Channing Smith (1797 - 1878)

Born 12 Nov 1797 in Canterbury, Windham County, Connecticut, United States [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Eliza (Beebe) Smith — married 16 Mar 1823 in Pawtucket, Providence, Rhode Island, United States

Descendants

Died 29 Oct 1878 at age 80 in Blackstone, Worcester County, Massachusetts

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Ellen Smith [send private message]

Biography

Channing Smith was born on 12 November 1797 in Canterbury, Connecticut^[1] or Killingly, Connecticut.^[2] The Vital Records of Mendon, Massachusetts, list the birth of Channing Smith on Nov. 12, 1797; no parents are listed.^[3] Ellery Bicknell Crane identified him as the son of Joel Smith and Celinda Darling of Canterbury, including the detail that one of his mother's children with her second husband was the mother of Louise Chandler Moulton.^[4]

His father died when he was young, and he was brought up by an uncle by marriage, John Barstow. At age 14 he was bound out as an apprentice to learn the woolen-dying trade. At age 21, his apprenticeship ended and he went to "Pawtuxket, Rhode Island," (presumably this is Pawtuxet, a village in the towns of Warwick and Cranston that was a large textile manufacturing center in the 19th century) to work in his trade.^[4] The 1850 U.S. Census recorded 54-year-old Channing Smith, born in Connecticut, occupation "Bos Dyer," living in Blackstone, Massachusetts, with his wife Eliza, 47, and ten children.^[5]

He married Eliza Beebe, whom he had met in Pawtuxet, on 16 March 1823. According to Crane, they moved to Uxbridge, Massachusetts, in 1826 and lived there for four years, after which they removed to Blackstone, Massachusetts, where Channing had a job with W & D.D. Farnum.^[4] The move to Blackstone was later than Crane indicates, as the 1840 U.S. Census recorded Chaning Smith in Mendon, Massachusetts,^[6] and several children were recorded as born in Mendon.

Crane says that Channing Smith worked for the Farnum firm until 1865, when he retired to manage the farm he had acquired some years earlier.^[4] The 1865 Massachusetts State Census recorded 66-year-old Channing Smith as a Dyer and Farmer, born in Rhode Island, living in Blackstone, Massachusetts, with 59-year-old wife Eliza Smith, two children, and two apparently unrelated people.^[7] The 1870 U.S. Census describes 73-year-old Channing Smith of Blackstone as a farmer with $8000 real estate and $2000 personal estate; his household included three men described as farm laborers.^[8]

Channing Smith and his wife joined the Free Will Baptist church in Blackstone in 1840. Channing was expelled from the church in 1844 because he had joined the Odd Fellows, which was considered a secret society. He appealed his expulsion. After a long trial by a church council presided over by Rev. Alexander McKenzie, he was reinstated as a church member in full communion.^[4]

Channing Smith was an abolitionist whose home was known as a station of the "Underground Railroad" for fugitive slaves. In "the hard year of 1857" he provided food to many neighbors in need. In politics he was a Freesoiler until the formation of the Republican party, of which he became an ardent adherent.^[4] He was a supporter of Charles Sumner,^[4] the U.S. Senator from Massachusetts who was a leader of the Radical Republicans in the Senate during the Civil War and Reconstruction.

In 1858, Channing Smith was elected an Overseer of the Poor in Blackstone, Massachusetts, but chose not to serve. He did accept the office in 1863, 1864, and 1865. In 1862 he was chosen as Blackstone's Representative to the General Court.^[9]

Children

Children of Channing and Eliza Smith named in vital records include:

1. William Channing Smith, son of Channing and Eliza, born in Cranston, Rhode Island. on 7 February 1824, birth recorded in Mendon, Massachusetts.^[10]
2. George Nelson Smith, son of Channing and Eliza, born in Mendon, Massachusetts (apparently), on 28 December 1825.^[11]
3. Olive Cleveland Smith, daughter of Channing and Eliza, born in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, on 16 October 1828, birth recorded in Mendon, Massachusetts.^[12]
4. James Arnold Smith, son of Channing and Eliza, born in Mendon, 29 December 1830.^[11]
5. John Adams Smith, son of Channing and Eliza, born in Mendon, 29 January 1833.^[11]
6. Marrion Emily Smith, daughter of Channing and Eliza, born in Mendon, Massachusetts, on 30 March 1835.^[13]
7. Frederick Ballou Smith, son of Channing and Eliza, born in Mendon, 14 July 1837.^[11]
8. Eliza Grace Smith, daughter of Channing and Eliza, born in Mendon, Massachusetts, on 29 September 1839.^[11]
9. Hiram Allen Smith, son of Channing and Elizabeth, born in Blackstone, Massachusetts, on 25 November 1846; twin to Henry. The birth record calls his father a Boss Dyer.^[14]
10. Henry Alonzo Smith, son of Channing and Elizabeth, born in Blackstone, Massachusetts, on 25 November 1846; twin to Hiram.^[14]
11. Frank C. Smith, son of Channing and Eliza Smith, born in Waterford, Blackstone, Massachusetts on 3 July 1851.^[15]

Ten children, all born in Massachusetts, were listed with Channing and Eliza Smith in the 1850 U.S. Census:^[5]

1. John Smith, 17, occupation Dyer
2. Olive Smith, 21
3. James Smith, 19, occupation Bos Dyer
4. Marion E Smith, 15
5. Frederick B. Smith, 12
6. Albert Smith, 5
7. Hiram A. Smith, 3
8. Henry A. Smith, 3
9. Juliet E. Smith, 3
10. Lucius C. Smith, 1

The last two of these children were grandchildren of Channing and Eliza. In 1850 the household also included Julia A. Smith,30, born in Rhode Island, and Owen Carroll, 27, a laborer, born in Ireland. The child Lucius C. Smith is Lucius Channing Smith, the child of William C. Smith and Julia Ann Smith who was born in Blackstone on 28 December 1848;^[16] Julia A. Smith was his mother. Three-year-old Juliet Smith also was her child.

Children recorded in the household of Channing and Eliza Smith in the 1865 Massachusetts State Census were:^[7]

• Hiram A. Smith, 18, occupation Dyer
• Frank C. Smith, 13.

Children identified in the above records but not named in the probate record are William, John, and Eliza. Eliza must have died before 1850, as she is not listed in the 1850 census. The will named Mrs. John S. Needham, which is daughter Marion; the order of names in the will suggests that she was born before Olive, but this is Marion.

The 1870 census recorded three children and a grandchild (relationships inferred, not indicated in the record) in the home of 73-year-old Channing Smith and 65-year-old Eliza Smith:^[8]

• Hiram Smith, 24, occupation Wool Dyer, born in Massachusetts
• Frank Smith, 18, occupation Wool Dyer, born in Massachusetts
• Olive C. Taft, 41, occupation House Work, born in Massachusetts,
• Celindo G. Taft (female), 8, born in Rhode Island

Death, Burial, and Probate

Channing Smith died on 29 October 1878 in Blackstone, Massachusetts, at the reported age of 81.^{[1][17] [2][18]}

Petition for administration of the estate of Channing Smith was filed on 3 September 1878 in Worcester County (Massachusetts) probate court. The petition stated that Channing Smith of Blackstone, Worcester County, had died on 29 August. He did not leave a widow. Next of kin were children of the deceased Geo. N. Smith of Millbury, Mass.; Mrs. John S. Needham of Lawrence, Mass.; Olive H. Taft of Blackstone, Mass.; James A. Smith of Leicester, Mass.; Fred B. Smith of Sutton, Mass.; Albert E. Smith of Leicester, Mass.; Herman A. Smith of Worcester, Mass.; Henry Smith of Blackstone, Mass.; Frank C. Smith of Worcester, Mass.; and a grandchild of the deceased, Juliette Darling of Wonesuchett(?). Petitioners were James A. Smith, Albert E. Smith, and Frank C. Smith, by attorney, F. T. Blackmer. ^[19]

His memorial in Blackstone Cemetery is inscribed: ^[20]

Channing Smith

Born

Nov. 12, 1797

Died

Aug. 29, 1878

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1910. Deaths Recorded in the Town of Blackstone, 1878: Oct. 29th. Channing Smith. Age 81. Cause: Old Age. Residence: Blackstone. Occupation: Farmer. Place of Birth: Cantebury. Parents (not named) born in Canterbury, CT.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Grand Lodge of Massachusetts Membership Cards, 1733-1990. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010. (From records held by the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Massachusetts.) Channing Smith, page 7522 of 8551. Reports death date as August 29, 1878.
3. ↑ Vital Records of Mendon, Massachusetts, page 157.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6} Crane, Ellery Bicknell. Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Vol. IV, Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, 1907. Page 407.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} United States 1850 Census. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (Original index: United States Census, 1850. FamilySearch, 2014.) NARA Roll 345 (Mass. V. 43), page 436 of 550. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB1665/i/39378/436/1019665502
6. ↑ "United States Census, 1840," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYB3-C7F?cc=1786457&wc=31S2-MVR%3A1588666472%2C1588666632%2C1588669002 : 24 August 2015), Massachusetts > Worcester > Mendon > image 31 of 46; citing NARA microfilm publication M704, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Massachusetts: 1865 State Census. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org Vol. 37: Worcester: Ashburnham-Dudley, Page 134. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB535/i/14448/134/263341981
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-69Y9-JK7?cc=1438024&wc=92K3-CX4%3A518657101%2C519404101%2C519691701 : 12 June 2019), Massachusetts > Worcester > Blackstone > image 46 of 136; citing NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
9. ↑ Hurd, pages 619, 621, and 622.
10. ↑ Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016). https://www.americanancestors.org/DB190/i/7749/158/141635147 Mendon, Vol. 1, page 158].
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4} Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016). https://www.americanancestors.org/DB190/i/7749/157/22276032 Mendon, Vol. 1, page 157].
12. ↑ Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016). https://www.americanancestors.org/DB190/i/7749/158/141635147 Mendon, Vol. 1, page 158].
13. ↑ Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016). https://www.americanancestors.org/DB190/i/7749/158/141635147 Mendon, Vol. 1, page 158].
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1} "Massachusetts Births, 1841-1915," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6S8W-F97?cc=1536925&wc=M61J-2WP%3A73561201 : 1 March 2016), 004150577 > image 211 of 553; Massachusetts Archives, Boston.
15. ↑ "Massachusetts Births, 1841-1915," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6PM9-TDK?cc=1536925&wc=M61J-2P8%3A73567101 : 1 March 2016), 004285085 > image 1086 of 1133; Massachusetts Archives, Boston.
16. ↑ Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1841-1910. (From original records held by the Massachusetts Archives. Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2004.) Blackstone, Vol. 36, page 294.
17. ↑ Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records. Provo, UT: Holbrook Research Institute (Jay and Delene Holbrook). Blackstone, Massachusetts, death register for 1878, accessed at Ancestry.com. This is a different and less-legible version of the Blackstone death register. It does not include Channing Smith's date of birth, but otherwise agrees with the version accessed at AmericanAncestors.org.
18. ↑ Hurd, p. 627. Reports death date as August 29, 1878.
19. ↑ Worcester County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1731-1881. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.) Record 54056, Channing Smith, Blackstone, 1878 (19 images).
20. ↑ Find A Grave, database and images (accessed 20 February 2019), memorial page for Channing Smith (12 Nov 1797–29 Aug 1878), Find A Grave: Memorial #66254755, citing Blackstone Cemetery, Blackstone, Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA ; Maintained by Dj Bonner (contributor 47269119) .

• Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed February 22, 2019), "Record of George Claghorn", Ancestor # A022030.
• Hurd, Duane Hamilton. History of Worcester County, Massachusetts. J.W. Lewis & Company, 1889.
• Kris T. Mason, Information about Channing Smith, Familytreemaker.genealogy.com webpage.