John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 1380

After a little breather, I return to another Smith family, this one of English descent.  It starts with Isaac Smith, who was born about 1720 in Virginia.  He was the son of William Smith and Elizabeth Downing.  Isaac Smith married Margaret Rucker about 1738.  Margaret was the daughter of Captain John Rucker and Susannah Coghill.

This material came to me from Darryl J. Diemer in an article that was published in Beyond Germanna ten years ago.  Later, he wrote the book, " The Descendants of Richard Smith of Northumberland County, Virginia ", which was published in 1995.

Isaac and Margaret had ten known children, which were proven primarily through land transactions, and the will of Isaac’s brother, Benjamin Smith (Madison Co., VA W.B.1, pp.342-3).  Isaac died in 1802, leaving a will, but the will mentions only one child, and leaves the majority of his estate to grandchildren (Madison W.B.1, pp.344-345).

The children of Isaac Smith, Sr., and Margaret Rucker are:

  1. Winifred Smith, born about 1739, married Peter Fleshman, Jr., and had three children ­ Elisabeth, John (m. Nancy Dunn), and Benjamin (m. Delilah Shirley).
  2. Elisabeth Smith, married William Rucker, her first cousin, and had seven children who are given in the Rucker histories.
  3. Henrietta Smith, married Daniel Hollenback.  She separated from her husband and received a court-ordered maintenance from him.  There was no known issue.
  4. Susannah Smith, married Thomas Standley in 1781, and had one known child ­ Henrietta Standley, who married, in turn Jeremiah Rucker, and William Thornton.
  5. Isaac Smith (II), alias Sims, married a daughter of William Sims, of Culpeper Co., and had one known child, but there are said to be others also.  The child, Isaac Smith (III), married Susannah Smith, daughter of Downing Rucker Smith.  Among the offspring of Isaac Smith (III) and Susannah Smith were Isaac R. Smith (married Matilda Clore), Susannah Smith (married Abel Carpenter), and Barbara.
  6. Melinda Smith, never married, and died in Madison Co. in 1803.
  7. Mary Smith, married Elijah Underwood, and had ten children, including Henrietta Underwood, who married James Aylor.  (See " The Underwood Family of Madison County, Virginia ", by Ben H. Coke.)
  8. William Smith, married Frances Cave, and died in 1802.  He apparently left no heirs, as he left everything to Downing Rucker Smith’s five children.
  9. Edwin Smith (no information), and
  10. Downing Rucker Smith.

We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.