Thomas Smith (1700 - 1765)

Born 1700 in Spotsylvania, Virginia

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1765 at about age 65 in Prince William, Virginia, USA.

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Chet Snow [send private message]

Biography

Born in Spotsylvania, Virginia, USA on 1700 to Augustine Smith and Susannah Darnell. Thomas married Ann Fowke Mason and had 3 children. He passed away on 1765 in Prince William, Virginia, USA.

Sources

• http://records.ancestry.com/thomas_smith_records.ashx?pid=18864830

More about Thomas Smith See Article entitled "Thomas Smith of Fairfax County, Virginia," by Henry G. Taliaferro, in Volume 40, Number 1 (January-March, 1996) of The Virginia Genealogist. Spotsylvania Co., VA DB B (1729-1734), dated 2 Nov 1731, is a conveyance of 400 acres in Spots. Co from Augustine Smith of Spots. Co., Gent., to his eldest son, Thomas Smith of Spots. Co., Gent, land "whereon said Thomas now dwells and for some time past has dwelt." Spotsylvania Co., VA DB B (1729-1734), dated 3 Jul 1733, is a conveyance of Lots 21 and 22 in Fredericksburg, from Thomas Smith of Spots. Co., Gent., to Thomas Hill of same co. Anne Smith wife of Thomas Smith acknowledged her dower, etc. Indenture dated 24 Dec 1750, recorded 1 Apr 1751 in DB C Pages 110-112, Fairfax Co., VA., conveys 598 acres from Thomas Smith and Anne Fowke Smith, his wife, of Truro Parish in Fairfax County, to daughters, Susannah Smith and Mary Smith, for natural love and affection, the parcel where Thomas and Anne then lived, in Fairfax Co., formerly Stafford County, to be divided equally between them. It also mentions in the property description "... William Darrell and his wife Ann, the daughter of Col George Mason." The land originated in a land grant to Thomas Standiford in 1703/4, referred to in "Beginning at a White Oak: Patents & Northern Neck Grants," (1977), by Beth Mitchell.

From the Diaries of George Washington at http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(wd0115))

Tuesday Feb. 19th, 1760 . "Went to Court, and Administered upon Nations Effects. Got Mr. Smiths Lease to me recorded and Mr. Johnston not having Darrel’s Deeds ready I was obliged to get the acknowledging of them postponed. Fine moderate day with a brisk Southerly Wind which brought up the Vessel with my Corn."

GW's first expansion of the Mount Vernon property occurred in Dec. 1757, when he bought two pieces of land on the plantation's northern boundary from Sampson Darrell (d. 1777) of Fairfax County: a tract of 200 acres on Dogue Run and an adjoining tract of 300 acres on Little Hunting Creek. The total price of these two tracts was?350, which GW paid with?260 in cash and a bond for?90 due in two years, and in return he received Darrell's bond guaranteeing him title to the land (LEDGER A, 49; bond of Darrell to GW, 20 Dec. 1757, ViMtV). But the official deeds were not immediately signed and recorded in court because the property was held under right of dower by Darrell's mother, Ann, for her lifetime; only after her death would it revert to Darrell as a surviving son. Thus, although GW owned Darrell's rights to the land, he could not obtain the deeds until Ann died or rented the land to him. GW did not have to await her death, because on 20 Sept. 1759 he signed a lease with her and her present husband, Thomas Smith (d. 1764) of Fairfax County, agreeing thereby to pay them 1,030 pounds of tobacco a year until Ann died (lease of Thomas and Ann Smith to GW, PHi: Gratz Collection; LEDGER A, 111). Having recorded the lease on this day, GW was eager to get and record Darrell's deeds, but he was obliged to wait for the May court session (deeds of Darrell to GW, 19--20 May 1760, Fairfax County Deeds, Book D-1, 681--92, Vi Microfilm).

Also, from page 165 of "Christopher Gist of Maryland and some of his Descendants, 1679-1957," by Jean Muir Dorsey and Maxwell Jay Dorsey (Urbana, Ill), 1958 (John S. Swift Company, Inc., Chicago, Ill): "On 18 Jun 1745, John Gist of Truro Parish, Fairfax Co., VA, planter, and Mary, his wife, leased from Sampson Darrell, Gent. [1712-1777] of the same parish, 106 acres of land for and during the space of their natural lives. The land was bounded by the kine of William Spencer and Doeg Run (Fairfax Co DB A, No. 1 Part 2, Page 404)... George Washington bought this land from Sampson Darrell on 12 Aug 1760. At this time, John Gist of Fairfax County for 30 pounds released any claim to the land to George Washington...(Fairfax Co DB D, No. 1 Part 2, Pages 757-759)...John Gist was living in Cameron Parish, Loudoun Co., VA., in 1762..." [end of Christopher Gist material].

Thomas' will in WB B Pages 374-375, Fairfax Co., VA., dated 15 Mar 1764, proven 17 Jul 1764, devises all land to son William, except for the land involved in the suit against Fielding Lewis, which land (in Spotsylvania Co., VA) is to be sold by William and the proceeds then given to son William, and Thomas' daughters, Susannah and Mary. It also devises 7 slaves, Lucy, Frank, Sally, young Nell, Lawrence, Charity and Robin to daughter Mary Smith. These slaves are later in the possession of Simon Hancock as shown in The 'Index to The Tithables of Loudoun County, Virginia and to Slaveholders and Slaves (1758-1786),' which lists the following slaves owned by Simon Hancock: Fan, Frank, Lawrence (Lall), Lucy, Robin (Bob), and Sarah (Sall). Frank, possibly Lall, Lucy, and Sall were still owned in said last tax year. Frank (a female) was sold to John Butcher by Deed from Simon and Mary in 1789, DB R P 237-238, Loudoun Co., VA., witnessed by Mary's brother, William Smith; and are likely the same people named in the Deed from Simon, dated 1806, DB 2 P 403, Henry Co., KY., which conveys slaves to his children. Said deed names 'negro slaves, Milly, Davy, Abraham, Grace, Lucy, Sall, Lett (illegible, also possibly Lell or Lall???), and Washington.

In Mason DB J P 43 dated 16 Apr 1806, William Hancock released his interest as to any possible claims he may have related to a suit brought by Thomas Smith, deceased, against Fielding Lewis. The document also refers to the land in Spotsylvania Co., VA which was to be divided among William, Susannah and Mary Smith; and also refers to "Mary Hancock who was Mary Smith," and to Deed of gift from Simon Hancock to Samuel Hancock, William Hancock, Elizabeth Samuel, and Susannah Hancock. [Note: (Col) Fielding Lewis was the husband of Betty Washington, George's sister: see http://www.kenmore.org/kenmore.html].