Who: Freeman Boyd.

From the previous post you will know that I have been doing a considerable amount of reading on 19th century history.  Mostly to get a better perspective on what specific reasons for my ancestors' migration across the American South.  All the while trying to hunt down clues on the life of Freeman Boyd, my ggggggrandfather (oh don't hold me to the g's).  Until now, I've been using the Boyd name as the focus of my search.  But upon looking at the census records from Macon Co AL 1850, I noticed the two households following Freeman and family were Smiths whose children's names corresponded with children's names in the Boyd household.  I was told at one time that Freeman's wife's maiden name was Smith, but didn't really go into looking at the line because males are usually easier to track through historical record.  

Taking another look at the Smith relations in the 1850 Macon Co AL census,  I took Redick Smith (age 60) to be Emily Smith Boyd's father and John R Smith (age 32) to be her brother.  Looking on Ancestry's family trees, I found Reddick Smith, but neither Emily or John are listed at children.  Probably because the researcher is using the census of 1850 as their main source and doesn't have any "proof" of other children.  

Using the information from the census, I took a visit to the graveyard in Montrose Mississippi where Freeman and Emaley Boyd are buried.  There I found more Smiths that I expected.  Mostly among them, Mary Clarke Smith b 1805 d 1884.  Next to her was a confederate headstone for Reddick Smith Company A 7th MS Infantry.  Likely her son, since her husband would have been a bit long in the tooth for military service.  Many of the gravesites were unmarked, but this was enough for me to have something to continue on.  The most curious thing about going to Palestine Cemetery was that I discovered the grave of a friend's mother who died of cancer when we were both in the first grade.  Ms Louise had hair that extended down to her knees and she kept it tightly wound in a bun.  

I digress...

From just the information on the 1850 census, I can deduce that Reddick was born in Virginia but by at least 1818 had migrated to Georgia because that was the year John R Smith was born.  Checking the marriage records in GA, I found Reddick Smith marrying Polly Hall on Dec 11, 1811 in Green County GA.  Also, in the records, Reddick is shown marrying Mary Clarke on Jan 11 1816.  This leads me to believe that Polly must have died and Reddick remarried.  Since I'm only making deductions from my limited resources, I can't speculate on if Reddick and Polly Hall had any children.  

Checking back on my files of early Jasper County MS, I haven't seen any evidence of any relative Boyd travelling from Alabama to Mississippi with Freeman.  It is clear to me that he came with his wife's family, the Smiths, and settled near Montrose.  According to my Aunt Dee, the area around Palestine Church was called Smithtown when she was growing up.  This was also verified in a posting attached to Redding Smith on one of the member trees.  It sites a source that I don't quite understand its validity, but looks worth investigating:  The Smiths of Cork, Ireland.  

Clearly, the Smith line is better documented and hopefully, following their line may eventually lead to a break in the Boyd wall.