Facts about Smith's Island

Facts about Smith's Island
by
GAIL M. WALCZYK

1. In 1667 HENRY SMITH received a land grant of 1000 acres in Accomack, County Virginia for transporting 20 subjects into the Colony. This land was the land below the Maryland-Virginia line. Later in the Accomack County records, it became known as "Tangier Islands."

In the January 1668 Court, among other things, the Court ordered that HENRY SMITH speedily clothing, lodging and food for his servants, and that none of them should be taken to Maryland or to Smith's island, without their free consent in court.

In the same Court it is reviled that one MARY JONES, former servant to HENRY SMITH had been taken without warning to an island and detained there for 14 months beyond her time, and had suffered many cruelties.

McKey, JoAnn Riley., Accomack County Virginia Court Order Abstracts 1666-1670 Volume 2 (Bowie MD: Heritage Books, Inc., 1996, pp 57, 127, 129.).

2. On 2 September 1682, 15 years after his Virginia patent, HENRY SMITH was assigned 1000 acres of a tract called "Pitchcraft" from WILLIAM STEVENS. The land lay north of the division line and between the Bay and Tangier Sound. It did not include the lands above Mister's Thoroughfare which is now a wildlife refuge.

Maryland Land Patents, CB3 p 80.

3. Stephen Mister and Joe Whayland were notorious picaroons who had both friends and relations on Smith's Island.

4. After a thorough study of the three cemeteries on the Island, it has been gleaned that these cemeteries were at one time family burial sites. The Corinth UME Churchyard at Ewell being the JESSE EVANS site; the Calvary UME Churchyard at Rhodes Point being the NATHAN EVANS site and the Union UME Churchyard at Tylerton being the TYLER FAMILY site.

The oldest stone that still remains is at Rhodes Point. It is a ruff stone and the epitath that remains etched in it reads: "K. E. Nov ye 8 1794 N. E. aged 31." This stone is next to Richard Evans "Who departed this life July 4^th 1828." This is "King" Richard. It is now thought that K. E. is Keziah Evans the daughter of Nathan Evans and the first wife of Richard. Evans whom she lies next to. Also in the same area is Elijah Evans

April 23, 1763 - January 30, 1841, a son of Nathan.

The oldest stones at Ewell are Nancy Evans, August 16, 1762 - October 22, 1831, 63 Years, Jesse Evans

January 15, 1760 - February 25, 1835 and Yuphemy Evans, Consort of Richard, Departed This Life April 16, 1838, Aged 83 Years 6 Mos, And 17 Days. Nancy was Jesse's wife and Yuphemy (Euphemia) was his sister and the second wife of the above "King" Richard." Her nickname was "Fanny."

Tylerton's oldest stones are Richard Bradshaw, Died June 28, 1814, Aged 72 years, Mary Ann Tyler November 6, 1823, Aged 19 Months and David Tyler, November 15, 1823, Aged 68 years. Richard Bradshaw was the husband of Arrabella Tyler and the brother-in-law of David. The baby, Mary Ann Tyler was David's granddaughter. Butler Tyler, David's oldest brother, and at one time the owner of much of the land at Tylerton, died circa 1826 and is probably buried at the big tree stump with the metal marker.

After a thorough study of the three cemeteries on the Island, it has been gleaned that these cemeteries were at one time family burial sites. The Corinth UME Churchyard at Ewell being the JESSE EVANS site; the Calvary UME Churchyard at Rhodes Point being the NATHAN EVANS site and the Union UME Churchyard at Tylerton being the TYLER FAMILY site.

April 23, 1763 - January 30, 1841, a son of Nathan.

The oldest stones at Ewell are Nancy Evans, August 16, 1762 - October 22, 1831, 63 Years, Jesse Evans

5. In the 1820 Census for Somerset County Maryland there were 195 people living on Smith's Island, 90 females and 105 males. 73 of those males were over the age of 16. 24 were engaged in agriculture and 16 in commerce. Also, there was 4 free Negroes.

In the 1840 Census there was a total population of 165 people, 84 males and 81 females. 45 males were over 15. 19 employed in navigation and 7 in agriculture. There were 7 free Negroes and 9 slaves.

6. Between 1840 and 1850 the population of Smith's Island increased by 66%. At the time the census was taken there were 43 households with a total of 257 people. There were 135 females and 122 males, 56 of them were under 16. 31 of the males were listed as mariners and 11 were farmers. There was also 1 bricklayer, 1 house carpenter, 1 teacher, and 1 lighthouse keeper.

7. When the 1880 Census for Somerset County Maryland was taken the population of Smith's Island had increased to 419. There were 215 males and 204 females. The major occupation was working on the water with 65 sailors, 18 vessel captains, 8 oystermen, and one boat hand. The youngest sailor noted was 11 years old. There were 8 farmers, 3 merchants, 2 house carpenters, 2 ship carpenters, 1 teacher, 1 lighthouse keeper, 2 of the elderly men were listed as unemployed.

8. An abstract of the will of the first John Evans on the island reads "To son John 200 acres on Smith's Island where John Parks now lives in Maryland. To son Mark 200 acres on Smith's Island where William Mister and Samuel Wheeler live. To son Richard the old plantation where Arthur Parks now lives on Smith's Island. To daughter Mary Evans all my Island called Point Comfort and 50 acres on Silverthorne's Ridge. To son Mark 50 acres adj. where I now live. To son John plantation where I now live and 148 acres, also 100 acres of marsh after the death of my wife. Wife Elizabeth and son John Exrs. Witt: Darby Linton, Elizabeth Johnson, John Johnson."

9. Accomack County Virginia was established in 1663. Somerset County Maryland was established in 1666.

10. A chain in a unit of measure:

As regards land measure, such equals 66 feet. There are 100 links in a chain. It also equals 4 rods.

11. In many deeds Smith's Island was noted as an "island of broken woodlands."

12. The Tax List for 1739 lists the below living on Smith's Island. This can be deduced by previous tax lists, and other documents.

Fogg, Daniel

Horseman, Henry

Wooff, Henry

Hopkins, George, living with him are four males over 16: Hopkins, John; Hopkins, William; Hopkins, Charles; Hopkins, George.

Mister, William, living with him are two males over 16: Mister, Abraham; Mister Benjamin.

Evans, John senior, living with him is one male over 16: Evans, John junior.

Loowill, John

Wheller, Johnathan

Tyler, Thomas senior, living with him are two males over 16: Crockett, Joseph; Topin, Samuel.

Tyler, John, living with him is one male over 16: living with him are two males over 16: Tyler, David; Tyler, Thomas.

Parks, Arthur, for Parks, Arthur; Parks, John; Parks, Job.

Evans, Richard

Waters, John

Russo, J. Elliott., Tax Lists of Somerset County 1730-1740 (Westminster MD: Family Line Publications, 1992, p 167.)

13. The Parks family had inhabited Smith's Island int the early 1700's, having come from Accomack County Virginia. During the next one hundred and fifty years some moved to the mainland of Somerset County. Some moved to Dorchester County Maryland. Still others moved back to Accomack County Virginia, both the mainland and Tangier Island. There was one Parks, John, noted in the 1840 Somerset County Maryland still on Smith's Island. By 1870 there were none.

14. The Somerset County Maryland Tax List for 1757 lists the below on Smith's Island.

Tylor, John, living with him is one male over 16: More, Isaac (Moore.)

Losson, John (Lawson.)

Hopkins, William

Green, Thomas

Evans, Annabella, living with her is one male over 16: Evans, Richard junior.

Evans, Richard

Evans, John

Evans, Nathan

Mister, Patience, living with her is one male over 16: Mister, Marmaduke.

Tyler, Thomas, living with him are three males over 16: Tyler, Butler; Tyler, Thomas; Tyler, John.

Tyler, John junior, living with him is one male over 16: Tyler, John secondus.

Parks, Job, living with him is one male over 16: Wilson, Job.

Thomas, William

Miller, Rebecca F., Somerset County State of Maryland Tax Lists 1757, (Princess Anne MD: Rebecca F. Miller, 1992, p 4.)

15. When the census takers took the 1850,1860 and 1870 Censuses for both Accomack County Virginia and Somerset County Maryland they did not know where the exact boundary was. As a result families living on or near that boundary were entered in both censuses.

16. During both World Wars there were job related moves. Some came back after, some stayed at their new locations.

17. On 10 February 1851 the estate of Travis Crockett was sold on Tangier Island. This sale brought many men from Smith's Island and mainland Somerset County Maryland. The Smith's Islanders among them were:

John Marshall who bought:

1 yoke of oxen $20.00

2 ploughs 1.80

1 crow bar 1.20

1 collar and traces 1.37

1 webb 1.75

1 lot seine 1.25

James Evans who bought:

1 ox $9.50

Richard Evans who bought:

1 canoe & sail $3.50

1 lot plank 25.25

1 pr timber 1.14

Mitchell Evans who bought:

2 bottles $ 1.03

1 chest 4.06

1 razor 1.12

1 bed & furniture 8.00

John Tyler who bought:

1 chest $2.68

1 bed & furniture 8.00

6 chairs 3.25

knife box & knives 1.12

John Marsh who bought:

1 shaving box $1.10

1 sheet 1.25

1 bed & furniture 8.00

William Bradshaw who bought:

1 quill $1.90

1 sail & mast 1.00

1 hatchet 1.00

Solomon Evans who bought:

6 barrells $ 1.12

1 seine 1.37

1 pr gears 1.31

1 trough 1.02

Richard Bradshaw who bought:

1 loom $1.50

Benjamin Evans who bought:

1 gun $1.80

1 desk 1.12

1 jar 1.10

Johnson Evans who bought:

1 schooner $277.50

2 dredges 10.00

Also attending was Joshua Thomas who bought:

1 canoe sail $1.12

1 wheel & quills 2.12

1 lot of peas 25.37

17 chickens 1.80

18. By 1800 the Mister Family had spread from Smith's Island north to the Hungar River in Dorchester County Maryland and south to Chesconnessex Creek in Accomack County.

19. Because Smith's Island is an island the population has always been moving. Between its earliest days and on inhabitants have moved from Smith's Island. First to the mainland of Somerset County and Dorchester County Maryland, Accomack County, Mathews County, York County and Northumberland County Virginia and then on.

20. Smith's Island still holds a Methodist Camp Meeting every summer.

21. In the 1850's there was a grist mill used for grinding grains such as corn and wheat on Hog's Neck.

22. Benjamin E. "Benji" Evans, the 4 month old twin son of Major A. and Maggie W. Tyler Evans, died on February 24, 1906. Born on September 24, 1905, there was a three month and 6 day delay in the birth of his twin sister Avalon E., born on May 18, 1905. Interment was in Corinth UME Churchyard on Ewell MD.

23. Prior to the coming of the railroad to Crisfield, the main mode of travel was by water. Tall ships, canoes and barges traveled up and down the Bay bringing goods and produce from as far as the Carribean.

24. The last Naval battle of the Revolutionary War was fought in Kedge's Straits. It was fought after the British had surrendered but before the Treaty of Paris was signed.

25. Col. John Cropper a resident of Accomack County VA fought at the Battle of Kedge's Straits and was injured. While bandaging those wounds, his wife swallowed the straight pins she was using and died.

26. Before each section of the island built their own Methodist Church, there was one Church where everyone worshipped on Orchard Ridge.

27. At one time there were roads both from Horse Hummock and Hog's Neck to the Church at Orchard Ridge.

28. Methodism has been the religion of the Island since the early 1800's when Joshua Thomas, the Parson of the Islands first brought the message to the Island.

30. Before the colonists settled on Smith's Island there were Indians who at different times lived, fished and hunted there.

31. When John Smith made his exploration trip of the Cesapeake Bay, he named the group of islands in the Bay "The Russell Isles."

32. Hoffman family tradition states that a James Hoffman was a German Hessian soldier during the Revolutionary War. He like the new country of The United States so much that after the war he stayed.

33. Two brothers John and Benjamin Marsh made money after and during the Civil War. At the end of the war when money in the south was not worth anything, John had an idea that he and his brother would go to the Chesconnessex River where John would buy the south shore and Benjamin would buy the north. As the story would have it Benjamin did not want to leave Smith's Island. So, John left with a flour barrel of good northern money and bought the south shore.

34. Spence family tradition states that Elijah Spence, the father of Thomas W. Spence of Locust Mount Household #1419 was a cruel captain to his crew. One day he and his crew set out for Baltimore MD. He never returned.

Betsy Evans Spence, mother of Thomas W. lived till she was 110.