Wedding Wednesday - Jacob Best and Dorcas Smith

 This is the marriage of Jacob Best and Dorcas Smith in Warren County, Indiana on 27 February 1839. When I found the Indiana Marriage Collection, 1800-1941 index in 2008 on Ancestry.com it caught my eye because do have a Dorcas Smith, but the Dorcas Smith in my family tree is actually the sister of my 2x great grandfather Francis Marion Smith. So I knew it wasn't her because she married Aaron Dazey. What else caught my eye was the name Jacob Best. I do have Best's in my family tree. Francis Marion Smith's mother was Mary Ann Best. So I decided to write to Fountain County, Indiana County Clerk to see if I could get a copy of the marriage record. They didn't have it but said to write to Warren County Clerk. So that is what I did, and lo and behold I was able to get it. Well, I still didn't know who these people were, because their was no other names, etc. listed. So I filed it in my miscellaneous Smith stuff.  Fast forward to last 2013 when I received and email from another Smith researcher saying that my Joseph Smith had a match with her James Smith, and the brick wall started crumbling. To make a long story short, this Dorcas Smith is supposed to be my Joseph Smith's mother. She was born Dorcas Williams and married James Smith. After James Smith died she married Jacob Best. He was much younger then her so I am thinking maybe he is a brother of Mary Ann Best.

Census Sunday - 1850 US Federal Census - Joseph Smith - Pine Twp. Warren County, Indiana

Schedule I. Free Inhabitants in Pine Township in the County of Warren State of Indiana enumerated by me, on the 11th day of Sept 1850. (cant't read name) Ass't Marshal.

line 23 Joseph 33 M Blacksmith $300 OH
line 24 Mary 32 F                                 "
line 25 Martha 12 F                              "
line 26 Darcus 10 M                             "
line 27 Hannah 6 F                              IN

Joseph Smith is my 3x great grandfather. He was married to Mary Ann Best they had 3 daughters. Darcus was actually Dorcas Ann and she was a female and born in Indiana. My 2x great grandfather, Francis Marion Smith, was born in 1853.

Through DNA, I finally broke through a brick wall that has plagued my Smith line for years. It appears that I have found parents and siblings and as I said other children of Joseph and Mary Ann.  So stay tuned for more information.

Sibling Saturday - Francis Marion Smith and his sisters

My Great Great Grandfather, Francis Marion Smith, had three older  sisters. Martha, Dorcas and Hannah. I don't know which sister is which. I do know that Martha is the oldest, and Hannah is younger of the three. There parents were Joseph and Mary Ann (Best) Smith. I do know that Dorcas married Aaron Dazey and in 1900 Martha was living with her brother in Stockland, Illinois.

If anyone can identify these women or has any other information on them I sure would love to know.