Finding the Children

Seeking unknown children can be a roundabout task

Last time I talked about this family, I pointed out that Adam Smith (1792-1847) and Experience Garretson (1800-1897) probably had more children than were named in the 1850 Census, based on the 1840 count of their household:

The Name of His Other Leg

Today, I want to build the case that I found one of them: Harriet Zerelda (Smith) Compton. Like the rest of her siblings, she lived in Floyd County, Indiana.

A Recap

The Smith family lived in Greenville Township, Floyd County, Indiana, a few miles from Louisville, Kentucky. The document that forms the foundation for our argument is the 1850 Census¹, which names Experience and four children (Philip, Jacob, Mary, and Jane). The 1840 Census² (which only named the head of the household, Adam Smith) counted the family members, and I have filled in the names that we know, along with birth/death dates that I’ve been able to dig up:

1840 Smith household:

1. Male, born between 1811 and 1820³

2. Male, born between 1826 and 1830

3. Female, born between 1826 and 1830

4. A second female, born between 1826 and 1830

5. Female, born between 1831 and 1835

6. Philip William Smith (1831–1901)

7. Jacob Smith (b. 1833)

8. Mary M (Smith) Brown (1836–1929)

(Remember, the youngest daughter, Jane (Smith) Frederick (1840-1916), was born just after the 1840 census was enumerated.)

Isabella (Smith) Miller (1823-1909)

We talked about Isabella last time; her death record named her parents as Adam and Experience, but there is a question about the timing of her birth. (If her death record and headstone have the correct date, then Experience might not be her mother.) For now, we may assume she is #3 on the list above, since she was married in December 1841 and ought to be in this household.

(Since drafting this post, I recorded my thoughts about Isabella’s birth date and the possible implications on Adam’s WikiTree profile. More words at that link!)

Harriet Z. (Smith) Compton (1826-1865)

The journey to find Harriet began by poring over the documentary evidence for the biography of Mary M (Smith) Brown. Mary Smith married George W Brown (1833–1907) in 1856, and they had a daughter, Olie Brown (1857-1901), who lived with her parents all her life and worked as a music teacher. They moved a few times, ending up in Fremont, Colorado, where both George and Olie died.

As you can see from those dates, George and Olie died long before Mary did, so I was curious who provided the information on Mary’s 1929 death certificate:

Indiana death certificate for Mary (Smith) Brown - 5 Nov 1929

I had no idea who “Hattie Devol” was, or where to begin looking for her, but I kept digging and ran across her name again, in a newspaper snippet that mentioned Olie Brown:

MISS HATTIE DEVOL, Miss Olie Brown, Miss Daisy and Mr. Merrill Frederick, of New Albany, who have been spending several days in the city [Louisville], have returned to their homes.

~The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, Sun, Jun 13, 1886, Page 6

I assumed that since Olie (Mary’s daughter), Daisy, and Merrill (Jane’s children) were cousins, Hattie might be the daughter of one of the other missing Smith children. I created a new person profile for her on Ancestry and started collecting evidence to show who her family members were, hoping to find a thread that led back to the Smiths.

Harriet Compton "Hattie" Devol (1868–1944) was the daughter of George Henry Devol (1839–1918) and Eliza L Compton (1845–1919). That made her 11 years younger than Olie Brown, and about the same age as Merrill Frederick. A little more digging revealed that Eliza Compton’s parents were Banister Compton (1819–1872) and Harriet Z Smith (1826–1865).

I have yet to discover any direct documentary evidence that Harriet was the daughter of Adam Smith and Experience, but I can’t imagine why Hattie Devol would be completing Mary (Smith) Brown’s death certificate if they weren’t related.

That would probably make Harriet Z. (Smith) Compton #4 on that 1840 Census above.

The Search Continues

Another lead or two should help us find out more. There are at least two more names to find, plus Jacob Smith (b. 1833) only appears in the 1850 Census, so we need to track him down.

Time to go double-check for informants and newspaper clippings.

1. 1850 United States Federal Census, Place: Greenville, Floyd, Indiana; Roll: 145; Page: 464a.

2. 1840 United States Federal Census, Place: Greenville, Floyd, Indiana; Roll: 79; Page: 153; Family History Library Film: 0007724.

3. This oldest male might not be a child of Adam and Experience—he was born before their marriage in 1825. He could be a younger brother of either Adam or Experience, a servant or farmhand, or another relative taken in by the Smiths. We don’t have enough information to speculate, yet.