James Trabue Smith (1757 - 1800)

Born 17 Sep 1757 in Powhatan, Virginia

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Porter) Smith — married [date unknown] in VA

Descendants

Died 28 Jul 1800 at age 42 in Northwest of the Ohio River, Newton, Ohio

Biography

James is the son of Thomas and Magdalene (Trabue) Smith and the grandson of George and Ann (Bailey) Smith. He is a registered member of the "Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin in the Colony of Virginia"

The Rev. James Smith was a slave owner in Virginia until, one day, he decided to free the slaves, sell his property, and head for the Ohio territory with his wife and 9 children. He wrote a journal of his three journeys to the Northwest Territory of Ohio titled "Tours into Kentucky and the Northwest Territory." Theodore Roosevelt used these journals while collecting materials for his "The Winning of the West." He mentions them in footnotes, and also makes several references to these manuscripts.

During James' first journey into Kentucky, his half-brother George Rapin Smith traveled with him to Jessamine County where they visited their other half-brother, George Stoval Smith. (George Rapin Smith also kept a journal of his travels but it was burned in a fire at the home of his son, Gen. George R. Smith, founder of Sedalia, Missouri).

After seeing the Miami Valley in Ohio he decided to buy a tract there and obtained 2000 acres of untouched forest near the mouth of Caesar's Creek. He brought his wife Elizabeth, the daughter of John and Sarah (Watkins) Porter, and their 9 children to Ohio but, shortly after arriving, he caught fever and died. Elizabeth finished the journey to their farm near the mouth of Caesar's Creek, Warren County, Ohio where she died in 1821.

The children of James and Elizabeth are:

• Sarah, b. 1781; m. Ichabod Halsey
• Thomas, b. 1783; m. Mary Whitehill; d. 1843
• Elizabeth, m. Burwell Goode in 1807 (their son, James S. Goode became Mayor of Springfield); d. 1863
• John W. , b. 1785; m. Sarah, dau. of John and Elizabeth (Browning) Evans of New Jersey.
• Magdalene, b. 1789; m. Robert Sale in 1808
• Martha, m. William O'Neall in 1816; d. 1873
• Judith, b. 1794; m. Hiram Brown in 1817
• Cynthia, b. 1796; d. 1819 at age 13.
• George James, b. 1799. He was the only child born in the Northwest Territory; m. 1822 to Mrs. Hannah (Whitehill) Freeman, became a Judge.

James was buried on the family plot on their land but, in 1867, he was moved to Miami Cemetery.

Sources

• "History of Clinton County, Ohio: Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families" Pg 939.
• "Rev. James Smith Has Many Descendants in the County"

• http://webspace.webring.com/people/pm/manakin/martin.html