Let's start with the basic background on William Smith.
- My 4th great-grandfather on my dad's maternal side through my Great Grandmother who we affectionately called Ma Nettie.
- William Smith was born in 1838 in Pittsboro, North Carolina.
- I am a descendant of William's daughter Pattie/Patty.
- William was married three times to Elizabeth/Eliza, Fanny/Fannie and finally Ada.
We will start our study of William in the 1910 Census and work our way backward to see what information we can gather for him and ultimately his daughter Pattie/Patty.
In 1910 William and Ada are 72 and 64, listed as Mu for Mulatto, married for 8 years and William is on his third marriage and Ada is on her second. William is a farmer and works on his own account.
In 1900 William is living with his second wife Fanny, his daughter Sallie A. Headen, her hisband William and his mother-in-law Phyllis Mitchell. William and Fanny are 61 and 45 and have been married for 22 years. William's birth date is listed as September 1838. The race for the family is black.
The 1890 census is unavailable because all were lost in a fire in 1921.
The 1880 census has William aged 42 living with Fanny 25, Eliza Ann 13. my 3x great grandmother Patty Lu, Louisa 9, a son Jessie 7, Sallie Ann 5, Roxanna 4 months old, a brother Bartlett aged 38, who works on the farm is enumerated on the following page of the census. All the family members are listed as Mulatto.
This 1870 census is the first census where formerly enslaved Africans were listed by name as free individuals. William is living with his wife Elizabeth my 4th great-grandmother the mother of Eliza age 4 and Pattie age 1. There are no other family members and since Elizabeth is not listed with the family in 1880 she died between 1870 and 1880.
In the next blog post we will find out more about the life and times of William Smith.
