A Genealogy Hunt

01 April 2011

Early Morning,

Well the rain is gone, for March... and it certainly didn’t leave like a lamb. Our street front is still flooded, and the culverts are backed up. My picture of the flooded street out the front door was at about 11:30 am. The continued storm increased the street-water's edge to just above the sidewalk.

So the rainy season is supposed to start in the Tampa Bay area in mid-May. It’s somewhat early, eh?

And my Transcription Project continues in the search and research for the genealogy and origins of my ggg-grandfather James Smith.

In Part 479s, I worked on an 1823 Indenture from the Grenada Registers of Records which introduced me to a new group of Smiths. These included: Samuel; George; John; Abel; Samuel George; and George Robert Smith. The next Indenture which I have half-completed includes these same, plus more Smiths.

Needless to say I had to find out who these Smiths were, and are. Is there a connection to ggg-grandfather James? Is there a genealogical relationship? With that in mind I thought that it better to my advantage to learn something about these new Smiths.

And you cannot imagine what I have discovered. From Harry Tucker Easton’s book, The History of a Banking House (Smith, Payne and Smiths) published in London in 1903 –

The Smith family have an unique experience; their banking career began more than two centuries ago, and during that period successfully passed through great commercial crises. As an outcome of their success as bankers, they obtained a well-known reputation in the financial world.

My curiosity was piqued. Can you imagine Smiths bankers? Just as my father and myself, and other members of my family. And the saying goes “No stone unturned…” Even though my next Indenture transcription does include some members of this Smith Family, I decided that I needed to visually depict the family relationships and generations.

So I set out to create a Descendant charting of this Smith Banking Family. Could there be that illusive hint or clue hidden in the generations to ggg-grandfather James? This Smith Family is relatively large and the creation of a Descendant Chart takes up considerable room and space. With that in mind I have created five progressive Charts. The first recorded Smith Ancestor of this Family appears to have passed away about 1584.

Here is my first Chart – John Smith of Nottingham, Descendant Chart – Part I.