Oliver Meredith Smith (abt. 1795 - bef. 1870)

Born about 1795 in South Carolina, USA

Descendants

Died before 1870 before about age 75 in Mobile County, Alabama, USA [uncertain]

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Biography

Buried in Smith Family Cemetery, Mount Vernon, Mobile County, Alabama. ^[1]

From Ancestry.com Headstone has birth at 1807, but census records show him born about 1795.

Several storied have circulated regarding Oliver Meredith SMith (OMS) over the last 50 years. This is just a small amount i have found over time.

OMS was born in 1795 in South Carolina. It is speculated that since his wife was from Orangeburg, Colleton, South Carolina, that perhaps he must have lived around that area since most folk did not travel 40-50 miles just to meet a girl. One resourse i read said he was a Lawyer from South Carolina. Not once in any of his census records does he list himself as a layer...only a farmer. This does not mean that at one time in his life he was once a lawyer.

It is not known when he moved into Mississippi, but early census records show he was living around or just north of the Leaksville area when his first son Nathaniel John Smith in 1823. The cencus shows their next 2 children being born in Ms. There 4th child is born in Alabama putting their move into Alabama between 1827-1831. I found an old passport with the name of Oliver M. Smith from South Carolina dated for May 3rd, 1837. While i realize there may have been other Oliver M. Smith's from South Carolina, i can't help but wondering if he went back home, got the passport and on up to Virginia and set sail to visit relatives back in England. Either way it seems he became a very successful man in the farming business. Land office records show him making many purchase of lands totaling 649 acres (that are on record that i found).

Additionally, an 1860 Slave Schedule shows him owning 7 slaves, his name is listed next to Alexander Brashears, his inlaws (2 of their children married). At the time of his death there is no listing of his slaves, but neither does it list his extreme fortune (lands).

His will does show he was a very religious and a man of faith. He and another man is credited with the founding of Mt. Vernon. He and his children helped build Fort Stoddard in Mount Vernon.

i have heard several stories referring to him as Cherokee or Creek. None of the records i find list him as such.

However, later down the lineage his children do marry into Creek indian family (Ira Smith married Emiline Jane Brashears daughter of Alexander Brashears, son of Rachael Durant, Daughter of Sophia McGillivray, Daughter of SEHOY-2 (Sister to Indian Red Shoes) McGillivray, Daughter of Jean Baptiste Marchand de Courtel and SEHOY-1. I have not traced it but there may have been some trace of indian blood in his wife Elizabeth Reid's line.

Sources

1. ↑ His tombstone, placed in modern times, reads died in 1874, however the dates are incorrect for both birth and death as he is deceased prior to the 1870 census where wife Barbara appears as head of household.

• US Federal Census - 1830 Mobile County, AL
• US Federal Census - 1840 Mobile County, AL
• US Federal Census - 1850 Mobile County, AL
• US Federal Census - 1860 Mobile County, AL
• Will of Thomas Byrd, dated 25 OCT 1843, Mobile County, Alabama. Probated 14 FEB 1844. Will Book #2 p89 & p90.