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Zacharias Smith, the son of Michael Smith, Jr., and his wife Anna Magdalena Thomas, is said to have married, first, Ann Elizabeth Fishback, the daughter of John Frederick Fishback and his wife Ann Elizabeth Holtzclaw. The Hebron” baptismal records show Zacharias Schmidt and Anna Schmidt as sponsors of the child Julius Crisler, the son of Johann George Crisler and his wife Anna Magdalena Smith who was the sister of Zacharias. This was in 1767. For the next four children up to 1775, Zacharias was a sponsor without a wife. In 1777, Zacharias was a sponsor for the child Elizabeth of John Smith, Jr., (his brother) and his wife Elizabeth. The Junior designation was perhaps added because his father and grandfather, both christened John Michael Smith, often used both of their given names. In 1777, Zacharias Smith and his wife Sarah Ann deeded away land in 1777 to Henry Field. Zacharias testified that he had raised a crop of corn in Kentucky in 1776, which certainly makes him an early pioneer in Kentucky in the area which became Mercer County. He took out his land rights in 1779-80. Zacharias served during the Revolutionary War in a detachment of Lincoln militia under the command of Ensign John Smith.
The corn growing and the Revolutionary service are the same as for Jacob Holtzclaw, the son of the 1714 colonist. Jacob had married Susannah, the daughter of John Thomas. Remembering that the Smiths all had a Thomas ancestor, in particular their mother, it appears that Zacharias and Susannah Holtzclaw were first cousins.
Zacharias and Sarah Ann made deeds in 1790 and 1805 in Mercer County. In 1800 and 1811 they made deeds to Jesse Smith who, by tradition, was a son of the first wife. Peter Smith, Abraham Smith, and Jeremiah Smith, other witnesses to other deeds.
Zacharias Smith died in Mercer Co., KY, in 1816. In 1817 Sarah Ann Smith deeded to Zachariah, James, and Jesse Smith, and to Joseph Fisher, Robert Ragan, and to Jeremiah, Samuel, and Abraham Smith of Garrard Co., all of rights in the land of her deceased husband, Zachariah, on condition that they pay her $91 annually in accordance with notes that she holds from them. Sarah Ann did not die until 1835 and she mentions her daughter Nancy Ragan’s second son, Reuben G. Ragan. Zacharias Ragan, the eldest son of Nancy, was also mentioned. Three daughters were mentioned, Sally Taylor, Mildred Fisher, and Nancy Ragan. It is believed that all of these people were Sarah Ann’s own children. In the next Note, we give a list of all of the children of Zacharias Smith.
So we are in Kentucky now with family connections to the Smiths, Thomases, Fishers, and Holtzclaws and others.
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(02 Mar 07)
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.