Captain John Smith, a Revolutionary War Soldier, Rifleman, and Patriot, was born in 1740 in North Carolina, according to McCall’s Roster of the Revolution. He died Wilkes Co., Ga. 1-1795. (LWT dated 1794) Wife, Sarah Acree.
According to the lands which were ceded by the Creeks in Wilkes County, Captain Smith came from North Carolina bringing with him a wife and two children in 1773. It is believed that he resided in the region that became the State of Franklin in 1783 [now Sullivan County, Tennessee].
During the 1730s settlement was encouraged in the Alleghany mountains of North Carolina and Virginia, and land grants were issued for that purpose. Irish, Scottish-Irish, and German immigrants poured into the regions of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the North Carolinas, and traveled the Wilderness Road through the Alleghany Mountains of Virginia and North Carolina.
One can safely presume that John Smith entered the country in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Smith and others answered the call to join the Continental Army, Southern Campaign, and removed his family from the western frontier to fight during the Southern Campaign. As a result John Smith, who enlisted into service as a rifleman, received land grants in Wilkes County, Georgia after the war.
According to the lands ceded by the Creek Indians in Wilkes County, Captain Smith came from North Carolina to Wilkes County, Georgia, bringing with him a wife and two children in 1773. He had twelve children, born from about 1760 to about 1791. A deed below suggests that he came from Sullivan County, North Carolina (now Tennessee). He had thirteen children. The oldest, Alexander Smith, was a Minute Man during the Revolutionary War.
Notes:
The will of Captain John T. Smith, deceased, estate of James Kinman, executor was signed April 27, 1794, and probated on January 30, 1795, in Wilkes County, Georgia. Returns were made against the estate in 1796, made in 1800, cattle were sold and killed for the use of the family. James Kinman’s account for tax on slaves Betsey, Esther, and Joe, 1780. James Kinman and Thos. Grier, executors ordered to appear before Court March 5, 1800. Elizabeth Smith, Chas. Smith and John Walker, administrators September 1, 1800, warrant of apportionment.
Returns for 1802 expense of dividing 408 acres of land in Greene County, between Nancy Smith, John Walker, and heirs of John Taylor Smith, which land was granted to John Smith, deceased. Drawing of lots of land in Greene County, between Nancy Smith and John Walker and heirs of John Taylor Smith, which land was granted John Smith, deceased, by heirs and legatees April 6, 1801, signed by Harris Coleman, John Pope, John Walker, James Wootten [sic] and Chas., Benj., Wm., Milly and Nancy Smith, and the heirs of John Taylor Smith. Receipts of Benj. and Wm. Smith for their pay as overseers of the estate 1799. Receipts of Betty Smith December 4, 1800, and February 19, 1801, for her dower and one-third of the crop (Betty must have been the widow of one of the sons, probably John T. Smith, as Captain John Smith’s wife was Sarah, (see will, Vol. 1, page 65). Receipts of Thomas Wootten [sic], Jr. 1806 for $95.00, being money allowed for horse, saddle, bed, etc.Receipt of Benjamin Smith 1801-1802 for legacy from father’s estate.Receipts of Chas. Smith, guardian of Nancy and Mildred Smith, orphans of John Smith deceased, and guardian of heirs of John Taylor Smith, deceased 1802, 1803, all to John Walker, administrator. Division of personal estate of John Smith, deceased, March 4, 1813, no administrator mentioned, Robert Mathews gets Easter, David and Matilda; Jas. Smith gets Lewis and Jordan; Bethiah C. Smith gets Joe and Stephen Smith gets Betty, Burwell, Phereby and Rachel (see Vol. 1, p. 183). Receipts of Thomas Wootten [sic], Jr. to Chas. Smith, guardian, for $501.00 part of his legacy in right of his wife Mildred from her father’s estate.
Clues on this research paper.
- Revolutionary War Records, pensions, etc. for intricate details.
- Wilkes County Georgia Histories and county records.
- Georgia books about the Revolutionary War.
- Land Grants, dates, where, and name of the officer who signed bounty grants.
- Hero Imprints by Jeannette Holland Austin (available online to members of GeorgiaPioneers.com)
- Histories of Over the Mountain Men and the Battle of King’s Mountain.
- The Smith Genealogy is available to members of https://georgiapioneers.com
Genealogy Tips by Jeannette Holland Austin
The probability of John Smith having been a resident of Sullivan County (now Tennessee) lies in the fact that his family was in western North Carolina when that region was the new State of Franklin. However, no records exist in this region to prove John Smith’s North Carolina lineage.
