Chapter 2

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THE VIRGINIA PIEDMONT AND SOUTH VIRGINIA

            John and Ann (Bowker) Smith were only married for 11 years before Ann’s early death, but in that time they had four sons and one daughter. The children appear to have all been given family names. The eldest, Bowker (1723), was given his mother’s maiden name, not an uncommon event, especially when two families of note intermarried. The second child, John (1725), was named for his father and was referred to as John, Jr. The only daughter, Susanna (c.1727), may have been named for John’s sister. The fourth child, Guy (c. 1730), was without doubt named for his grandfather, the Rev. Guy Smith, while the fifth and last child, Thomas (c. 1732), probably had a family name also.

            The family was living in Gloucester County, Virginia, when the young mother died. Her death was duly recorded in the register of Abingdon Parish as occurring August 7, 1733. John Smith, Sr. was only thirty-three when his wife died. Perhaps her death was the impetus for his departure from the Tidewater county and Gloucester and subsequent move to St. Paul’s Parish, Hanover County. This Piedmont county is located west-northwest of Gloucester and King and Queen counties. Considered to be the area above the fall line of the rivers, the Piedmont area of Virginia is where the land begins to rise to meet the Blue Ridge mountains. The area is bound by the North Anna River to the north and the Appomattox River to the south. John is said to have been a merchant in Hanover County. [35] John soon met and married for the second time to Susannah Ranson “of Gloucester and Goochland,” [36] and their first child was born in about 1736. John’s second family grew to include a son and three daughters. Since it had been the home of John Smith, Sr.’s second wife, the marriage may have been the reason for the family’s move to nearby Goochland County.

            The next year on May 9, 1737, John Smith, Sr., bought 600 acres of land in Goochland County, another central Virginia Piedmont county, northwest of present day Richmond. The land consisted of two adjoining tracts in St. James Parish on Lickinghole Creek.  One tract of 400 acres was next to land owned by Edward Scott, and the other tract of 200 acres was next to land owned by Samuel Burk.[37]

            Located just to the east of the Blue Ridge Mountains and drained by the James River, Goochland County was formed in 1728. It was much larger in those days, and as settlers moved into the Piedmont area of Virginia and the population grew, new counties were formed out of Goochland. Albemarle County was formed in 1744 from the western area of Goochland. Five years later in 1749, Cumberland County was formed from the southern part of Goochland. Sometimes a family will appear

to have moved to a neighboring county, but in reality the original county was just divided and the family found themselves in a new county without even having moved. The sons of John and Ann Hopkins Smith would be active in both Albemarle and Cumberland counties, but in truth these counties were where they had grown up when the whole area was Goochland County.

            In colonial times young men of ambition frequently served on the vestries of their local parishes. Since the Church of England was the established church of Virginia, supported by the citizens, it commonly performed what later would be considered governmental functions. The local parishes, therefore, were a way for a young man to participate in the local government. On February 21, 1744, John Smith, Sr. appears for the first time in the vestry book of St. James’ Northam Parish of Goochland County, Virginia, when he was elected to the vestry. Besides the advantage offered any ambitious young man, it was perhaps especially logical for the son of a Church of England minister to be active in his church’s affairs. For about 20 years, John continued to be active in his parish, being first elected church warden in 1746 and serving in that capacity off and on for several years. He also served as the church collector, and he would often take care of those in the parish who were ill or insolvent. Serving with him on the vestry for about 10 years was Arthur Hopkins, some of whose children would marry John’s children. Two others of interest on the vestry during this time were William Randolph and Peter Jefferson,[38] the latter two men being noted historical figures.[39]

            Having served his political training period, John Smith, Sr. was elected to the House of Burgess from Goochland County in 1752.  He served for the next five years until 1757.[40] By 1762 John Smith is referred to in the vestry book of St. James’ Northam as “Colonel John Smith,” which indicates that John Smith had a long military service, most probably in the Virginia militia. The title of colonel

also serves to differentiate John Smith from his son, John Smith, Jr.[41] Colonel John Smith appears to have been successful in life as denoted by his long military service, his service for his parish, and his public service as a Burgess. These activities mark him as a member of the gentry, although not of the wealth and power of families like the Randolphs, Byrds and Carters.

            During these years, the young children of Colonel John Smith’s first family were growing up and were being educated. The rectors of the local parishes in colonial Virginia were frequently hired by parents of the gentry to tutor their children in the basics of Latin, Greek, logic and mathematics as well as other academic subjects. Sometimes, if finances allowed or there were enough children in the household and/or neighboring households, a tutor would be hired. In this situation, the tutor would live in the household and children of neighboring friends and relatives would come over for lessons. If their homes were too far for easy travel, occasionally some of these other children would live in the household where the tutor taught.

            Educational attitudes in colonial Virginia were different from those in some of the New England colonies, which advocated an educated population. Here many felt that education should be limited to the ruling classes. This limited the options available for education for most colonial Virginian children. The Smith children, however, had a family tradition of education considering the Cambridge education of their Smith and Bowker grandfathers. It should also be remembered that Rev. Guy Smith was associated with William and Mary College. Nevertheless, much of the education of the Smith children probably took place in the home, with their parents being the teachers. Obviously, because of the early death of Ann Bowker Smith, she was an educational influence only with perhaps the two older sons who were 10 and eight when she died.

            There were local academies, which no longer existed and which left no records, and these might have been sources of education for the Smith children. For a few, continued education beyond the local level was available at William and Mary, the choice of their Albemarle County neighbor, Thomas Jefferson. A few colonial young men were sent back to England for education.

            When these five children were adults they wrote letters to one another and these letters, preserved by one brother and his descendants, are an excellent opportunity to assess what education the Smith children had. There are three letters from daughter Susanna, one letter from Guy and one letter from Thomas. From another source there is partial letter from son John, Jr. Unfortunately, the eldest child, Bowker, left no known letters. This is an admittedly small sample from which to evaluate this generation’s educational achievement, but it should at least give some idea of their educational level. The letters of Susanna, Guy and Thomas were all written to their brother John Smith, Jr.

            The three letters from Susanna Smith Bird to her brother John Smith, Jr. reveal a definite lack of spelling knowledge as well as a poor understanding of sentence structure. Her thoughts were written down as they came to mind, with afterthoughts tacked onto the end, unattached and fluttering in the wind. Nevertheless, she certainly made her point: she missed her brothers dearly and was very unhappy that they had not visited her. Any reader would conclude that she was most unhappy with her brothers’ lack of attention to her. In a day when many more women were illiterate than not, Susanna Smith

Bird’s letters are a testament to the fact that she, one of few, was an educated woman, at the very least, able to communicate by the written word.

            A 1770 letter from the third son Guy Smith to John Smith, Jr. shows an ease with words and an understanding of the sentence structure. His meaning is relatively clear, considering that part of the letter involved some interesting gossip about a runaway widow. While spelling in the eighteenth century was capricious, Guy’s letter shows basic good spelling.  In Maude Clement’s book about the history of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, she quotes a letter written in 1770 by John Smith, Jr. to his brother-in-law, Captain Arthur Hopkins, who also lived in Pittsylvania County and who was preparing to go on a trip down county: “Tell Mr. Henry (Patrick Henry) I have long expected his opinion on the affair I wrote to him but have never heard once from him, tho’ the person I wrote by told me he promised to write me an answer in a short time. If he will send it by you, his fee for his Opinion I will send by Mr. Lynch, Burgess for Bedford, next month.”[42]

            From this letter it is evident that John Smith, Jr.’s level of education was probably equal to or better than that of his younger brother, Guy Smith. By the time these various letters were being written all around 1770, the oldest brother, Bowker Smith, was already dead so there are no letters by which to evaluate his level of education.

            Judging by the letters of the brothers and sister, there is strong evidence that a good education was provided for the children of John and Ann Bowker Smith, much above what was the norm for the period, but probably in line with their social class. It is possible therefore, that one or all three older sons attended William and Mary College or at least some local academy.

            By the middle of the century the four sons of Colonel John Smith were beginning to take their places in the local society with two of them becoming active in the local parish. In 1748 when he was about eighteen years old, Guy Smith appeared in the vestry book of St. James’ on a list of property lines “processioned.”[43] Vestries of that time had many of the duties fulfilled by county governments in later American history. Processioning was one of the government type duties of the vestry. “Every fourth year the county court was to direct its vestry to lay off its parish into precincts, and appoint times for processioning between the last days of September and March, and two freeholders to see each of the precincts processioned, who were to return their reports to the vestry to be registered by the clerk. Three processionings settled the bounds of land unalterably, provided they were made with the consent of the owners.” [44]

            In 1748 Bowker Smith who was about 25 years old, was elected parish collector and was so noted in the vestry book.[45] Bowker also appeared in the vestry book in 1761 when he was paid for

keeping Agness Ward.[46] Another son became active in another political area that had the advantage of providing income. John Smith, Jr. was deputy sheriff of Albemarle County from 1750–1754 and deputy surveyor from 1755–1758. He was surveyor of Goochland County from 1758–1762.

            Now adults, the Smith children also began to marry. Three sons from Col. John Smith’s first family married women from the Goochland area. Bowker Smith married Judith Cox of Cumberland County, May 22, 1749.[47] The second son, John Smith, Jr. married Elizabeth Hopkins of Goochland County, November 20, 1751,[48] while Guy Smith married Ann Hopkins of Goochland County, January 27, 1751.[49] The two may be one in the same person, or Sarah may have been a second wife. Susanna Smith, the only daughter of John and Ann, married someone from the Bird family and moved back to the Tidewater county of King and Queen, home county of the Bowkers.

            Guy and his brother, John, Jr., married sisters, the daughters of Dr. Arthur Hopkins. These would have been very advantageous marriages, as the brides’ father was a large landholder, and in this day and time, brides came with dowries negotiated by the fathers of the bride and groom.

            “Arthur Hopkins, born in 1690, took a degree in medicine from Edinburgh, Scotland; he was a justice, sheriff, vestryman and colonel of Goochland (County).” [50] Certainly Arthur Hopkins was in Goochland at the time of its formation. “Framed on the wall of the Clerk’s office at Goochland is a remarkable old document. It is the original of the commission of the first justices, dated 1728 and signed by Governor William Gooch.... There is (also) an original bond signed by Peter Jefferson, father of the Author of the Declaration of Independence and Arthur Hopkins.”[51] Arthur Hopkins was also one of the early settlers in Albemarle County. Between the years 1727 and 1737 when the area was part of Goochland, he is listed as one of those who received small land grants of 400 acres or less.[52] In all Hopkins, “who resided on one of the branches of Byrd Creek....obtained a patent for four hundred

four hundred acres...another for nearly twenty-three hundred...and a third in 1765 for fourteen hundred and seventeen.” [53] “By 1744 the estates and farms of western Goochland—complete with slaves, overseers, small fields of tobacco, wheat, and corn, cabins, and occasionally a more pretentious frame structure—had a total population of four or five thousand” [54] and eventually the new county of Albemarle was formed.

            In Edgar Woods’ history of Albemarle County, however, Dr. Arthur Hopkins and his wife, Elizabeth Pettus Hopkins, are listed as the parents of eight children, Samuel, John, Arthur, William, James, Lucy, the wife of George Robinson, of Pittsylvania, Mary, the wife of Joseph Cabell, and Isabel.[55] Ann and Elizabeth Hopkins are not on this list. In another source on this history of Goochland County, there is a reference to a “Rector, Mr. Hopkins, father of twenty-two children (nearly all of them attaining manhood and prominence).” [56]

            The papers of the Pocket Plantation, which contain, among other items, letters written to John Smith, Jr. and  which are located at the University of Virginia, definitely show that Elizabeth Smith, the wife of John Smith, Jr, of the Pocket Plantation, was the daughter of Arthur Hopkins. In a letter dated September 19, 1770, Dr. James Hopkins, son of Dr. Arthur Hopkins writes to John Smith, Jr. about settling his father’s estate. The deed records of Albemarle County show James Hopkins as one of the administrators of Arthur Hopkins’ estate. In the closing of James Hopkins’ letter to John Smith, Jr., James pens, “to my Dear Sister & Family.”

            Ann Hopkins Smith, wife of Guy Smith,, was also identified by James Hopkins as his sister in the same letter quoted above. Dr. James Arthur writes, “Pray write to me by Sister Ann Smith.” It is thus evident that James, Elizabeth, and Ann are brother and sisters.[57]

            It should be noted that in some fundamentalist churches in the ninetieth century, members of a church might refer to follow members of the church as “brother” or “sister” meaning “brother or sister in Christ.” The Smiths and the Hopkins, at the time the letters were written, were members of the Anglican church and did not so refer to fellow church members in this manner. Also during the nineteen and early twentieth centuries, the term “Sister” or “Brother” was used to denote respect for an older person. This usage would not be applicable to the Smiths and Hopkins in this case. There is a distinct feeling, however, from reading the Smith and Hopkins letters that when they referred to “friends” they actually meant relatives of one type or another.

            The Smith sons were active in land transactions in Albemarle County from 1758 until at least 1761. In 1758 “Bowker Smith of Goochland Co. sold to Jno. Smith, Jr. same parish of St. James’

Northam, for 100 pounds, 600 acres.” In the same year Guy Smith sold William Hooper 350 acres on both sides of south branches of Hardware River for 20 pounds. The next year, in 1759, Guy Smith witnessed a deed for William New and John Key. In 1760 Thomas B. Smith was part of an “order to quiz” Frances Terrell, wife of William Terrell. Guy Smith and his father-in-law, Arthur Hopkins, showed up on the deed records in 1761 together, while a few months later “Guy Smith planter” sold 375 acres adjacent of the north side of Rivanna to “William Banks, Goochland, planter.”

            In 1761 second son, John Smith, Jr., moved to Pittsylvania County, which had been formed in 1753 from Albemarle and Lunenburg counties. Here he had a plantation on the Staunton River, called the Pocket Plantation. His letters and business papers have survived to provide a look at a Virginia plantation from 1760–1776.[58] The name of the plantation is derived from its location in a bend of the river. The plantation had 713 acres and was sold to John Smith, Jr. by Peter Jefferson. The plantation house was on a bluff overlooking the river.[59] The surviving papers of this plantation also give the best glimpse of the activities of the Smith and Hopkins family members.

            The three other sons of John and Ann Smith also eventually left the Goochland County and Albemarle County area. The eldest son, Bowker, and the third son, Guy, moved to Bedford County, while the youngest, Thomas, joined his older brother, John, Jr., in Pittsylvania County. The four brothers were not far from each other, however, since both counties, located southwest of Goochland County, border on each other, with Pittsylvania County sharing a southern border of Bedford County. These two counties are located in south central Virginia. The southern border of Pittsylvania County forms part of Virginia’s border with the neighboring state of North Carolina.

            Colonel John and Ann’s son, Guy Smith, married Ann Hopkins in 1751 in Goochland County. The couple lived the first few years of their married life in Albemarle County. Four years after his marriage Guy was serving as Deputy Sheriff of Albemarle County.[60] Besides his public service Guy was also active in agriculture. Deed records show that Guy owned at least 725 acres in Albemarle County and was labeled “planter” in one land transaction.

            Guy Smith was the third generation of his family in Virginia, and in that time, his family had moved from his place of birth in the Tidewater country of Gloucester County to the central Virginia Piedmont county of Goochland. Now as an adult, he would move southwest along the eastern border

of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the newly formed county of Bedford. In 1758 Guy had sold 300 acres in Albemarle, and in 1761 he sold 375 acres in the same county. By 1766, or sooner, he was in Bedford County.

            Bedford County was formed in 1755 from Albemarle and Lunenburg counties, and the county seat of New London was laid out in 1757. Some of the first lots were bought by four members of the prominent Callaway family, William Ingles, a very early and prominent settler in that area, and William Christian,[61] another early and prominent settler, whose wife, Ann, was the sister of the famous Patrick Henry.

            Guy Smith may have bought his first land in Bedford County from his brother, Thomas, in 1762. At that time Guy “of Albemarle County” bought 400 acres from Thomas Smith and his wife Magdalene “of the County of Cumberland.” Thomas Smith had received the land by a patent in 1748. The witnesses to the sale of the 400 acres included “Robert Smith, Ralph Booker, Wm. Starke, Thomas Bowker, John Smith, Jr.” [62] The last witness was the older brother of Guy and Thomas. The others all appear to be some sort of relative, including William Starke. Guy and his brothers had an uncle, Constantine Smith, who had married Frankey Starke. It is not possible to say for certain that this is all the land that Guy had in Bedford County at this time, but it was undoubtedly a large block of land with which to start.

            William Callaway built the first courthouse of Bedford County in 1754. When the courthouse was replaced in 1766, Guy Smith and some others were appointed to “treat with the workmen to build the same on the courthouse lot, and that any three or more of them advertise the said house to be let at October Court next.” The county seat, New London, was the largest town in that part of Virginia and the center of the area’s political and commercial life.

            While his sons had moved southward and his daughter had returned to King and Queen County, Colonel John Smith and his second family remained behind and all was not well with them. On July 8, 1767 Colonel John Smith wrote a letter  to his son John Smith, Jr. of the Pocket Plantation about his many troubles. He had not made a tobacco crop and little corn. He had written to his three sons asking that they send him wheat seed “or we shall starve another year.” He thought to hire out his “Negroes” or slaves to bring in revenue, but apparently others had little “cooper” or available money with which to pay for their services of his slaves. While his letter is difficult to read in various places, it appears that the son-in-law of Dr. Arthur Hopkins, Sr., “Col. Cabell” [63] wanted to buy some of Colonel John Smith’s slaves for 90 pounds. Before the slaves could be sold to Cabell, however, Colonel Smith needed his son’s permission since the slaves were either a part of John Smith, Jr.’s inheritance or John Smith, Jr. had already bought them himself. The exact situation is unclear. In 1767

Colonel John Smith was sixty-six years old and, in the letter noted above, wrote, “I am so lame, tho thank god in good health.”

            The next year the eldest Smith son, Bowker Smith, died. He was the first of Col. John and Ann (Bowker) Smith’s children to die. Bowker, who, like his brother Guy, lived in Bedford County, was about age 45 when he died in 1768, leaving a widow and eight children.

            Upon Bowker’s death, two of his brothers, Guy and John, Jr., were administrators of his estate. On May 2, 1770, Guy and John sold Bowker Smith’s entire estate at public action for 362 pounds.[64] The widow, Judith Smith, purchased the estate. To raise money Judith sold several household items, stock, and 10 slaves to her brother-in-law John Smith, Jr. on May 15, 1770. Arrangements were made so that the profits of the crops of  plantation were to be put in an account less the amount necessary for the maintenance of the widow, Judith Cox Smith and the Smith children.

            After paying for several debts against the estate, John Smith, Jr. went to Judith Smith for a settlement of his costs. This would be a point of disagreement after the death of John Smith, Jr. On July 27, 1776, in what seems to be the final accounting, Judith paid 400 pounds to the John Smith, Jr. estate in the form of a mortgage for 11 Negroes.

            By 1769, Guy was well settled in Bedford County and serving as “one of the presiding Justices of Bedford County.” Back at the home of his father, however, things were not well. On April 25, 1769, Susanna Smith Bird wrote to her brother, John Smith, Jr., to express concern for her father, Colonel Smith, writing, “I am very Sorry to hear of the trouble my Dear dady is in himsel. (He) told me he lives in the poison[65] bound. I should be glad if you will rite to me and let me no how he does.” Later in the letter she writes, “Please to give my duty to my Dear dady and mamey and tell him I never wanted to see any body so much as I do him and should be glad if he would com down with ——(?) if he is able.”

            While most of Colonel John Smith’s problems were probably ill health, another possible problem was soil depletion of his land. At one point in his letter to his son, he mentions that he “shall be glad to Remove my family some time In september,” which indicates that he was moving to another home. It is also possible that this just refers to a trip they are planning, but the word “remove” usually meant a relocation of the household. It appears that by the early 1770s, shortly before his death, Colonel John Smith and his second family had moved to Bedford County, where his son Guy Smith lived, since two daughters from his second marriage married in Bedford County in 1772 and 1775.

            To compound problems with their father, at some point John Smith, Jr. apparently signed a bond for his father, which would pledge him to pay if his father was unable to complete whatever action or transaction was agreed upon. It appears that Colonel John Smith did not complete the action

or transaction, and John Smith, Jr. was called upon to pay. This seems to have led to some legal action and some hard feelings in 1771 between John Smith, Jr. and David Ross of Goochland County, who wrote a very strained letter to John Smith, Jr. concerning the matter, threatening a lawsuit if John Smith, Jr. did not pay.[66] These probably worried John Smith, Jr. in his years of illnesses.

            Indeed, John Smith, Jr. was seriously ill with consumption or tuberculosis. Apparently he had suffered from consumption for many years. Tuberculosis was a common killer in early America, reaching an epidemic stage a few years later in the early 1800s. “White death,” as it was sometimes called, remained a killer until the early twentieth century. Tuberculosis was the motivating force behind John Smith, Jr.’s move from Albemarle County to Pittsylvania County. “Due to his state of health, in 1762 John Smith (Jr.) moved with his family to the Pittsylvania plantation in hopes that the pine ladened atmosphere would be beneficial to his frail lungs.”[67] According to Maude Clement in her history of Pittsylvania County, John Smith, Jr. had spent the summer of 1769 at the Warm Springs in Augusta County west of the mountains in an attempt to improve his health.[68] There are three letters in the Pocket Plantation papers from Dr. James Hopkins, a brother-in-law of John Smith, Jr. Spanning a three year period from 1770 to 1773, the letters show that James Hopkins, who was educated aboard and was a physician like his father, cared deeply for John Smith, Jr. and was genuinely concerned about the state of his health. In his letters of 1771 and 1773, he offers medical advice to the ailing John Smith, Jr. “Letters from Dr. James Hopkins[69] of Albemarle prescribed (for John Smith, Jr.) the sovereign remedy of riding for weak lungs...John Smith, Jr. died 1776, at the age of 51 years and is buried at ‘The Pocket.’. His business papers show him to have been a man of culture, wide business interest and much property.” [70]

                        The tuberculosis that killed John Smith, Jr. may well have caused his brothers to precede him in death. The list of potentially fatal diseases for adults in this particular century was quite long, from malaria, blood poisoning, and yellow fever to today’s diseases of heart trouble and influenza. Any of these could have caused such early deaths. Substantial improvement in health care techniques and understanding was a century away.

            The Smith sons’ relatively early deaths were not unique for the time and place. In 1775, for an example, a son of the deceased Dr. Arthur Hopkins of Albemarle, Captain Arthur Hopkins Jr., died in

Pittsylvania County. It seems that his wife, Judith Jefferson,[71] was already dead as he only writes about his four “Dear” children in his will in which he appoints as his executors John Smith, Jr. and Samuel Calland, the Scottish born merchant husband of John Smith, Jr.’s daughter, Elizabeth.[72] In his case his four children, not yet grown, were left orphans by their parents’ early deaths.

            In 1776 on the eve of the American Revolution and one year after the death of his son, John Smith, Jr. of the Pocket Plantation, Colonel John Smith died at about seventy-seven years of age. His life had spanned much of the history of colonial Virginia; soon society would be undergoing new and radical changes.

            Now the only surviving son of Colonel John and Ann (Bowker) Smith was third son Guy Smith. During the American Revolution, Guy was the High Sheriff of Bedford County.[73] In 1782 Bedford County became a donor county for Campbell County. As a result of the division, New London became part of Campbell County, and Liberty became the new county seat of Bedford County.

            From a May 1770 letter that Guy Smith wrote to his brother, John Smith, Jr. of the Pocket Plantation, it is possible to find out what Guy grew on his plantation in Bedford County and consequently what his family ate. In the letter he writes of planting corn and tobacco and mentions peas and “Water Million.” The planters and farmers grew crops for the use of the household since the land was the source of the family’s food. The most important of these crops for home consumption was corn, which fed both humans and animals and whose other parts were used in a various of ways, such as using corn husks to stuff mattresses. Wheat for making flour was grown on the Pocket Plantation. Other crops were more of the vegetable garden variety, including the peas and watermelon mentioned in the letter.

            Tobacco however, was the most important crop, as it was the cash crop, the one that could be sold and used to bring badly needed cash. Unfortunately, tobacco was labor intensive, requiring many hands or slaves to tend the tobacco plants. Tobacco also depleted the soil in a day when fertilization and crop rotation were poorly understood. Another Virginia cash crop was hemp, with which rope could be made, an extremely useful item in the day of sailing ships.

            After the harvest and drying of the tobacco, the tobacco leafs were packed into hogsheads and rolled northward across Bedford County to Goochland County and the James River where it would be loaded into boats for eventual transport to English markets. Agents, who seem to have frequently been with Scottish companies, took charge of the tobacco and credited the planter’s account. The planter, through his account, then was able to order goods which could not be produced by the plantation. In 1770 the following items were purchased from the account of the Pocket Plantation: ribbon, black “sattin,” “gilt pins,” brown thread hose, china, salt, rum, hooks, crockery gallon jug, coarse paper, pewter dishes, brown sugar, wine, and tumblers. The most common items listed on the account books

were liquor, cloth (both fine and plain fabric), shoes and spices (e.q., nutmeg). At this stage of its history, America provided the raw materials for England and was the market for the finished materials produced by English factories.

            In 1771 Guy had brought more land in Bedford County, when he bought 325 acres on the south branches of Little Otter River from Prudence Terry for 50 pounds.[74] Added to his previous land purchases in 1762, this should have given Guy 725 acres in Bedford County. In 1773 Guy, with his brother, John, and Thomas Smith, had sold a lot and 90 acres of land also in Bedford County.[75] Five years later in 1778 Guy Smith sold 50 acres on Little Otter River to William Leftwich for 50 pounds.[76] William Leftwich and Guy appear again on the Bedford County deed records in 1780 along with James Callaway, John F. Patrick and Gross Scruggs regarding a bond. The Leftwich, Callaway and Patrick surnames appear again in the history of the descendants of Guy and his brother John Smith, Jr.

            By the 1770s Guy and Ann (Hopkins) Smith’s children began to marry. Their oldest daughter, Joannah, was probably the first to wed. She may have married in about 1772 to Abednego Hail. The second daughter, Ann, who was apparently named for her mother, married Daniel Trigg in 1777 and moved westward to Montgomery County, Virginia, with her new husband. The third child, daughter Elizabeth, married Stephen Smith, who may have been some sort of relative. Her marriage was in 1778, the year after the marriage of her older sister, Ann. The three Smith daughters were probably the only ones of his children whom Guy Smith lived to see married, as he died sometime between January 10, 1781, when he wrote his will and September 24, 1781, when the will was probated in Bedford County. It is more likely that he died in the early part of 1781. As was the custom of the time, male relatives were selected as the executors of Guy’s will. Since all of his brothers were dead, the executors in Guy’s case were his eldest son, Bird Bowker Smith, and two of his sons-in-law, Daniel Trigg and Stephen Smith.[77]

            His will left instructions for his estate to be divided among his wife, Ann, and their nine children. In the testament he left his books to his two sons, Bird and Guy, asking only that they not break a set of books. Bird also received his father’s writing desk. His younger brother, Guy, received their father’s shotgun. Guy also requested in his will that his younger son, Guy, receive a “liberal education.” It is logical to assume that Bird Smith had already received a similar liberal education, although what precisely is meant by “liberal education” is unclear. Probably the two brothers had at least learned their lessons from the minister of their local parish or a tutor.[78]

Appraisers William Leftwich, Francis Hopkins, and John Phelps conducted the inventory of Guy’s estate, returned on May 27, 1788. Listed in the inventory and appraisement were seventeen Negroes,[79] household goods, livestock, farm equipment, six silver spoons worth one pound, seven prints worth six pounds,[80] one pair of bullet molds and one “Smoothboar Gun.”[81]

            Guy Smith was a large landowner in Bedford County, although certainly not among the largest landowners like William Callaway. Guy’s estate after his death was taxed for about fifteen slaves.[82] Yet it is obvious that he had the respect of the community since he was asked to serve in public positions, as in the situation with building the new courthouse. He owned land, not only in Bedford but, as evident in his will, land in Buckingham County as well. It is entirely possible that he owned land in other counties as well. Considering who his children married, the amount of land he owned, the respect he had in his community and the education of his sons, Guy Smith should be counted at least among the country squiredom of southern Virginia.

            In 1781, the same year Guy Smith died, two more of his children, Jenny Smith and Bird Bowker Smith were wed. Bird married the November after his father’s death. It appears that Jenny, who married William Terry, also married after her father died since she is mentioned as unwed in his will. The four younger Smith children began marrying five years later when in 1786 Lucy Bird Bowker Smith married Joseph Crockett. Her next younger sister, Susannah Smith, married in 1788 to John Leftwich. William Leftwich[83] was the one of the same surname who appeared in the Bedford County deed records with Guy Smith.

            Guy died at a time when rapid social change was underway in Virginia and, indeed, in America. The political changes wrought by the American Revolution are well known. Less well known were the religious changes taking place. Since the founding of the Virginia colony, there had been a state-supported church, the Church of England, and the citizens of the colony were taxed to support the church. In the various small jobs assigned by the vestries of the parish church, as well as in the various minor county governmental functions, the sons of the gentry cut their political teeth. Thus, the political 

power of any county could be found, not only in the county offices, such as the county justices, but on the boards of the state supported church vestries.

            For many years before the Revolution, various dissenting sects had been immigrating to Virginia. “They were chiefly Scotch-Irish, of the West, and they did not all at once affect eastern Virginia. But some years before the Revolution the Presbyterians began to make headway in Hanover and the adjoining counties, and presently Baptists, Quakers, Methodists and others entered the Colony, and propagated their doctrines. The Baptists, especially, grew rapidly, and disturbed the conventional and unemotional Virginia of the eighteenth century to its depths.” [84]

            “The spirit of rebellion against authority was on foot throughout the Colony, and applied to religion as well as to politics. The Established Church, the Church of England in Virginia, became unpopular with many people because of its connection with royal authority, the character of its clergymen, and not the least, because of the taxes extorted for its maintenance. The local tyranny exercised by many vestries in church matters did not enhance the popularity of the Establishment.” [85] The descendants of Guy Smith would, like their fellow Virginians, sometimes seek other religious denominations, leaving behind the church of their clergymen forefathers.

            There is no known marriage record for Guy and Ann Smith’s youngest daughter, Katie Bowker Smith. She may have remained unmarried or possibly died before marrying. Guy Smith, the ninth and youngest child, probably married Arabelle Richeson in 1793 in Franklin County, Virginia. Since most males of his class married in their early twenties and Guy Smith, Jr. would have been about twenty-four in 1793, it is likely that this is the correct Guy Smith. Franklin County is next to Bedford County and, indeed, Bedford was one of the counties giving land to the formation of Franklin County in 1785.

            In 1787 Ann (Hopkins) Smith, the widow of Guy Smith, is shown on the Bedford County personal property tax rolls. The list shows a household with no white males above sixteen years of age. There were seven Negroes over age 16, nine Negroes under age 16. Also listed on the property tax roll were six horses, mares, colts or mules and 14 head of cattle.