The Smith Family of Hawkins Co., Tennessee

Ida Annabelle Smith, my grandmother, was the daughter of James Frank Smith and Martha Mae Simmons. James and Martha were both from Rogersville, Hawkins County, Tennessee, but moved to Liberty Township, Butler County, Ohio between 1911 and 1913 where my grandmother was born.

Martha's parents, Susan Housewright and Perry Simmons, were both illegitimate children and had a total of 13 children of their own. Susan Housewright's mother, Mary Ann Housewright, never married her father, and Susan had indicated in an interview she had done in 1938 that she never knew who her father was. Perry Simmons evidently never knew his father either. His mother, Dolly Maples Simmons, was married to Nathaniel Ebenezar Simmons, but he was killed during the Civil War in 1864, approximately five years before Perry was born. Dolly had lived in Jefferson County, Tennessee until around 1876 when she and her children moved to Hawkins County, and despite the fact that she had never remarried, Dolly had three illegitimate children between 1868 and 1881. Who their father was is unknown.

James Frank Smith was the son of Joseph C. Smith and Martha L. Hagood. He was born in Surgoinsville, Hawkins Co., Tennessee in 1882. His father, Joseph, was the son of Junius H. Smith, who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Martha Hagood, Jame's mother, was the daughter of James Monroe Hagood and Sarah Ann Cox. James Monroe Hagood also fought during the Civil War for the Union side. You can read more about their service by clicking their names listed in the menu on your left.