He may have been a Seeker^[18], but he later became a Quaker and relocated to the religious freedom offered in Providence, Rhode Island. In August 1625, he was accused of adultery and removed from his church position in Stratford Upon Avon. My assumption is that the church wanted this free-thinker out of their church. This email from Bob Bearman in Stratford Upon Avon is the only documentation I have on this episode (Cooper-1 14:10, 10 June 2017 (EDT)):

At this hall the company, upon taking into consideration that Christopher Smith hath much wronged this company & disgraced them, not only by his heinous offense in committing adultery but also in that he hath refused to be censured by the judge of our peculiar jurisdiction, appealing to the court of Worcester thereby weakening our liberties of this borough, as we conceive it, contrary to his duty, wherefore they have removed him from the place of a principle burgess and service in this place and for that he standeth excommunicate and will not submit himself to the law. Council Book B, 7 September 1625.

From that email, "The ‘peculiar jurisdiction’ is a reference to the Stratford-upon-Avon church court, whose authority Smith refused to recognize. Instead, he appealed to the bishop’s court at Worcester (Stratford was in the Worcester diocese). He had been chosen a capital burgess on 18 April 1623. Earlier he had been aletaster (1617) and then one of the constables (1618-19). He was also churchwarden, from 1623 to 1625."

DNA

Immigrant Ancestor of yDNA group NE18 father Christopher Smith (c1591 ENG-1676 Newport, Rhode Island) m Alice Gibbes on SmithConnections Northeastern DNA Project.^[19]

Research Notes

Vol I Page 286 and 744 of Representative men and old families of Rhode Island does not list Alice as a child of this couple.

Sources

1. ↑ Cadle, Harriet Swan. List of one hundred and fifteen colonial ancestors of Cornelius Cadle : Muscatine, Iowa, member Missouri Society of Colonial Wars Muscatine, Ia. Mrs. Charles Francis Cadle, c 1909.
2. ↑ Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May 1692. Vol. I-IV. Boston, MA, USA: 1860-1862. Vol. IV p. 111
3. ↑ History of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations: Biographical. NY: The American Historical Society, Inc. 1920 transcript at Rhode Island USGenWeb Project.
4. ↑ Bicknell, Thomas Williams. The history of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Biographical Vol IV. p. 413 New York, The American Historical Society, 1920
5. ↑ Smith, Dean Crawford, author, compiler. The ancestry of Emily Jane Angell, 1844-1910 1992, Boston, Massachusetts : New England Historic Genealogical Society. Smith Pgs 466-479.
6. ↑ Providence (R.I.). Record Commissioners, The Early Records of the Town of Providence, v. I-XXI; 1892, Providence : Snow & Farnham, city printers.
7. ↑ Source: ERTP II:42
8. ↑ Source: ERTP1652 p.63; 1655 p. 80/1; p. 94 1656
9. ↑ Source: ERTP III:102
10. ↑ Source: ERTP XV:73
11. ↑ Source: ERTP I:55-6, II:99, III:14, III:123, III:128, II: 18, III:72, III:245, IV:46-7, IV:65, XX:265-7, V:326-8, IV:15-6 IV:12, II:102,
12. ↑ Source: ERTP XV:63
13. ↑ Source: ERTP XV:135
14. ↑ Smith and Sanborn cite Correspondence of Roger Williams 2:721
15. ↑ (Town Page Detail: Monthly Meeting 1676 Providence, Rhode Island, United States)
16. ↑ Arnold, James N.. Vital record of Rhode Island, 1636-1850, first series, births, marriages and deaths : a family register for the people. Vol VII. "Friends and Ministers." Providence, R.I.: Narraganset Historical Publishing Co., 1891-1912. p. 121 Accessible at Ancestry.com ($) OR [Page 121.
17. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=50836614 Findagrave# 50836614
18. ↑ Seekers on Wikipedia The Seekers, or Legatine-Arians as they were sometimes known, were an English Protestant dissenting group that emerged around the 1620s, probably inspired by the preaching of three brothers – Walter, Thomas, and Bartholomew Legate. Seekers considered all organised churches of their day corrupt and preferred to wait for God's revelation. Many of them subsequently joined the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
19. ↑ SmithConnections Northeastern DNA Project, haplogroup Rb1 NE18 Christopher Smith.

• William Shakespeare and the Christopher Smith Family by Kathleen Kitty Smith and Christopher Child, American Ancestors Magazine, Vol 17 Iss. 1, pages 50-53. Published by the New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 2016.
• The Register of Stratford on Avon page 28 marriage record. Christopher and Alis married on May 1, 1616. This was in the same church where just a few days earlier William Shakespeare was buried in the chancel (of the Holy Trinity Church) two days after his death on 23 April 1616.
• The following links are to yDNA group NE18 on SmithConnections Northeastern DNA Project: R1b-NE18 Rhode Island Christopher Smith (See the WikiTree.com breakthrough discovery of 4/29/2015 on page 2). These matching yDNA tests are supported by "The Register of Stratford On Avon" entry above.
• The visitation of the county of Warwick in the year 1619 Page 185. I wonder if any of the Smith men mentioned here were Christopher's father.
• Colket, Jr., Meredith B. 1912-. Founders of Early American Families: Emigrants From Europe, 1607-1657, Revised Edition. Cleveland: General Court of the Order of Founders and Patriots of America: distributed by Founders Project, 1985. Text located at the New England Historical and Genealogical Society library. Search results for "Christopher Smith"
• The ancestry and descendants of Judge Rufus Biggs Smith, 1854-1923 by Harrison Black, 2003. Page 2.
• Kindred Konnections
• American Ancestry by Thomas Patrick Hughes, Frank Munsell; Page: Vol 5 p 3
• Representative men and old families of Rhode Island: genealogical records by J. H. Beers & Co. Publishing, 1908. Vol I Page 286 and 744
• Torrey's New England Marriages to 1700 Vol II page 1388
• Rhode Island: Vital Records, 1636-1850. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014), Originally Published as Vital record of Rhode Island 1636-1850: First Series: births, marriages, and deaths: a family register for the people, by James N. Arnold. Providence, RI: Narragansett Historical Publishing Company. V7, p. 121. [See Also: Rhode Island Monthly Meeting- Deaths. (Book # 822 p. 4)]
• Some ancestral lines: being a record of some of the ancestors of Guilford Solon Tingley, page 340

Note

There are several Smiths that were members of the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-Upon-Avon in the late 1500s. It is strictly a guess, but I wonder if William Smith that married Elizabeth Comton alis Symys on May 15, 1585 might be Christopher's parents. This guess is only based on the timing of his birth c1591 and that Christopher named his firstborn William. More research needed. The registers of Stratford-on Avon, in the county of Warwick, page 12

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Jan Fillingim, Dale Burdick, Linda James and Kitty Smith for contributing to this profile.