Elizabeth Horton (Dill) Smith (abt. 1794 - abt. 1869)

Born about 19 May 1794 in Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States

Ancestors

Wife of Alpheus B. Smith — married 30 Nov 1826 in Dedham, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States

Descendants

Died about 28 Nov 1869 at about age 75 in Leominster, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States

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Elizabeth Horton Dill was from Eastham in Barnstable County on Cape Cod. The birth entry in the Eastham, Massachusetts town records provide a list of children of Thomas and Hannah (Horton) Dill that includes Elizabeth Dill, born 9 May 1791.[3] Hannah (Horton) Dill died in 1797, and Thomas Dill married two more times, dying in about 1830.

It is probable that Elizabeth Dill became a schoolteacher, and received a call to Dedham, Massachusetts.

Elizabeth Horton Dill of Eastham was baptized as an adult on 22 March 1822 in Dedham, Massachusetts at St. Paul's Episcopal Church.[1] The record says:

"Mar. 22 1822. Mary Godfrey Fisher, adult. Elizabeth Horton Dill, adult. Mary Fales Mason, adult."

The published Dedham town records provide church records also. Elizabeth Horton Dill was confirmed one day after her adult baptism, on 23 March 1822, as a member of the St. Paul's [Episcopal] Church in Dedham, by the Right Reverend Abner N. Griswold.[2] Also confirmed on the same day was Lucretia Townsend.

These are the only two records that provide a middle name for Elizabeth - other records have a middle initial of H. or no middle name at all.

The marriage intentions for Elizabeth Dill and Alpheus B. Smith were in both Dedham[13] and Medfield[14] records. The Dedham town record book says:

"Mr. Alpheus B. Smith of Medfield and Miss Elizabeth Dill of Dedham Nov'r 5 1826."

The Medfield vital records book says:

"DILL, Elizabeth of Dedham, and Alpheus B. Smith of Medfield, int. Nov. 5 1826."

The marriage was recorded in both Dedham[15] and Medfield[16] records also. The marriage record in the Dedham town record book says:

"[1826] Nov. 30 Mr. Alpheus B. Smith of Medfield to Mis Elizabeth Dill of Dedham"

The marriage record in the Medfield vital record book says:

"Nov. 30 [1826] Alpheus B. Smith of Medfield & Elizabeth Dill of Dedham."

Tilden's book, History of the Town of Medfield, Massachusetts, 1650-1886, says this about Alpheus Smith and Eliza Dill:

"Alpheus B. Smith married in 1826 Eliza Dill of Eastham, and the same year he bought the place on High Street near the South School-house. He died in 1840, his wife in 1869."

Alpheus and Elizabeth (Dill) Smith had two children:

1. Lucretia Townsend Smith, baptized 6 September 1828 in Medfield, Massachusetts, who married Isaac Seaver on 9 September 1851 in Walpole Mass., and died 24 March 1884 in Leominster, Massachusetts. 2. James Alpheus Smith, baptized 6 June 1833 in Medfield, Massachusetts, and married Annie Eliza Stewart in 1864 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Alpheus B. Smith died intestate in February 1840, and Eliza H. Smith declined administration of the estate, which was administered to Hinsdale Fisher. During the probate process, James H. Dill, Esquire bought the widow's third of the land, and apparently gave it to Elizabeth. James H. Dill was born in 1792 in Eastham, the son of Thomas and Hannah (Horton) Dill.

In the 1840 US Census, Elizabeth H. Smith was a head of household in Medfield, Norfolk County, Massachusetts[4] with one male age 5-10, one female age 10 to 15, and one female age 40 to 50.

Elizabeth H. Smith sold land in Medfield, Norfolk County, Massachusetts to Lucy Butterfield on 18 August 1841 for 100 dollars.[5] The land was all of her right, title, and interest to Dower in her late husband's estate as set off by Order of the Court of Probate, consisting of a house and barn with about three quarters of an acre of land, and bounded northerly and easterly on land of the heirs of Elisha Clark, Southwardly on the land sold to the said Lucy, and Westwardly on the road leading from Medfield to Walpole.

In the 1850 U.S. census, Elizabeth H. Smith (age 52, female, born MA) resided in Medfield, Norfolk County, Massachusetts with Lucretia T. Smith (age 22, female born MA).[6]

In the 1855 Massachusetts State Census, the Eliza Smith household in Medfield, Norfolk County included:[7]

• Eliza Smith - age 58, female, born Mass.
• Lucy Butterfield - age 65, female, born Mass.

In the 1860 US Census, Elizabeth H. Smith headed a household in Medfield, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, which included:[8]

• Elizabeth H. Smith - age 60, female, widow, born MA
• Daniel D. Hammet 0 age 40, male, $2000 in real property, $400 in personal property, born MA
• Cynthia Hammet - age 45, female, born MA
• George D. Hammet - age 18, male, born MA.

Eliza H. Smith died 28 November 1869 in Leominster MA, according to the Medfield, Massachusetts town records,[10] aged 75 years, 6 months, 9 days, of apoplexy. She was a resident of Medfield, birthplace was Eastham, Massachusetts, and her parents names were Thomas Dill of Eastham and Mary Horton of Wellfleet. The age at death works out to a birthdate of 19 May 1794.

A second death record is in the Leominster MA town records:[9] she died 28 November 1869, aged 75 years, 6 months, 13 days, of apoplexy. Her birthplace was listed as Eastham, Massachusetts and her parents names were listed as Jabez Dill of Eastham and Mary Horton of Wellfleet.

Eliza H. Smith was enumerated in the 1870 U.S. Census Mortality Schedule in Leominster, Worcester County, Massachusetts.[12] She is listed as age 75, a widow, died in November [1869], of apoplexy, with no occupation. The note at the bottom of the page says "The five last names taken from the town records, the families are not known."

The gravestone for Elizabeth H. (Dill) Smith is in Vine Lake Cemetery in Medfield, Massachusetts.[11] The inscription reads:

Erected in Memory of ELIZABETH H. DILL Wife of ALPHEUS B. SMITH, Died Nov. 17, 1869. Aged 77 years.

There is no probate record for an Eliza or Elizabeth Smith in Worcester County or Norfolk County, Massachusetts after 1869.

Sources

1. Don Gleason Hill (editor), The Record of Births, Marriages and Deaths in the Town of Dedham, 1635-1845 (Dedham, Mass. : Town of Dedham, 1886), page 218, baptism of Elizabeth Dill, an adult.

2. Don Gleason Hill (editor), The Record of Births, Marriages and Deaths in the Town of Dedham, 1635-1845 (Dedham, Mass. : Town of Dedham, 1886), page 224, confirmation of Elizabeth Horton Dill.

3. "Town Records, 1654-1873 [Eastham, Massachusetts]," US/CAN Microfilm 907350, Items 2 - 6, Elizabeth Dill birth entry.

4. 1840 United States Federal Census, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, population schedule, Medfield town: Page 196, Eliza Dill household, online database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication M704, Roll 192.

5. Norfolk County (Massachusetts) Register of Deeds, "Land Records - Deeds, 1793-1890," on 373 microfilm reels, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, Volume 139, Page 109 (accessed on FHL US/CAN Microfilm 841833), Deed, Elizabeth H. Smith to Lucy Butterfield, dated 18 August 1841.

6. 1850 United States Federal Census, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, population schedule; Medfield town, Page 348A, Dwelling #488, Family #632, Eliza Smith household; online database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, Roll 331.

7. "Massachusetts State Census, 1855," indexed database and digital image, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org), Norfolk County, Medfield, Page 21 (penned), Dwelling #2, Family #2, Eliza Smith household.

8. 1860 United States Federal Census, Population Schedule, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Medfield; Page 851, Dwelling #780, Family #841, Eliza Smith household; online database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication M653, Roll 515.

9. "Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1915," indexed database and digital images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.AmericanAncestors.org), Deaths, Volume 222, Page 264, Leominster, 1869; Eliza H. Smith entry.

10. "Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1915," digital images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.AmericanAncestors.org), Deaths, Volume 221, Page 262, Medfield, 1869; Eliza H. Smith entry.

11. Jim Tipton, indexed database, Find A Grave database and images (accessed 06 June 2021), memorial page for Elizabeth H. Dill Smith (1792–17 Nov 1869), Find A Grave: Memorial #60037924, citing Vine Lake Cemetery, Medfield, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, USA ; Maintained by Bill Boyington (contributor 46800933) .

12. "U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1885," online database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), Leominster, Worcester County, Massachusetts; Page: 619, Line 6, Eliza H. Smith entry; citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T1204, Roll Number 23.

13. Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), Dedham Births, Marriages and Deaths, image 255, Alpheus Smith and Elizabeth Dill intention of marriage entry.

14. Vital Records of Medfield, Massachusetts to the Year 1850 (Boston, Mass. : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1903), Marriages, page 135, Alpheus B. Smith and Elizabeth Dill entry, intentions.

15. Massachusetts, Town Records, 1620-1988, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), Dedham Births, Marriages and Deaths, image 260, Alpheus B. Smith and Elizabeth Dill marriage entry.

16. Don Gleason Hill (editor), The Record of Births, Marriages and Deaths in the Town of Dedham,1635-1845 (Dedham, Mass. : Town of Dedham, 1886), Marriages, page 221, Alpheus B. Smith and Elizabeth Dill entry.