THE SMOOTS OF MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA A genealogical history of William Smute, Boatright, of Hampton, Virginia, and Pickawaxon, Maryland, with a history of his descendants to the present generation by HARRY WRIGHT NEWMAN wASllING'ION, D. C. 19,36 THE SMOOTS OF MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA , ~- ," ; ...~~ ~ ~,,;.,-.. ~ .. ~~-. ·-~~~ ; ' • ~ ~·..., . ~--'t. ... - . ,~J'Jf{. !-..... ~- .. ::: •, .. :-~... - ,-~- -.... .--~-- ~ <:'°,._ • ~.- .#,. .c-...· ---~-: ~ •.• _..! .. _.."·: h.-;>?~, -j,··"' . ' ', ~""""'"',,··:-- ... 1"' . ·'.:;,.~ ~;~ .,,: .'J CoLO~EL DE~ J A.M 1.N SToDDERT SMOOT War of 1812 and Early Indian Campaigns Harry Wright Newman has also published, Anne Arundel Gentry FOREWORD HESE chronicles relating to William Smute and his descendants T were actually begun in the winter of 1922, when, as an idle and recently university graduate, waiting to be placed as a wage earner in the economic world, I occupied my leisure moments in seeking knowl­ edge of my forbears and to prove the tradition that had been handed down from my elders. And during these fourteen years many hours were spent in untiring research into musty, dusty, and ancient as well as sometimes carelessly kept court records at more than fifty county court houses, besides many additional hours were spent at home in the attempt to untie numerous knots and to establish the parents of many­ a-fatherless Smoot. The loss of the three early registers of the Episcopal Parishes in Charles County has not made it one of the most simple counties in which to work-besides, many deed books and the administration accounts for several years are missing. The records of Trinity Parish have been preserved since its establishment in 1750, though they contain only· meager Smoot data. Furthermore, the complete destruction of all deeds in St. Mary's County, and no administration accounts prior to 18o6 made it most difficult in straightening out the entanglements of the Smoots in that county. It is regretted that the numerous personal letters which were sent to the representative descendants, now scattered throughout the States and the Territory of Hawaii, remained unanswered, but I wish to acknowledge with sincerity my appreciation of the few who responded and manifested interest in my undertaking. Space does not allow the mentioning of all, but I do wish to express my thanks to Mr. Harvey Ointon Smoot, of Prescott, Arizona, Miss Annibel Stine, of Tuscumbia, Alabama, Dr. James Edward Smoot, of Concord, North Carolina, and Mr. Archibald F. Bennett, secretary of the Genealogical Society of Utah, to whom I am indebted for the descendants of_ Abraham Owen. Smoot, the Mormon leader. And I am also particularly grateful for the aid of Mrs. Mary Turpin Layton-a granddaughter of Mary Adeline (Smoot) Turpin-a charter member of the Irving Wells Chapter, D. A. R., of Quantico, Virginia, one of the organizers of the Nanticoke Chapter, D. A. R., of Hurlock, Maryland, a member of the Daughters of the Barons of Runnemede, and an outstanding authority on the old families of the lower section of the Eastern Shore. vu.. Foreword I furthermore wish to extend my gratitude for the many courtesies afforded me by the staff of the North Carolina Historical Commission during my stay in Raleigh. Their graciousness and old-world charm of manner contrasted most favorably with my reception at the Archives Division of the Virginia State Library. Owing to inhospitableness, lack of understanding, and the negative attitude of that office, I was forced to curtail the work planned there, and was prevented perhaps from the obtainment of many additional facts on the Virginia branches. Finally, no genealogist, amateur nor professional, is infallible and if I have erred in any statement, I shall be glad to have it brought to my attention with sufficient evidence to show that wrong conclusions have been drawn.. And it is with pleasure that I present these findings to the descendants of the distinctive family of Smoot> this first day of July, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six. HARRY WRIGHT NEWMAN The Presidential Washington, D. C. CONTENTS PAGE Richard Smoot 2 and His Descendants_______ .. - --·.. ......... .... 7 3 Captain Thomas Smoot, Gent. -··-··--·········-··-···--------- 54 Captain Barton Smoot 4 and His Descendants.----··------ 56 Thomas Smoot 4 and His Descendants----·------·--···---· ... 82 Charles Smoot 4 and His Descendants... ·-·-··----------- ... .. ... _ 1o6 William Smoot 4 and His Descendants.... ___............. __ 123 Edward Smoot 3 and His Descendants........ -------·-···-···--··-··-·_ William Smoot, Gent.3 and His Descendants.... ---·----- 132 5 George Smoot ............................................·----·-···-·-··· ---·--· 141 5 Cuthbert Smoot -·······---------·---..............·-·--·· -· -· ·-····- ·-·-··-·-·---------··- 149 15 Caleb Smoot ··········----------------·· 151 William Smoot 5 ·-·.. •••••••••••••• ....................___________ .. __ 15 Alexander Smoot ........................----·---·-·-------· Abraham Owen Smoot'····----·-····------·--··-··-··-·----- Military and Naval Services ...·-·--···----·- ....- ...-------·- 1g6 ix .. --~-. INTRODUCTION RIOR to the thirteenth century ~ere lived u~n his f~dal estates Pn~r the town of 'S Gravenhage 1n the Province of Zwd Holland a vassal of the Count of Holland who, when family names were being adopted by the civilized States of W estem Europe, assumed the cogno­ men of "Smout". Why this name became attached to him and his family is a matter of conjectttre, smout in the Netherland language signifies the inelegant but highly necessary food product "lard" or more literally "grease". Time passed. The sons of this Dutch vassal gradually amassed wealth and as their enterprises or estates offered an important source of revenue for the Counts of Holland and Zeeland-£or about this time the two counties had been united under one head-they assumed a more prom­ inent position in the realm. Their sons in tum relinquished the industry of their innnediate ancestor and devoted themselves to public service and combat during which time one distinguished himself sufficiently to be granted by the reigning Count of Holland the privilege of using arms. At first the emblem was a plain black crescent painted on the metal shield of the senior member of the household, but gradually the emblem became more complex as the institution of heraldry advanced. The crescent thus became the symbolic emblem of the House of Smout and thus served as the basis for the later and more modified coat-of-arms in which the background of the shield remained gold with three black crescents. Years passed. Some descendants of the Squire of 'S Gravenhage succeeded in life, many fell in battle, others became enriched from industry and commerce which were remarkably great in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries among the cities of Holland and Flanders. Through their wealth and position the gentlemen of the House of Smout intermarried with noble and gentry houses of the Province, and thus attained greater importance and prestige among the subjects of the Netherland Kingdom. At the beginning of the fifteenth century one member of the House of Smout had allied himself in marriage with several gentry houses of his State and had established his seat at Rotterdam, also in the Province of Zuid Holland. About this time, for it was not until the fourteenth century that the practice of quartering arms became common among the nobility, this member of the Smout family was granted permission to bear the emblems of his maternal ancestry. Thus, we have the Smouts xiii Introduction of Rotterdam, with the unicorn, shells, and bars, but still retaining the identity of the original symbols of his paternal line in the first quarter of his arms. From this point to the time that William Smout or Smute, the pioneer settler in America, was established at London in the seventeenth century, the history of his immediate forbears. is somewhat hazy and confused. Inasmuch as we have not proved the parents of the American emigrant, one can only assume that he was one of the younger sons of a, noble house and for that reason he became a constructor of watercrafts. But one can not dispute the facts that William Smute, of Pickawaxon, Mary­ land, had the name and all the tradition of the Dutch House of Smout. It has been handed down from pre-Revolutionary members of the family, that the Smoots of Maryland bore a coat-of-arms and that "there was a reindeer on it". (No doubt the unicorn). The Dutch origin of the family has been traditional in several branches of the family in America, but before passing one must not overlook the Scotch legend of the Smoot branch of Dorchester County, perhaps the most affluent and cultured branch of the Smoot family of the early post-Revolutionary era. It is believed, however, that this tradition became confused with the undisputed Scotch lineage of thei~ Douglas ancestry which married with this branch in both Charles and Dorchester Counties and which can claim direct descent from Scotch nobility and connection with the Royal House of Stuart. Then it is possible that the emigrant, before sailing for Virginia, tarried for a while in the land beyond the Cheviot Hills and had married a Scotch lass. Like most early colonial families, the name was spelled in several different forms on the early records-the most common and earliest was "Smute", but other variations found were Smut, Smot, Smoote, Smouth, and finally Smoot, but some who migrated South used Smoote as late as the War between the States. A tradition which proves a myth, the origin of which is veiled in mystery, is that three Smoot brothers while serving in the British Army during the Revolutionary War deserted, joined the Continental forces, and remained in America. At the first Federal census of I 790, members of this family were found only in the Southern States of Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, all of whom are proved descendants of the Maryland pioneer. The name Smoot is therefore distinctly Maryland as Ca.bot is of Massachusetts and Spottiswood of Virginia. More than three hundred counties of the 1850 census were searched in the preparation of these chronicles, and it was a few days before the .