Thanks to the internet,I found someone that knew someone else that knew somebody that was doing research on my particular SMITH family.Found all sorts of information,and have visited with the lady as well. I am descended from Layton SMITH,who died in 1840 in Bledsoe County,Tennessee.The cemetary that he is buried in is about a mile off the East Valley Rd about 9 miles south of Pikeville,TN.Although no marker, we suspect his is that the grave of him and his wife are marked by two large slabs of stone used as grave covers.
Layton SMITH was born about 1754,according to his "claim for pension for Rev.War Services" from 1838,he mentions that he "was born in either Kent or Sussex Counties,near the sea".On some records,people have him as being born in Maryland,but there is no Sussex County in that state.There is a Sussex County in Virginia,as well as a New Kent County in Virginia also.An alternative to either state is Delaware,which has both a Sussex and Kent county.Another possibility,although remote,could be England.During the Revolution,he lived in Washington Counnty,Virginia with his mother.He later lived in Knox(part that later became Anderson County) County,Tennesee,and then Bledsoe County,Tennessee.
He was married to Elizabeth ROBERSON,of Bedford County,Virginia.She was desended from Gill FUQUA. There is an organization called the "FUQUA Foundation"which has in store thousands of Gill Fuqua's descendents. The ROBERSON family came from Scotland,the FUQUA family from France.Gil FUQUA was married to Jane EYRE, she was of English descent.
Layton SMITH and Elizabeth ROBERSON had 7 known children,and the lady named below has a lot of research on thier descendents.The one I am descended from is Aaron SMITH.He lived in Marion County,until after the civil war, when he moved to Walker county,Georgia until the death of his wife,Mary Pauline BROWN.He then moved to Arkansas, where he died and was buried.All that I have on his wife is that the name of her mother was Ruth,and that Ruth died about 1867 at the age of 105.Aaron and his twin boys served in the confederat army,the twins died at Bowling Green, Kentucky of measles.Aaron brought their remains back to Tennessee for burial.He lost all his property during the war.His son James Alexander SMITH fought for the Sixth Tenn.Mtd Inf,this was a Union army regiment, this caused problems between family members.For some reason,the Hamilton County area was pro-union.James was a postmaster and a preacher.He started 3 different Baptist churchs' in the Hamilton County area.
James was married twice,his first wife,Mary Jane VARNER, was my 2great-grandmother.When she died she was buried in the Varner Cemetary on Grant Rd near Soddy-Daisy,TN. James remarried to Mary Ann Bowers.James and his second wife are buried together at the Millsaps Cemetary on Hotwater Rd near Soddy-Daisy,TN.