GEORGE WASHINGTON SMITH
submitted by Joy Gough
and updated by John Greer
Veteran of Texas War for Independence
George Washington Smith, who spent his last years in Collin County, Texas,
was a veteran of the Texas War for Independence.
He lived in Texas for 42 years, coming in 1834,
after he had served with Andrew Jackson in Indian fighting and in the War of
1812.
He knew Texas as a Republic, as a Confederate State and as part of the Union. He
was a soldier, a Texas Ranger, a citizen with a family, and a public official in
his home community.
Smith was born in present Wilson County, Tennessee, ca.1795.
His parents were George Smith and Elizabeth Barksdale, both of whom died in
Wilson County, Tennessee.
As a teenager, he was with Andrew Jackson in Indian fighting in Alabama and
other states. During the War of 1812, Smith was with Jackson again at the Battle
of New Orleans. He told his descendants about fighting behind a breast work of
palmetto logs and cotton bales. He was near enough to witness the fall of the
British officer, Packenham.
Some time between 1815 and 1817, he married Elizabeth Briggs, a Cherokee
Indian, born ca.1800 in North Carolina.
Their children, four daughters, were Mary (1818-1902), Jerusha (ca.1825-1899),
Jane Martha (1827-1901), and Hester Ann for whom no birth date is recorded. She
was born about 1833 in Missouri just before the family came to Texas in 1834 and
died about 1856.
Their home was established at the head of Bois d'Arc Creek in Red River
County, Texas.
As Texas drifted toward the War for Independence from Mexico, Smith attended
meetings in the locality where he lived and helped to select representatives to
attend consultations in other locations. By 1835 he joined with his neighbors,
including Ben Milam, to go where the trouble with Mexico was brewing.
He was the first to the side of Ben Milam when Milam said, "Who will go with
old Ben Milam into San Antonio?" He was with Milam when he advanced from house
to house to the center of San Antonio.
When Milan received "a shot as he ran in the open, he died in the arms of a
man named Smith," so reported a newspaper in Van Alstyne, Texas, years later.
Family tradition gives the same story.
Smith re-enlisted several times,
going home between enlistments to make a crop for his family's welfare. He later
told his grandsons about being in the Batt1e of San Jacinto. His name is among
those listed on San Jacinto Monument.
Other re-enlistments continued until May 31, 1838, according to pay vouchers.
Then later he joined the group wanting to drive the Mexicans far back into
Mexico. His group was captured at Mier in 1842. Smith, serving with Pierson, was
among those the Mexicans captured at Mier and took toward Mexico City. Smith was
one who escaped.
After hard days of travel, he returned to his home in Fannin County.
About 1870 he showed is grandsons a large knife and told them that it had
he1ped him to escape. They saw the historical knife many times; but at his death
about 1876, the boys could not find it.
After 1845, when Texas joined the Union, Smith again left his home, this time
to join the Texas Rangers.
He served as a sergeant with Capt. Preston Witt, according to a grant he
received for 160 acres of land for this service.
Family stories tell that he was with the Rangers that captured Mexico City. His
discharge papers, dated January, 1848, stated that he served in Company K of the
First Regiment of Texas Cavalry, Volunteers.
After that service, Smith, his wife, their daughters and their families left
Fannin County, where Smith had been constable.
They traveled the few miles Southward and settled in what became Blue Ridge,
Collin County, Texas. In 1852 he built a substantial house on the Whitewright
Road and became a community leader.
In 1861, an election box was placed in his home as citizens voted on the
question of secession from the Union. The Smith box reported 100% against
secession. But when the state as a whole voted in favor of secession, Smith joined
the majority in helping all he could. He furnished equipment for his sons-in-law
and others also, he took their wives and children under his care while the men
were gone to the fighting. At the end of the War, an election box was placed in
his home as people voted on the state constitution.
Although he was in his sixties when the Civil War was declared, he tried to
join the ranks. His descendants told him, "Grandpa, you are too old. You stay
here and raise us something to eat." He argued that he knew more, was more
experienced, than the young men. But officials would not enlist him
At the time of his final illness, he was on his way to perform some act of a
public nature, traveling in a hack driven by his son-in-law. According to his
grandson Sidney Langham, Smith was returned home when he became ill and had time
to remove only one of his boots before he died. Thus he died with one boot still
on.
He died in his home in l872 and was buried first in a shallow grave near what
became the entrance to the present Blue Ridge Cemetery. Later, his remains were removed to the old Grounds Cemetery, a mile north
and 1/4 mile west of his first resting place.
His present grave site in Grounds Cemetery has a marker placed by his
descendants in 1979. The location of the grave is known by Smith's great-grandchildren.
Smith's daughters, Mary, Jane Martha, and Hester Ann, are buried in Grounds
Cemetery, though Hester Ann's grave is not marked. Jerusha is buried in the
Alma, Oklahoma, cemetery. In Collin County today, Smith has descendants named
Christian, Hanson, Hart, Cantrell and others.
Today the Grounds Cemetery is not easily accessible. Since the Blue Ridge
Cemetery was developed at the site of Smith's original burial place adjoining
the former Smith property, it is the better place for a historical marker for
all to see and pay honor to a veteran of the Texas War for Independence.
August, 1978
Footnotes
1. Land Grant Certificate #456, File 232, Red River Co.,
Texas, March 15, 1838., (copy attached)
2. Ibid.
3. Family stories.
4. Collin County, Texas, Census. Also discharge from Mexican
War in which Smith had used a younger age. (copies attached)
5. Research done by
John Greer.
6. Family stories.
7. Collin County, Texas, Census.
8. Collin County, Texas, Census and grave stones.
9. Land grant Certificate #456.(see footnote #l)
10. Family stories.
11. Family stories.
12. Family stories. Newspaper clipping from 1940's has been
lost.
13. Pay vouchers. (copies attached)
14. "The Honor Roll of the Battle."
15. Pay vouchers. (copies attached)
16. John Henry Brown, History of Texas, Vol. II.
17. Family stories.
18. Mexican War discharge, (copies attached)
19. Land Warrant #33858. (copy attached)
20. Mexican War discharge.
21. Fannin County Records
22. J. Lee and Lillian J. Stambaugh, History of Collin
County, Texas, p. 64.
23. Family stories.
24. Family stories.
25. Research done by John Greer, deed and tax records.
26. Family stories.
27. Research done by John Greer.
Historical marker, 1979
GEORGE WASHINGTON SMITH
(1796?-1876?)
BORN IN WILSON
COUNTY, TENNESSEE,
GEORGE
WASHINGTON SMITH CAME
TO TEXAS IN
1834 WITH HIS WIFE
ELIZABETH
BRIGGS. HE FOUGHT IN THE
TEXAS WAR FOR
INDEPENDENCE (1835-36)
AS A PRIVATE
IN CAPT. CLENDENNIN'S
COMPANY, 1ST
REGIMENT ARTILLERY.
IN THE MEXICAN
WAR (1846-48), HE SERVED
AS A SERGEANT
IN COMPANY K, 1ST
REGIMENT OF
THE TEXAS RANGERS,
UNDER COL.
JOHN COFFEE (JACK) HAYS.
THE SMITH
FAMILY SETTLED IN
COLLIN COUNTY
IN 1852. WHEN SMITH
DIED ABOUT
1876, HE WAS BURIED
NEAR THE
ENTRANCE OF THE PRESENT
BLUE RIDGE
CEMETERY. LATER HIS
GRAVE WAS
MOVED TO THE GROUNDS
CEMETERY (1.25
MILES NORTHWEST).
Surname Index
Recommended Citation:
"George Washington Smith,
EARLY SETTLERS OF COLLIN COUNTY." Collin County, Texas History
and Genealogy Webpage by Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries, Inc., <http://www.geocities/genfriendsghl>
[Accessed Fri February 13, 2004 ].
| 