Hana (Gaskill) Smith (1670 - aft. 1703)

Born 2 Jan 1670 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Wife of George Smith — married before 1691 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts Bay

Descendants

Died after 1703 after age 32 in Essex, Massachusetts Bay [uncertain]

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Biography

Hannah Gaskill (recorded as Hana Gaskin) was born at Salem, Massachusetts Bay, on the second day of 1670 in the Gregorian calendar; she was the third child, and first daughter, of Samuel Gaskill and Provided (Southwick) Gaskill. The couple were members of the Society of Friends – the Quakers.

Hannah is reported, in the 1970 genealogy The Ancestry of Richard Milhous Nixon, to have married a George Smith; the source of this claim was presumably Clarence Almon Torrey's New England Marriages, which dates the marriage to "by 1691"^[1]. A handwritten transcript of the original Salem record lists these children:

1. Margaret, b. 18 March 1691/2
2. George, b. 28 November 1693
3. John, b. 26 December 1699
4. Samuel, b. 8 May 1703

Quaker records are more rare, and less accessible, than those of the dominant New England sects; it is not certain when or where Hannah (Gaskill) Smith died, beyond the obvious fact that it was subsequent to the birth of her son Samuel in the spring of 1703.

Research Notes

It is conceivable that Hannah could be either the "Hanah Smith" whose death was recorded not in Salem, but in neighboring Lynn, on 1 March 1703/4; or the Hannah Smith whose passing was recorded there in August of 1732. Her husband George – whose death Torrey's 1985 New England Marriages dated to 1744 – could thus be the "old" George Smith, listed immediately above the two Hannahs, who was buried at Lynn on 11 December 1745^[2]. This would coordinate with the 6 January 1746 probate for George Smith, late of Salem – whose will mentions as surviving offspring only sons John and Samuel, and daughter Margaret (Smith) Pope^[3].

Sources

1. ↑ "SMITH, George (-1744) & Hannah [GASKELL] (1669-); by 1691; Salem {Salem 3:13; EIHC 8:108; Pope 302; Gaskill 4}" -- Vol. 2, p. 1391, New England Marriages to 1700. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015; https://www.americanancestors.org/DB1568/i/21175/1391/426941702 (by subscription)
2. ↑ "SMITH... George, 'old', bur. 11: 10 mo.: 1745. P.R. 5 / Hanah, Mar. 1, 1703-4. / Hannah, abt. 21 : 6 m : 1732. P.R. 5." -- Lynn VRs, Vol. 2, p. 592; Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016); https://www.americanancestors.org/DB190/i/7738/592/141586348 (by subscription)
3. ↑ Essex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1638-1881.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.); https://www.americanancestors.org/DB515/i/13855/25525-co5/0 (by subscription)

• Birth, parentage, and three siblings (image of handwritten original record)"Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-8979-W7SV?cc=2061550&wc=Q4DH-MNT%3A353349401%2C353664501%2C1006149502 : 13 July 2016), Essex > County wide > County court births, marriages, deaths 1654-1795 > image 226 of 610; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston.

• Marriage to George Smith (reported but undated and unsourced): The Ancestry of Richard Milhous Nixon, by Bell, Raymond Martin, 1907-, typescript, Washington, Pa., 1970, p. 57; https://archive.org/details/ancestryofrichar00bell/page/n119/mode/2up.

• Husband and offspring (handwritten transcript of Salem record): "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G97M-B3FP?cc=2061550&wc=Q4D7-T3L%3A353349401%2C353349402%2C1006162201 : 29 November 2018), Essex > Salem > Birth, marriage, death 1644-1867 vol 1-2, B > image 187 of 327; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston.