Surname: Smith

The Smith surname is part of the heritage of Rosmer P. Kerr. His sixth great-grandfather was:

• William Smith of Wethersfield and later Farmington, Connecticut. He married Elizabeth Standley on 16 August 1644; they had nine children. He died in 1670. William and Elizabeth were my eighth great-grandparents.
  
• Joseph Smith of Farmington, born 25 August 1655. He appears to have had five children with his first wife, Lydia, the first being born about 1681. He married Joanna Loomis on 20 November 1691* and fathered eight more children. Based on these dates, it appears Joseph and Joanna were my seventh great-grandparents.
  
• Ruth Smith, christened 9 December 1694 in Farmington, Connecticut. She married Joseph Sedgwick on 24 January 1723 at Hartford, Connecticut. Joseph and Ruth were my sixth great-grandparents.

Smith is one of my many New England surnames that I haven't yet sought documentation for. To be honest, it's not high on my list of priorities at this point, because I have plenty left to do among more recent generations. Still, I hope at some point to learn more about this line, especially concerning the question of whether Ruth Smith was the daughter of Joanna Loomis, as seems likely based on dates from the Loomis genealogy, or whether she was actually the daughter of Joseph Smith's first wife Lydia, as Savage suggests. See below.

James Savage on the Smith Family:

SMITH, William, Wethersfield 1644, br. of Christopher of Northampton, where prob. he did not seat hims. till ten or a dozen yrs. later, but must have been here at W. with William, or at Hartford with the other brs. Joseph, and Simon, and sis. Mary Partridge; m. 16 Aug. 1644, Eliz. Standley, perhaps d. of Timothy, made elk. of the milit. comp. next yr. perhaps was of Middletown 1649, for there are rec. b. of his first six ch. tho. prob. the first two were b. at W. viz. Jonathan, 20 Jan. 1647; Jobanah, 2 Jan. 1649; Susanna, 20 Mar. 1651; Eliz. and Mehitable, tw. 20 May 1653 ; and Joseph, 25 Aug. 1655; rem. to Farmington soon aft. join. the ch. and brot. Joseph to bapt. 15 Mar. 1657, and there had Benjamin, bapt. prob. 11 (not 14, as in Geneal. Reg. XI. 325) Apr. 1658; William, b. Apr. 1661; and Samuel, May 1664; was in the list of freem. 1669, and d. early next yr. His wid. Eliz. d. 1678, and three of the nine ch. d. in the interval, viz. Eliz. William, and Jobanah, wh. was a soldier in Capt. Newberry's comp. in Philip's war, k. by the Ind. Three of his s. Jonathan, Joseph, and Samuel, liv. at F. but nothing is kn. of their condit. [p. 136]

SMITH, Joseph, Farmington, s. of William, by first w. Lydia had Joseph, b. a. 1681; Lydia; both bapt. prob. 17 Aug. 1684, tho. the rec. as giv. in Geneal. Reg. XII. 147, says 18, wh. was Monday ; Jobanna, 12 Apr. 1685; Mary, 30 Jan. 1687; Eliz. 16 Feb. 1690; Joanna, b. 15, bapt . 16 Oct. 1692 ; Ruth, bapt. 1 Dec. 1694; Susanna, b. 20 Apr. 1698; Thankful, 4 Nov. 1700; Mercy, 6 Aug. 1702; Esther, 30 Oct. 1705; Experience, bapt. prob. 11 July 1708; and Zephaniah, b. 16 Feb. 1710, d. young; but prob. the last two were b. by a sec. w. Joanna Loomis. [p. 125]

Savage, James, John Farmer, and O. P. Dexter. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1860.

Starr, Frank Farnsworth, and James Junius Goodwin. Various Ancestral Lines of James Goodwin and Lucy (Morgan) Goodwin of Hartford, Connecticut. Hartford, Conn.: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Press, 1915. [See excerpt The Family of William Smith at My Ancestors in Books, or download a PDF of the Smith article from The Vertical File.]

New England Historic Genealogical Society. The New England Historical & Genealogical Register and Antiquarian Journal. Boston: S.G. Drake, 1853. [See Church Records of Farmington, Conn., Vol. 12, p. 147.]

*Loomis, Elias. The Descendants of Joseph Loomis: Who Came from Braintree, England, in the Year 1638, and Settled in Windsor, Connecticut, in 1639. New Haven: Tuttle, Morehouse and Taylor, 1870. Republished Rutland, Vt: Tuttle Antiquarian Books, 1990.