A Group of Thorsby Boys - 1914

I found this newspaper clipping in a box of family history information that belongs to my husband's grandmother.  It is from the Central Alabama Advertiser dated June 26, 1974.  The picture is a group of Thorsby boys from 1914.  Included in the picture is my husband's great grandfather Milton Smith.

Thorsby is a town in Chilton County, Alabama.

Vines Smith (1794-1857) and the interesting things you find on the internet

I like history.   I especially like when I find information that links an ancestor to some interesting part of history. 

I decided last night to look at a branch of my husband's family that I hadn't looked at in a while.  I began with what I already knew:  Vines Smith, the father of Josephine Smith Higgins, was in the 1850 Coosa County, Alabama  census.  He has an entry on Findagrave.com that says he was born 1794 in SC and died 1857 in Alabama and is buried in the Ebenezer Methodist Cemetery in Coosa County, but no headstone photo accompanies this entry.  Another website, trackingyourroots.com, lists those same dates for an unknown Smith in what is called the Higgins Cemetery, in Coosa County.  Some quick internet searches found various postings on genealogy message boards.  There were others researching this same tree and I admit to following their trail.  It is so much easier when you know where to look!

Over and over I saw researchers saying that Mr Smith was living in Clarke County, GA around 1830 but moves to Coosa County, Alabama by 1840.  This was verified by the census records.  Then, I found the tidbit that made it interesting, at least to me.

His name came up in a book titled, "History of the Baptist Denomination in Georgia" in the University of Connecticut Libraries archive that you could read online.   I already told you I like history.  But I also like church.  I like the Bible.  For the most part, I like Baptists, since I am one.  So this intrigued me.

Vines Smith had signed his name to a protest against his local Baptist Association, the Sarepta Association, in 1836 for joining the larger state convention.  At first glance, they seemed to be protesting missions.  But, I didn't really understand the bigger picture, what was going on at the time and what this meant.  I wanted to know if this ancestor was a "good guy" or a "bad guy" in this church dispute.  Did he do the right thing?  I also wanted to know if this was "my" Vines Smith, or possibly someone with the same name.  So, I kept searching.

I found out the Sarepta Association did include Clarke County where Vines Smith was known to live.  Next to Vines Smith's name on the document was the place name "Big Spring".  I found out that "Big Spring" is called Watkinsville today, a place near Athens, GA in Clarke County.  So it is quite possible this is "my" Vines Smith.

I also found other sites that summarized Baptist history and tried to explain the division that was arising at the same time that a revival was taking place. One site said that those that withdrew formed their own association called "the Oconee Association."  Going from there, I found that this was the beginning of the distinction between Primitive Baptists and Southern Baptists.  I found explanations of doctrine, predestination, and traditions.  I learned about the Second Great Awakening and how this inspired missionary societies and missionary work.  I admit that I can really get sucked into research...

Was Vines Smith on the "right" side of the dispute? Honestly,  I'm not sure if I would have agreed with him on this one.  But I'm glad he stood up for what he believed and registered his protest.  He was lobbying for the free exercise of his religion, and that I do support. 

Did this dispute have anything to do with the fact that four years later he leaves Georgia and moves to Alabama?  I don't know.  But I'm still intrigued, so I'll keep looking.

Tombstone of John McGown d.1735 Scotland

 Thanks to my sister for finding this website with a tombstone of our 6th great grandfather in Scotland!

John McGown and Margret McFadden monument inscription (#52)  (This is a great website of monument inscriptions in Girthon Old Kirkyard, in the county of Kirkcudbright, Scotland. http://www.kirkyards.co.uk/)

Chilton County Alabama Yahoo Group and John O Smith

I joined a Yahoo group yesterday for Chilton County Alabama researchers that led me to some interesting discoveries.  While searching through posts and looking at files for this group, I found a list of Chilton County names that come up in the Alabama Inventors Database.  One of my husband's ancestors, John Owen Smith (abt 1833-abt 1900), invented an apparatus for drying and curing lumber!  The Inventors Database connects to the U. S. patent drawings and specifications for his invention.  I was so excited to find something like this!  Patents for John Owen Smith

In the files of this Yahoo group, I also found a reference to a database on FamilySearch.org of Alabama County Estate Records.  This time I found the estate records and will of John Owen Smith, the inventor!

For more information on John Owen Smith, see also this page that is a personal recollection by one of his grandsons:  John Owen Smith.

John Owen Smith is my husband's great-great-great-grandfather.

Audio of Nancy Brasuell Neal

I'm so excited about being able to save the old cassette tapes I have of my grandmother, Nancy Neal.  Though not of particular genealogy value, in the way of gaining information, they are special because they are her sweet voice.  My grandmother had lost most of her memory, but she still loved to talk and sing.  The recordings make me both happy and sad at the same time, but they are definitely precious and worth saving.

Granny Neal

Audio of Mamie Cordelia Smith

We've had an old cassette tape for some time of my husband's great great grandmother being interviewed about her family.  I'm not sure who the interviewer is, but the tape was originally recorded in 1959.  What we have is most likely a copy of the original.   Now we've found a way to convert that cassette tape to a mp3 file that we can save and share!   I'm so glad to be able to save such a treasure from being lost if that tape were to become damaged or destroyed.  I've been listening to tapes of my own grandmother also that were made in the 1980s.  Some of them have already been damaged and are almost unusable.  Hopefully we will be able to preserve these and share them with our families.


As you will hear in this clip from the tape, Mamie Cordelia Smith was born in 1875 in Bullock County, Alabama.  Her parents were Jasper William Smith and Dulcena Elizabeth Moss.  This clip is just the beginning of about 30 minutes of dialogue.  She goes on to give the names and birth dates of her children and tell about what her life was like.  If you are interested in hearing the entire tape, let me know. 
Audio of Mamie Cordelia Smith