LEE J. Smith, Rusk Co. TX

LEE J. SMITH

Submitted by Gloria B. Mayfield ( 7-12-2000)

Lee J. Smith was born April 6, 1843 in Briefings, Bibb County, Alabama to Jacob and Elizabeth Smith. He was the grandson of Adam Smidt who immigrated to the United States from Germany around the turn of the 19th century and settled in Bibb County, Alabama. Some descendants still live on the farm owned by Adam Smidt (Smith).

Lee worked on the family farm until the Civil War started. According to a Soldier's Application for a Pension in the state of Texas, record no. 33384, he stated he enlisted in Company H of the 29th Alabama Regiment. He was discharged May 1865, at Greensboro, N.C.

He returned to Bibb County, Texas where he married Mary J. Milstead December 28, 1865 at the age of 22. He resumed being a farmer.

He filed his application for the soldier's pension on Sep 11, 1916 and received one until his death in 1930. At the time of the application, he testified that he owned real estate valued at $700.00 and had personal property valued at $100.00.

He moved his family to Rusk County, Texas and started a farm on RR 2 near Henderson in 1877. He continued to live here until his death April 7, 1930 from influenza as attested to by an undertaker and a doctor reporting the death to the Texas Department of Pensions.

A relative, U.V. Waldrop provided a story regarding Lee Smith's belief that the family could strike it rich in the oil fields around Henderson.

"His family had informed Lee Smith to meet them at 4.30 PM at the railroad station. They arrived at 4.30 AM instead of the PM. They had no way to find Lee Smith so they had to stay at the railroad station. My grandfather left his wife and four children at the railroad station. He hired a man in a buggy to take him to hunt oil. My grandmother was expecting a child and became very sick when she couldn't control the children. She got so mad at my grandfather she took their money and
bought tickets back to Alabama. and had all their furniture returned. My grandfather arrived at 4.00 PM to be informed if he wanted to live with her and the children it would be in Ala. She refused to listen to his pleading and boarded the train when it arrived at 4:30 PM They greeted Uncle Lee and his family and said goodbye My grandfather saw he couldn't change her mind so he rushed up for his ticket. He always said he would have been rich had she stayed with him.

"My father took him back to see Uncle Lee in a Model T. Ford as a young man to see what he could have had if he had lived in Texas. He returned with my father. I have one of the trunks they shipped to Henderson Texas in 1890 with S.N. Waldrop written in black on the bottom..Grandfather had leased out his farm in Alabama when they went to Texas. When they returned, they could not get the farm back, so they lived in it for six months. Minervia Waldrop remembers Uncle Lee visiting her family in Alabama. She has a letter that Uncle Lee wrote to her mother describing his farm in Texas.

Lee J. Smith kept his Confederate Uniform and wore it at parades and memorial functions for many years.

Lee Smith's genealogical record:

1. Adam (Smidt) Smith Born: Jul 1767 - Germany Died: Apr 26, 1846 - Randolf, Alabama Marr: Elizabeth Smith
Born: Oct 17, 1763 - Germany Died: - Randolf, Alabama

1-A. Jacob Smith (5th of 8 children) Born: 1805 - North Carolina Died: Apr 7, 1867 - Brierfield, Alabama Marr: Oct 4, 1835
Elizabeth Smith

1-B. Lee J. Smith (3rd of 6 children) Born: Apr 6, 1843 - Brierfield, Alabama Died: Apr 7, 1930 - Henderson, Texas
Marr: Dec 28, 1865 - Brierfield, Alabama (1) Mary J. Milstead Born: Jan 12, 1843 Died: May 11, 1880

1-C. Alfred V. Smith (1868 - 1912)

2-C. Rosana Smith (1871 - 1903)

3-C. Martha Frances Smith (1874 - 1946)

4-C. John E. Smith (1877 - 1919) Marr: 1880 - Henderson, Texas (2) America Crim Honeycutt Born: Died: 1913

All of Lee J. Smith's children were born in Rusk County, Texas, and several of them lived there until their deaths. My grandfather, Alfred V. Smith moved to Oklahoma in 1908.