Monday, March 12, 2018
Another discovery, this one closer to the "old Home Stomping Grounds" of my home state of Wisconsin.
Belmont Wisconsin is the setting for this story....
I discovered my 3rd Great Grandfather, Edward Y Smith, through my research a few years ago, as his name was linked to his daughter, my 2nd Great Grandmother, Izzie (Isadora) Smith Pope and through digging through books and online sites I found his birth and death date and that his Smith family line went back to New England through other trees.
I also traced this line back to other lines of Early New England Settlers that intertwined with some of my other lines back then but I really couldn't break through any of the information to find much about this Smith line as Smith was a common name and things get very confusing. Until this last week....
A few days ago, I came upon a "commemorative Biography of Early Wisconsin Settlers" online and it has a plethora of "Life Sketches" on quite a few people (1000 plus pages) and in this book was an interesting sketch on a man named Edward Y Smith.
The book I Found online:
J.H. Beers & Co. Commemorative biographical record of the upper Wisconsin counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade and Shawano (Kindle Locations 13760-13765). Chicago, J. H. Beers & co..
I was astounded when I started to read about this man and his origins and who he was. I cried and felt like I was meeting him for the 1st time. To discover so much about my family from one story was very emotional.
I realize now that My grandparents must surly have known about their historic connections to New England and to the Pilgrims and the settling of the coast.
Why they didn't preserve this history for their descendants such as me to know and cherish I can not fully comprehend.
I guess it is up to me to bring these souls back to life so that they are not forgotten. To me, to know one's ancestors is to one's self. Our family history sheds light on who we are.
Today I would like my family and my friends to meet my 3rd Great Grandfather and a few more of my ancestors that lived in the 1700s and 1800s and who are part of who we are today.
Just a few of the VERY COOL things I discovered because of this find is that:
- I discovered that my siblings and their children and I through our mother, have Scottish blood running through our veins from Edward's wife Elizabeth Moyes, our 3rd Great Grandmother, who was born in Errol, Perthshire Scotland in 1834 and that our Moyes heritage goes back to the noble and royal families of Scotland (much research to do on this) and that a distant cousin named William Young Moyes was one of the passengers that sunk with the Titanic in 1912.
- I discovered a famous cousin named Katharine Elizabeth Dopp who was one of the foremost American Educators at the turn of the 20th century. She wrote textbooks that were used nationally in schools and also wrote Children's books which were widely read at the time. She would go on to become one of the 1st deans of the Chicago Normal School which would later become the University of Illinois at Chicago and while there she would be instrumental in designing parts of the public school system still used nationally. And her early education would start with the tutelage of one of my 3rd Great Grandmothers, the wife of the man this post
- I discovered that my siblings and myself and their children are related to Joseph Smith in this line,Joseph being the founder of the Mormon faith.
- I dsicovered A good portion of this area of Wisconsin including Belmont and Waupaca were settled by my family lines that traveled from New England to the Midwest to settle on the rich plains in the Indian Territory.
- I discovered that I have many Smith cousins still alive in the Waupaca and Wild Rose area of Wisconsin and one (who as of 2005 at least) lives in the same neighborhood as my dad in Oxford Wisconsin! This line I discovered on another website lays out the generations of my Smith family line all the way back to New England and forward to the separating of lines at Edward and Elizabeth's children. This cousin's family then descends through son Lyman Smith and populates that area of Wisconsin and my line descends through daughter Isadora. (see below)
- 9. EDWARD Y9 SMITH (HARRISON8, SAMUEL7, SAMUEL6, SAMUEL5, JOHN4, JOHN BLAND3, JOHN SMITH (SMYTH)2 (SMETH), JAMES1 SMITH) was born March 29, 1833 in Martha Vineyard, Mass., and died October 05, 1885. He married ELIZABETH MOYES. She was born June 02, 1834 in Perthshire Scottland, and died February 11, 1928.
- More About EDWARD Y SMITH:
- Burial: Dopp Cemetary, Wild Rose Wisc.
- More About ELIZABETH MOYES:
- Burial: Dopp Cemetary, Wild Rose Wisc.
- Children of EDWARD SMITH and ELIZABETH MOYES are:
- 10. i. LYMAN10 SMITH, b. April 24, 1875; d. February 22, 1949. (Her line)
- 11. ii. JULIA E. SMITH, b. October 27, 1854; d. March 14, 1909.
- iii. ISADORIS SMITH, b. October 02, 1859; d. March 03, 1906. (My line)
- iv. OWEN SMITH, b. December 02, 1859; d. July 14, 1909.
- v. MAGGIE SMITH, b. August 11, 1863; d. December 21, 1920.
- vi. WALLACE SMITH, b. October 18, 1865; d. March 04, 1918.
- vii. CLIFFORD SMITH, b. June 15, 1869; d. December 07, 1912.
- viii. BERTHA SMITH, b. November 08, 1871.
- ix. OTHA SMITH, b. March 20, 1880; d. April 09, 1946.
- I discovered that a Dairy Farm that I stopped at a year or so ago while looking for the Pope family homestead in the area between Waupaca and Waushara counties on why 22 was owned by cousins I didn't know existed at the time (The Dopp Dairy Farm).
