Two Susannah Chesleys Married Two John Smiths in Two Different Colonies, Causing Two Times the Confusion
Susannah Chesley: 1677-1746 (Maternal 7th
Great-Grandaunt)
Captain John Smith: 1669-1744 (Husband of Maternal 7th
Great-Grandaunt)
I have been using Ancestry’s Tree Checker tool to identify
and correct errors in my tree. The program recently suggested that Sarah
Chesley, a 7th great-grandaunt, was a possible duplicate. The
program suggested Sarah was the same person as her sister Susannah. While I
rejected that possibility, as I glanced at Susannah’s Fact page in my tree, I
noticed some peculiarities. It turns out that I did have duplicates in my tree,
but it wasn’t Sarah being the same as Susannah—it appeared I had combined two
different Susannah Chesleys. They were both born in the 1670s and both married
men named John Smith. But they were born in different colonial towns to
different parents. I had made a rookie mistake: accepting Ancestry hints
without verifying them, blindly following other people who had combined the two
women.
My Susannah Chesley was born in 1677 in Durham, New
Hampshire, to parents Thomas Chesley and Elizabeth Thomas Chesley. Susannah
married John Smith on June 17, 1694. He was born January 9, 1669 to parents
Joseph Smith and Elizabeth Bickford Smith of Oyster River.
 |
| Map of Oyster River area in late 1600s. |
The other Susannah Chesley was born in 1668 in Stonington,
Connecticut. Her parentage is unclear. She married John Smith in 1691. That
John Smith was born July 13, 1672 in Watertown, Massachusetts, also supposedly
to a Joseph Smith and Elizabeth Bickford. Obviously that was incorrect, as Joseph
Smith and Elizabeth Bickford lived in New Hampshire. I found another researcher,
Brad Stauf, who had compiled information
on the Connecticut family and listed John Smith’s parents as Daniel Smith and
Mary Grant of Massachusetts. I find his evidence, posted on Findagrave,
persuasive.
So I had determined that the two John and Susannah Smiths
lived in two different colonies. Each couple had given birth to multiple
children, and I had erroneously added both sets of children to my tree. To my
horror, I realized I had poor Susannah giving birth to fifteen children over
the space of twenty years. It was a hideous mess. My tree even had three
children—Jerusha, John and Joshua-- born in the same year in different states,
and had several similar sounding children’s names (John Joseph, Josiah.
Joshua)—how was I going to untangle this? How had I failed to notice that some
children were born in Stonington, Connecticut and others in Oyster River, New
Hampshire, 170 miles away? People simply didn’t travel back and forth over such
distances in the 17th century.
 |
| Map of New Hampshire, 1700s |
I found one source, an old family genealogy book titled “The
Smiths of Oyster River” which had a list of children the editors attributed
to the Oyster River Smith family. This was a wonderful starting point, and it
was reinforced by another book entitled Colonial Families of the United
States of America, which listed the same eight children.
I began clearing up my mistakes by removing any of
Susannah’s children that were born in Stonington. The names piled up: Hannah,
Jerusha, Joshua, Margaret, Daniel, Esther, Ephraim, Josiah, Silas, and Lucy. I
removed ten children that were from the Connecticut family.
That left me with only five children that had likely been
born in Oyster Rive to the correct Susannah Chesley and John Smith. All
five—John, Elizabeth, Joseph, Samuel and Benjamin—were on the lists of children
from the two genealogy books. But the books listed an additional three children
who needed to be added to the tree: Hannah, Ebenezer and Winthrop.
I then set out to find primary sources for the eight Oyster
River Smith children. I was able to find birth records for all eight children.
Additional records, including their deaths, marriages and children, were more
spotty. But at least I was able to verify that John and Susannah Chesley Smith
gave birth to those eight children in the Durham/Oyster River area of New Hampshire.
I also found some interesting information about John Smith
in a genealogy book by Ballard Smith, Jr. (see citation below) that gives a
small glimpse into the Smith family’s lives.
Ballard Smith wrote: “It was [John Smith] who ‘defended
so successfully’ the garrison at the mouth of Oyster River, then commanded by
his father, the attack upon it being made when he was but just finishing his
honeymoon, his marriage to Susanna Chesley having been consummated but a few
weeks before. It is to be presumed, however, that there was neither much
opportunity nor leisure for overmuch sentiment in those days, with the new and
untrodden lands to be brought into the service of civilization and the constant
incursions of hostile savages to be prepared for at all seasons, and to be
resisted vigorously when made.”
What a way for poor Susannah to start her married life—under
attack by native tribes. I hope that there was a bit more “sentiment” involved
despite the danger. At least they and the house survived the attack. The
garrison stood until the late 1880s.
 |
| Painting of the Smith Garrison House, Unknown artist, 1890s |
Ballard Smith noted that John Smith was “unusually active
and industrious” and that despite “the small patrimony that his father left
him, he had amassed a very considerable fortune” over his lifetime. He wrote:
“Capt. John commenced his business life as a land
surveyor, in which connection his name is frequently met with in the town
records, and, with the farm at Lubberland as the homestead, gradually added to
his property, until he became one of the largest real estate owners and
wealthiest men in his section. He owned almost the entire shore of Great Bay
from Lamprey River to Crommet's Creek, nearly four miles in extent…”
Illustration of early 1700s surveying equipment similar to what John Smith used
In addition to real estate, John Smith operated two profitable
sawmills along the Lamprey River. He also served as Selectman of the town of
Dover repeatedly during the period between 1711 and 1727. Ballard Smith also
approvingly noted his ancestor’s generosity, writing:
“He seems to have kept "open house" at the
garrison, and tradition glows with its accounts of the liberality and
hospitality displayed by the father and sons at the old homestead. They seem to
have made an excellent use of their large wealth.”
Crommet's Creek, New Hampshire. Land possibly owned by John Smith
John Smith died May 14, 1744. Susannah Chesley Smith died
two years later on March 24, 1746. He was 75 years old and she was 69 years
old. I have found no record to indicate where they were buried, which is not
surprising as there were few formal cemeteries at that time.
I am so glad that Ancestry’s Tree Checker sent me on this
journey. Not only did I correct multiple errors in my tree, but I also found
interesting information about a colonial family and life in 17th
century New Hampshire.
Sources:
Colonial Families of the United States of America,
1607-1775. Mackenzie, George Norbury, and Nelson Osgood Rhoades, editors.
Volume III. “John Smith”. Page 516. 1912. Reprinted, Baltimore: Genealogical
Publishing Co., Inc., 1966, 1995. Ancestry.com.
Findagrave notes by Brad Stauf on Connecticut and New
Hampshire John Smiths. https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/46986934/person/322298746932/media/8e62f29e-d62c-45e7-bafa-3f916b8cfde0?galleryindex=1&sort=-created
A genealogical record of the Smiths of Oyster River from
the first settler in 1630 to 1874: with some account of the immediate ancestors
of Hon. Valentine Smith and his descendants / Ballard Smith, Jr.. Durham,
NH : Courier-Journal Print, 1874. Ancestry.com.
Painting of Smith Garrison House, Unknown Artist. Circa
1890.
The Practical Surveyor or the Art of Land Measuring Made
Easy. Wyld, Samuel. London. J. Hooke and J. Sisson. 1725. Illustration.
Map of Oyster River, 1600s. https://www.durhamnh.gov/
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