According to several sets of bible records, Reuben Smith was born 08 jun 1767. He married Sarah Beach Clark about 1788. The family moved from somewhere in Pennsylvania to Adams County, Ohio about 1803. He died in Adams County, Ohio on 25 sep 1840. The precise birthplaces of his children who were born before 1803 do not seem to be recorded. Census records tell us that the first child, Sally, was born in Massachusetts (1790) and the next, John B., in New York (1792). The children born between 1794 and at least 1800 were born in Pennsylvania. We have not been able to identify Reuben's family on the 1790 or 1800 censuses. In spite of the absence of documentation, there have been several theories about the origins of this large family.
Since there is a Reuben P. Smith in the next 2 generations, one definitely named Reuben Plummer Smith, a Plummer link in an earlier generation is possible. We noted in records of Adams Co., OH a 04 may 1833 permission from "John Smith" for marriage of Rachel Plummer, a "relation" "living with us for some time" whose "relations live 200 miles away", b. 08 jun 1809. At one time we thought this might refer to John, son of our Reuben Smith, but it is now clear that John B. Smith had already moved to Rush Co., Indiana by that date. We have been unable to find any direct link, and it appears that the namesake Reuben Plummer was a local preacher (mentioned in records of Highland Co., for example).
There have been several other significant suggestions as to the origins of our Reuben Smith. The first is to identify him with the Reuben Smith son of Reuben who is recorded at Lunenburg, Worcester Co., MA. The problem with this hypothesis is that the date given in the Lunenburg vital records, 18 oct 1767, does not match the date recorded in several sets of bible records for our Reuben Smith. It is possible, however, that the date at Lunenburg represents a baptism or has been misread. But before we accept this origin, we must be sure that the Reuben of Lunenburg did not remain in Massachusetts. We find the next child of Reuben Sr. recorded at Fitchburg, where the family relocated about 1772 and remained for many years. Reuben Sr. was constable, selectman, surveyor, and tax collector at various times in Fitchburg at least as late as 1805. His second marriage is recorded in 1790 (date possibly Old Style?). Then in 1806 we find the marriage of Reuben Smith, Junior. Was this the son of Reuben Sr., or merely a younger Reuben from another family? If the former, then our Reuben is not the one born at Lunenburg.
Another hypothesis is that our Reuben is the one mentioned in a muster roll from Washington Co., PA. There is no tradition in the family that our Reuben was a Revolutionary War soldier. He did not obtain or apply for a pension, and he is not listed as a pensioner on the 1840 census. While it is true that many Adams Co. settlers came from that part of Pennsylvania, it seems more probable that the Reuben Smith mentioned at later dates in Washington Co. tax lists and other records is the same man who appeared in the muster rolls, and not the one who left the area to settle in Adams Co., OH. Nevertheless, it may be profitable to study the early records of southwestern Pennsylvania in more detail. Our Reuben most likely traveled by way of Ft. Pitt, where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers join to form the Ohio River, the natural highway leading to Adams Co.
Another genealogist has suggested that our Reuben is a son of a Joseph Smith and his wife Rebecca Dath or "D'Eath", but this seems to be based only on the coincidence that Joseph is supposed to have had a son Reuben. This family is from the South. A well-documented grandson of this couple, Rev. Canario Drayton Smith (1813-1894), left personal correspondence and an autobiography that says his father, Samuel Smith, had only one brother, Nathan, who left for Missouri and was not heard from again. Rev. Smith also mentions several sisters, all of whose families remained in the South. In spite of this, there are now at least 16 children attributed to Joseph and Rebecca on the internet, including our Reuben, and a Joel whose Revolutionary War pension file does not support this parentage. No primary sources have been cited for any of these questionable attributions.
A tradition among some descendants of Anna Smith Newman Palmer says Reuben was actually born in England and came to America when he was 8 years old. This tradition also puts Sarah Beach Clark's birthplace "near Carlen, Massachusetts", but there is no modern place of that name. Could it be a misreading of Gardner, Worchester Co.? Or something even farther afield?
A genealogist has reported on the internet that Reuben's daughter Pheby was born in Cumberland Co., PA, but no source is given. It is possible that someone has finally found an obituary for Pheby, unless the attribution is as speculative as the other suggestions. However, it is more likely that this genealogist has confused Pheby's place of death and burial, Cumberland Co., IL, with Cumberland Co. in Pennsylvania.
The only known account with any sort of provenance is the one written by Reuben's granddaughter Nancy Ann Zumwalt (1831-1904), which identifies Reuben's parents as Oliver Smith, a physician and surgeon, and Sarah Herrick. This couple is said to have come from England about 1770, and to have had some degree of wealth in Pennsylvania until their property was destroyed by the Indians! Nancy Ann would have been well informed about the family from her parents, who evidently passed on much information about her relatives. The account, by then over 20 years old, was edited by Nancy Ann's son Rockwell Hunt, noted historian, and published in the Overland Monthly in April, 1916. The section about the Smith ancestry and the wedding of Susanna Smith to Jacob Zumwalt in 1830 is quoted here:
My mother's maiden name was Susanna Smith. She was the daughter of Reuben Smith, whose children were Sally, John, Joel, Anna, Joseph, Phoebe, Reuben, Stephen, Mary Ann, Clarenda, Elizabeth, Susanna and Cynthia. My great grandparents, Oliver Smith and Sarah Herrick, who were born and married in England, came to America about 1770. Sarah was a very large woman, taller than Reuben Smith, who was six feet six inches tall. Oliver Smith was a physician and surgeon, and was quite wealthy until the Indians took and destroyed his property. Grandmother Smith died January 17, 1834; and grandfather Reuben Smith died September 25, 1840.
My own parents were both born and raised in Ohio, as farmers. They received only a moderate education, as colleges and seminaries were then unknown in that part of the country. They had no carriages to go riding in when they were young. A walk of five or six miles was not considered much; but horseback riding was very fashionable among old and young alike. To go to church on Sunday, or to market or to the mill with a bag of corn, wheat or buckwheat swung across the horse's back, or even to weddings, ten, twenty or more miles away—all these were most common, every-day affairs.
When my parents were married father was twenty-two and mother nineteen. Father came twenty miles on horseback with his company of family, relatives and friends. On arriving at mother's home, they all rode around the house three times for good cheer, according to the style of the day. On these long rides it was customary for the young men to carry the girls' collarettes in their high silk hats, so they would not get mussed up.
(Further clues might be sought in the Rockwell Hunt papers at University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA, and in the original manuscript for the above publication, at the Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley. Note that Nancy does not say that her mother's name was Susanna Kindle Smith, as given by other family members.)
Now, the given names in this family are typical of New England. However, with the possible exceptions of Sally and John, all the children before 1803 are born in Pennsylvania. What would bring a New Englander to Pennsylvania, rather than to New York, the more popular migration path? While investigating the mysteries of Reuben Peace Smith and his wife Mary Ettie Coray, we realized that precisely this set of names was quite common in that part of Pennsylvania that was claimed by Connecticut. In Luzerne Co., for example, an Oliver Smith and a Reuben Smith are found on a tax list from 1796 (various transcribed versions exist, one identifies the area as Salem Tp.). An Oliver Smith was among the settlers of the Susquehannah Company at Kingston in the Wyoming Valley in 1769. They had returned after an absence of several years caused by the French and Indian War, among other difficulties. Oliver Smith is also on the list of settlers for 1763. While we would have to suppose that Nancy Ann Zumwalt was misinformed about the movements of her great-grandparents, this is so far the only place in Pennsylvania where we have found an Oliver and a Reuben Smith at about the right period. In the same community, we find Clark, Beach, and Herrick families. Neither Oliver nor Reuben are listed among the people whose land claims were settled by the State of Pennsylvania circa 1800, so it seems most likely this family left the Wyoming Valley before that date, adding to the difficulty of establishing whether they might be the family we are looking for. Further clues might be sought in the papers of the Susquehannah Company.
The interesting possibility that Reuben's first son John was actually born in New York would fit very well with this hypothesis, as many families in the area migrated back and forth across the state line, particularly to Steuben and Allegany Counties in New York. For example, among the inhabitants of Goshen, Orange Co., NY about the time of the Revolutionary War were several Corey's, Knapp's, and Smith's, including at least one Oliver Smith. Some people from Goshen, including the Corey's, are known to have moved on to Luzerne Co., PA. Did the Smith's do the same?
Among the wills that relate to early residents of Goshen, there is one for Oliver Smith who died in 1761, leaving, among others, a son Oliver. This second Oliver seems too young (b. 1751) to be the father of our Reuben, but he comes from a very large kindred that could easily include an Oliver who was a few years older. Among the names that are common in this group of Smith's, who arrived in Goshen by way of Weymouth, MA and Long Island, we may cite John, Joseph, Pheby, Susan, Elizabeth, Ann, and Oliver. There were many Reuben's and Joel's among their neighbors. The hypothesis that our Reuben comes from this family could be tested through DNA technology, as there appear to be living representatives of both lines.
Since descendants of two of the children say that Reuben was born in England and came to America as a child with his parents, it is logical that his birth should have been recorded in England. So far, no such record has surfaced, but only a small fraction of the church records have been indexed.