George Smith (1664 - abt. 1745)

Born 5 Jan 1664 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Husband of Hana (Gaskill) Smith — married before 1691 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts Bay

Descendants

Died about 11 Dec 1745 at about age 81 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts Bay [uncertain]

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Christopher Childs [send private message]

Biography

George Smith was born at Salem, Massachusetts Bay, on the 5th of January, 1663/4, a son of John Smith and Margaret (Thompson) Smith. He is believed to be the George Smith who married Quaker Hannah Gaskill at Salem, by 1691 (based on the birth of their daughter Margaret in March of 1691/2).

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

Clarence Almon Torrey's 1985 New England Marriages offers the above, calculated marriage date, and also dates George's death to the year 1744^[1]; Sidney Perley, in his earlier 1928 History of Salem, appeared to place the death "before 1726" (though this date was possibly intended to apply to George's wife; the language is unclear), but did not explain his reasoning, and possibly confused father and son as he also shows "before 1726" for the death of the younger George (which is accurate)^[2]. The only local death record closely matching Torrey's date is found not at Salem, but at adjoining Lynn, where the burial of "old" George Smith was recorded on 11 December 1745... listed immediately above the deaths of two Hannah Smiths in 1703/4 and 1732, either of whom might conceivably have been the Hannah who was his wife. The Lynn burial date coordinates neatly with an Essex County record showing the probate process for George's estate underway by 6 January 1745/6; the will names surviving children John, Samuel, and Margaret (Smith) Pope^[3].

Research Notes

Arguable Parentage Sons named George were born at Salem to two Smith couples in or close to 1664. The naming of George and Hannah's's first child as Margaret supports the idea that he was a child of John Smith and Margaret (Thompson) Smith (that couple married before 1659, per Torrey – also, see John's will transcript, https://books.google.com/books?id=XAwMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA368&lpg=PA368&dq= ; and his probate record, https://www.americanancestors.org/DB515/i/13855/25592-co1/247771792 [by subscription]); their son George was born on 5 January 1663/4... with known sisters "Excercise" born 12 April 1667, and "Tamsen", born 1 April 1671)^[4]. A son George was however also born to William Smith and wife Margaret on 9 February 166[4?] (with known sibling William born 10 May 1670)^[5], but John and Margaret are supported as parents of this profile's George by the naming of George and Hannah's second son as John, while no recorded child of theirs was named William. John Smith, who became an ardent member of the Society of Friends, bought land from Quaker Lawrence Southwick in 1658, and John's transcribed 1678 will (proved 1680) places son George – not yet of age – with Lawrence's son Daniel Southwick^[6]... and this presumably (as the Southwicks and Gaskills were linked by marriage) connects John, and son George, to the Gaskill family – a daughter of whose George would marry in 1691.

Disambiguation This profile was previously orphaned, and was adopted on 17 April 2023 by Gaskill descendant Christopher Childs. The following item and note were included in the original list of Sources:

Smith Official DNA & One Name Study Project. "George Smith (1664)." (Accessed 30 September 2015. No sources cited.) (I do not think the George Smith of this link is the same as the one born in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts.)

The linked record does not, in fact, rest on any DNA testing to date; further, it posits George's mother as née Margaret Buffum, while Torrey by 1985 shows her as "Margaret [?THOMPSON] (and specifies, "prob[ably] not BUFFUM")^[7]. Perley's earlier 1928 History of Salem had taken the opposite view, stating that John Smith's bride was Margaret Buffum^[8]; in fact, Margaret's maiden surname was indeed Thompson; but her stepfather – her widowed mother's second husband – was Robert Buffum.

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. ↑ A History of Salem Massachusetts, by Sidney Perley, Vol. III, 1671-1716, Salem, Mass.: Sidney Perley, 1928, p. 13; https://salem.lib.virginia.edu/Perley/vol3/images/p3-13.html
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)
4. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-9979-W7V3?cc=2061550&wc=Q4DH-MNT%3A353349401%2C353664501%2C1006149502 : 13 July 2016), Essex > County wide > County court births, marriages, deaths 1654-1795 > image 263 of 610; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston.
5. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L979-W7CD?cc=2061550&wc=Q4DH-MNT%3A353349401%2C353664501%2C1006149502 : 13 July 2016), Essex > County wide > County court births, marriages, deaths 1654-1795 > image 265 of 610; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston.
6. ↑ Essex County, MA: Early Probate Records, 1635-1681.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015; https://www.americanancestors.org/DB1652/i/33913/368/56273485 (by subscription)
7. ↑ Vol. 2, p. 1395, 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/21175/1395/45698941 (by subscription)
8. ↑ A History of Salem, by Sidney Perley, Vol. III, as above, p. 13; https://salem.lib.virginia.edu/Perley/vol3/images/p3-13.html

• Birth, parentage, and siblings (image of original handwritten record): "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-9979-W7V3?cc=2061550&wc=Q4DH-MNT%3A353349401%2C353664501%2C1006149502 : 13 July 2016), Essex > County wide > County court births, marriages, deaths 1654-1795 > image 263 of 610; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston.

• Birth and parentage (printed Salem record): "SMITH... George, s. John and Margeret, 5: 11m: 1663. CT. R." -- Salem VRs, Vol. 2, p. 300; Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016); https://www.americanancestors.org/DB190/i/7792/300/140901500 (by subscription)

• Death (burial, 11 Dec. 1745 at Lynn) [uncertain; but listed immediately above the deaths of two Hannah Smiths]: "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)