Scott County, Tennessee
FNB Chronicles

This page was created 06 Sep 2008

[FNB EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is an excerpt from the author's manuscript "The Henry Clay Smith Family," Copyright 2004]

Drewery Smith was born August 18, 1794, the son of William Smith and Suzan Lampkin. Drewery served in the War of 1812 and fought in the Battle of New Orleans. He was known as "Red" Drew as he had reddish blond hair but his beard was more red. He was one of the founders of Scott County, Tennessee.

Taken from Dusty Bits of the Forgotten Past, author H. Clay Smith stated: "My grandfather, Drury (Drewery) Smith, and his wife came from Virginia — I don't know just what time — and my grandmother Smith (Sally) and her people came from South Carolina.

Drewery Smith married Polly Tye. The Tyes had left South Carolina shortly after the Revolutionary War. They were from French Huguenot descent.

Their children were:

1. Drewery Smith (II)
2. Kisiah Smith
3. Jane Smith
4. Jackson G. Smith
5. William F. Smith
6. Henry C. Smith
7. John Smith

Drewery Smith educated his children at home.

Continued from Dusty Bits of the Forgotten Past, in 1838, (Drewery was around 44 years old) when the Cherokees were to be removed to Oklahoma. Drewery and Sam Walker were among those taking part in the transfer, now known as "The Trail of Tears." As the Indians began to fall by the wayside, many of them became rebellious and had to be shot and corralled very rudely, according to the report the writer had from his grandparent, Drewery Smith.

He and Walker first became disgusted with the state of affairs with regard to some of their Cherokee friends they had helped to round up and to whom they had promised many good things.

"The kind acts of these two toward certain of the tribesmen, in the face of the cruel treatment by the government, served only to arouse mistrust in the Indians. Sensing this, Smith and Walker began to fear that if they could not get the authorities to let up on these people, that their own lives and those of their families stood in imminent danger from secret attacks by this incensed red mob. Consequently they began to help one or more of the number to escape each day, until they reached the Sequatchie Valley."

"At this point, Smith and Walker turned back, together with a few of the friendly Indians who had escaped from day to day, afraid to go any further, in spite of the help they had given, fearing that the Cherokees would make it to the Smith and Walker homes and wreak revenge on the families of the two. To the credit of the red warriors, however, those fears proved unfounded."

Drewery Smith was baptized by Preacher John Lay and joined the New Salem Church on Smith Creek. He was 80 years old when he was converted. He was a great fiddler who fiddled for all square dances, traveling extensively often to do so as many Irishmen did. When he was baptized, he came out of the water and said, "Bless the Lord, the Devil has lost a fiddler."

Kisiah (daughter of Drewery Smith I), was born January 11, 1817. According to family legend, she was never married and each of her children had a different father.

Sources list her having five children. They are listed below:

1. Jackson Smith
2. William Turner Polston Smith
3. Henry Clay Carney Smith
4. John L. Phiffer Smith
5. George Washington Smith

Jackson Smith is the son of Kisiah Smith and unknown father. Some sources indicate that his father may have been a Crabtree. He was born February 26, 1836. He is listed as Jackson, Andrew Jackson, and Jackson G. He was born on Smith Creek, which was then part of Campbell County, and later became part of Scott County. He was probably reared in the home of his grandfather (Drewery), who helped to form Scott County.

In 1855, Jackson married Rebecca Thomas. Apparently, a daughter named Mary Ann was born to them. In the 1860 Census for Scott County, a girl named Mary Ann, age 2, is listed under the household of Polly Smith (wife of Drewery I). This could be the daughter of Jackson Smith and Rebecca Thomas. Kisiah (mother of Jackson) was part of this household. Mary Ann may have been reared primarily by Kisiah. Jackson and Rebecca were later divorced and she married a Sexton. Mary Ann was married twice. Her first marriage (probably) was to Jonathan Blevins, who drowned in the Big South Fork River. They may have had the following children: Harvey Blevins and Crawford Blevins. Her second marriage was to Lewis Burke. He obtained a license to operate a post office at the mouth of Parch Corn Creek in No Business and named it Elva, Tennessee. He was killed by a train in Winfield in 1909.

By 1860, he had married Melinda Terry, daughter of Josiah Terry. They had eleven children:

1. James Monroe
2. Kisiah
3. Henry Clay
4. Joseph
5. Nancy Ellen
6. John Lampkin
7. Martha Elizabeth
8. Vianna (twin)
9. Savannah (twin)
10. Melvina Priscilla
11. Robert Houston

Henry Clay II was the third child of Jackson Smith and Melinda Terry Smith. Both the Smiths and the Terrys were among the earliest settlers in the Scott County-Oneida area. Henry Clay was born February 25, 1865. He was born in the closing days of the Civil War and was named after his father's brother, Henry Clay, who was a soldier in the Northern army.

Henry Clay Smith II married Lucinda Phylana Terry. She is descended from Josiah Terry, one of the early settlers of Pine Creek, as Oneida was first known. Her grandfather was James (Jim) Terry and her father was Martin Terry.

Henry Clay & Lucinda Terry Smith in 1914 Portait

The Henry Clay & Lucinda Terry Smith of Oneida and their fifteen children

The boys in the barn, stair-stepping sons of Henry Clay and Lucinda Terry Smith

The Smith and Terry families had been joined earlier by the marriage of Jackson Smith to Melinda Terry. Melinda was the daughter of Josiah Terry. Lucinda was a grandniece of Melinda (her brother's granddaughter). This would have made Henry Clay and Lucinda second cousins. Cousins marrying each other was not uncommon in that time and culture.

Another well-known ancestor of Lucinda Terry was her great-grandfather Isaac Smith. Isaac Smith's daughter, Tilda (Pop/Poppy) married James (Jim) Terry. Their son Martin Terry was the father of Lucinda. He was born in 1845 and died in 1867. He is buried in the Carson Family Cemetery. He and his wife Louranie Marcum Smith had three children: Millie, Lucinda and Vetile. He died before the birth of Lucinda. About a year later, Lucinda's mother married a Charles Foster and had one more child.

Indications are that Lucinda, her sister Millie, and her brother Vetile probably grew up in the home of their grandparents, James and Tilda Terry.

Henry Clay (also known as Henry and H. C.) and Lucinda had fifteen children: ten boys and five girls. They are listed below.

1. Harlin S.
2. Florence Elva
3. Elmer
4. Carl Esker
5. Viola (Ola)
6. Charlie Virgil
7. John Quincy
8. Clarence Lee,
9. Laurence Clifton
10. Lory Harold
11. Zelta Beatrice
12. Henry Clay, Jr.
13. Roma Hazel
14. Larna Corneal
15. Othal Howard

Harlin S. Smith was born April 25, 1886 and died September 15, 1949. He is buried in the Smith Family Cemetery. He married Martha Craig. They had the following children: Pearl, Ernest Paul, Harold Leroy, Kenneth Eugene, Millard, Laurence Edward, Johnny Earl, Glen Harold, Virginia Lee, Donald, Frances Marion, and Jane Carlene.

Florence Elva Smith was born March 21, 1888 and died March 21, 1971. (She died on her birthday). She is buried in the Smith Family Cemetery. She married William Elzey (Bill) Thompson. They had the following children: Golda Geneva, William Audley, Clarence Lee, Henry Caldwell, Gonzola Irene, Mary Louise, Raymond Harold, John Roy and others that died at birth or soon after.

Elmer H. Smith was horn April 5, 1890 and died September 18, 1968. He is buried in the Smith Family Cemetery. He married Opal Mays and had the following children: Dillard, Darius, Thomas, Raymond (died young), and Shirley. His wife died at the same time their son died. She is buried in the Marcum Cemetery. He married a second time to Lena Hurt Kyle. She had one son by a previous marriage, E. J. Kyle.

Carl Esker Smith was born on January 27, 1892 and died February 4, 1960. He is buried in the Smith Family Cemetery. He married Wilamae Hyder from Old Rugby, Morgan County Tennessee. They had the following children: Jimmy and Louis (probably her sons by an earlier marriage), and a daughter AnnaLou Smith.

Viola (Ola) Smith was born December 16, 1893 and died on March 24, 1984. She is buried in the Smith Family Cemetery. Ola married Rev. William Calvin Marcum on August 14, 1915. Her husband was Baptist minister and served as pastor of the Pine Creek Baptist Church for many years. They had the following children: James Howard (who died at about age ten from hydrophobia), Wilma Carlene, William Henry (known as Henry) and John Allen.

Chalyle Virgil Smith was known in the family as Virgil. He was born September 11, 1895 (the date of birth on his tombstone is November 9) and died on May 20, 1961. He is buried in the Smith Family Cemetery. They had one child: a daughter named Aileen (Alene).

John Quincy Smith was born January 16, 1897 and died May 21, 1966. He was buried in the Smith Family Cemetery but died in Roseburg, Oregon. Ile married Bertie Alcorn and they had two children: Wilma Imogene and John Quincy, Jr. They were divorced, and he moved to Oregon.

Clarence Lee Smith (known in the family as Lee) was born December 28, 1898 and died May 18, 1977. He is buried in the Marcum Cemetery. He married Sallie Smith.

Laurence Clifton Smith (known as Star because of his athletic abilities) was born April 25, 1900 and died July 12, 1949. He is buried in the Smith Family Cemetery. He married Thelma Severine Tallasen October 1, 1926. Their children were: Laurence Carlyle, Clara Jo, Barbara Ann, Thomas Clifton, Alma Lucinda, William Henry and Robert Lee.

Lory Harold Smith was born June 19, 1902 and died August 7, 1985. He is buried in the Smith Family Cemetery. He married Rebecca West Goodman. She is buried in the Litton Family Cemetery beside her first husband, Marion Goodman. Lory and Rebecca did not have any children.

Henry Clay Smith, Jr. was born February 14, 1906 and died March 26, 1971. He is buried in the Smith Family Cemetery. He married Eulus Williams and they had one child, Patricia.

Zelta Beatrice Smith was born May 22, 1904 and died April 29, 1957. She is buried in the Smith Family Cemetery. She was a school teacher. She never married and did not have any children.

Roma Hazel Smith was born June 18, 1907 and died December 14, 1990. She is buried in the Smith Family Cemetery along with her husband Sherman Espy Fetterman (known as Espy). They had twins who died at birth and two other children: Lou Katherine and Sherman. Both of these are deceased and buried in the Smith Family Cemetery.

Larna Corneal Smith (known as Corneal) was born July 5, 1910 and died June 17, 1996, and is buried in Florida. She married Hall Hathaway Frye and moved to Tampa, Florida. She had one daughter, Jane, who married Thomas Ray Goldston.

Othal Howard Smith (known in the family as Howard) was born May 11, 1912 and died February 1, 1966. He married Elizabeth Blevins. They had four children: Sharon, Phillip, Kenny and Debbie.

Sons of H. Clay Smith, Sr. almost make up a baseball team of their own

The H. Clay Smith, Sr. home on Coopertown Rd., Oneida. Destroyed by fire in the 1980s.

FNB Chronicle, Vol. 18, No. 1 – Fall 2006
First National Bank
P.O. Box 4699
Oneida, TN 37841
(p10-11)

This page was created by Timothy N. West and is copyrighted by him. All rights reserved.