In Their Own Words (Part 3)

And now we come to the third and final part of Grandpa Solomon King Smith's handwritten letter to his neice, Tennessee Wolford. Parts one and two of the letter supply many names for the genealogical record books and explain the origins of the Smiths (originally Schmidtt) into the Virginias and Kentucky areas. This third part of the letter continues the explanation of one of the Daugherty family members. (Grandpa Solomon Smith's grandmother was a Daughterty -- Leveniah Daugherty, daughter of Hiram Daugherty, from Donegal, Ireland. Leveniah married Jonathan Smith, son of Martin Brosten Smith, of the Schmidt family from Duesmond Germany. ) This portion of the letter continues the explanation of Solomon's Aunt Tilda Daugherty and mentions his grandmother Sallie Ann Coleman May (Sarah Ann was her real name). The letter finishes with Grandpa Solomon's closing of his letter telling Tennessee that he and his brother Scott (Smith) had recently attended church (Primitive Baptist Faith) in Paw Paw. The church was so far away and neither Grandpa or Scott drove at that time, so they hired a May relative to take them to church and back. Part 3 of the letter is translated below:

"(You may know that Aunt Tilda Daugherty was Jim and W.A. Lawyer) Daughterty's mother. She married one George Daugherty and died while the children were small. Grandma May's name was Sallie Ann (Sarah Ann was the actual name with Sallie being the nickname. Sarah's maiden name was Coleman, she was a granddaughter of Peter Coleman.) Well, me and Scott went to Paw Paw church Saturday and came back. We hired a May to take us up and back. Heard some good Preaching. Will I guess this is all for now and will say by for now from your Uncle SK Smith."

Grandpa Smith was born in 1882 and died in 1972 at the age of 90. He is buried in the Phillips Cemetery in Merrimac, West Virginia. His wife, Louisa Ann Coleman Smith is buried beside him but her resting place is marked only by a rock with the initials LAS carved upon it. There was seldom money for proper burial markers in the mountains in those times so this was common practice at the time.

I hope you have enjoyed this sharing of my family history and meeting my Grandpa Smith...in his own words!