A reader asks if I can identify the John Smith who married Jemima Yager in the last quarter of the Eighteenth Century. I cannot do this positively but if I were forced to make a guess I would say his father was Nicholas Smith. Let me make that last statement even weaker. I would say that John Smith, son of Nicholas Smith, should be investigated as a possible candidate.
There were three broad Smith families in the Robinson River Valley, two "German" and one "English". Matthias Schmidt, the 1717 immigrant, had a son Nicholas, who in turn had a son John who has never been assigned a marriage. Nicholas married Mary Magdalena Reiner, who came about 1750. Therefore the son John would not be an impossible husband for Jemima, who, by my notes, is assigned a birth of 1772.
Michael Schmidt, the other German Smith family, also came in 1717. He had a son Michael (both sometimes used Johann as the first name). Michael, Jr., had a son John who moved to Kentucky quite early (there is no record in the RRV after 1777). So there are no candidate Johns in this family.
The English Smith family, from Isaac Smith who married Margaret Rucker, had four sons born just about the middle of the century. None of these had sons named John. (I did not explore the next generation.)
In the Culpeper Classes of 1782, in Class 93 there is a John Smith (the only one in the Classes). Other members of the class are Adam Yager and Godfrey Yager. Also, in this class there is a Nicholas Smith. Thus we could have as neighbors, John Smith, his father, and his possible father-in-law. This juxtaposition, combined with the lack of any marriage for John Smith, makes me wonder if the husband (second one) of Jemima (Yager) Yager might not be this John Smith. (The first husband of Jemima Yager was Nicholas Yager.)
Though there is only one John Smith in the 1782 Culpeper Classes; the 1787 personal property tax list for Culpeper is loaded with John Smiths. So the evidence that I have presented here might not be evidence after all but merely a guide to where look in more detail.
The Jemima Yager in the "Hebron" Baptismal lists and in the "Hebron" Communion Lists is the daughter of Michael Yager and Elizabeth Crigler who is slightly older.
The books mentioned here except the tax lists are available from me. Send me an email for more information.
(06 Nov 03)
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.