Bring your rakes, hand held clippers for those testy briars, lawn debris bags, an axe or two wouldn’t hurt for those small left over stumps and a lot of motivation to the Smith Family Cemetery at Riverbend Plantation on Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 9:00am for the Spring Cleaning of the cemetery. This clean up will be nothing compared to the hard work you all put in back in December. Hopefully by April 16, 2011 we will have several smaller projects completed as several volunteers continue to work on resetting those downed markers and even though progress is sometimes slow going, it is still worth the effort in the long run to do it properly where this will last another 100 or so years. Please pass this along to all of your neighbors and friends in the neighborhood as we continue to restore that which may have been lost for those who were here first.
Please mark your calendar as this is 3 weeks from tomorrow and everyone should be over the spring break and back on schedule. We look forward to seeing everyone. Thanks again, Tony
I want to share an e-mail I received as a result of placing this data on the findagrave.com website from one of the ancestors of the Smith Family:
Subject: RE: Smith Family Cemetery in Houston County, GA
Thank you so much for the time and attention you have given to the graves of my family members. I am very appreciative of your kindness and attention to detail in the clean-up, the memorials and the photographs. One of the daughters of Needham and Ardella who is not listed is Deborah Ann Smith, wife of James A. Roquemore. They are my great-grandparents.
I cut my genealogical teeth unraveling parts of this family and have not revisited it in some time. Twenty-five years ago I had the same question you raised about William Smith Jr.'s birthplace. I still remember the thrill of looking at William Smith's will and seeing the bequest "..... to my daughter Ardelia, the wife of Needham Smith....." A Smith who married a Smith! No wonder I had such trouble finding her maiden name.
One correction I would appreciate your making on the Find a Grave memorial is Ardella's death date. I believe the marker says 1872 which jives with her enumeration in the 1860 and 1870 censuses. The eleven year old in her 1870 household is my great-uncle. My father was his namesake.
Selected Census Enumerations for Ardelia Smith
1860: District 11, Houston, Georgia
Widowed; household includes daughter Elizabeth, 20, Wes Spait, 17, George Walker, 16, Martha I Smith, 15, and Betsy I Walker, 7. Living near Garrett and Martha Smith and several Speights' families.
1870: Subdivision 167, Houston, Georgia
Farmer with land and personal property. Ardilla's household includes Bettie Fordham, 30, Mattie Smith, 21, Fannie Fordham, 9, Bessie Walker, 17, John Roquemore, 11, Helen Goode, 15, and Ada Mercer, 15. Betty Fordham, Mattie Smith and Bessie Walker all own property.
Please let me know how I may help you in developing information about the Smiths.
Cordially,
Patricia
Patricia R. McCullough
