Family:Thomas Smith and Abigail Rice (2)

Alleged Daughter Elizabeth

The website of Source:Edmund Rice (1638) Association adds a very questionable daughter Elizabeth to this family whose birth is not found in the vital records. Her birth is estimated at 1693 and she is said to have married in early 1727 Ahijah Haynes, b. 1701, and had 8 children, the last one in early 1742 when she was 49. Most other websites seem to think this was Elizabeth, the daughter of son Thomas and his wife Elizabeth, b. 1704. However, instead, the Edmund Rice website thinks this younger Elizabeth married 1739 David Prouty who was born 12 years after her in 1716, and then had 12 children, the last in 1761 when she was 57. The pairings on the Edmund Rice Association website simply do not make sense, and no evidence is presented to support them. None of this comes from Ward. In fact, the will of Abigail (Smith) Wheeler in 1728, who had no children of her own, mentions her four brothers and her mother but no sister Elizabeth (or any other sister). Therefore, it seems almost certain that there was no Elizabeth in this family, that the Elizabeth b. 1704 is the one who married Ahijah Haynes, and some unidentified Elizabeth Smith married David Prouty (Source:TAG, p. 57:242 suggests she was the daughter of John Smith and Susanna Kimball of Watertown/Weston).

Monument Erected by Descendant

Source:NEHGR, "Inscriptions of Sudbury, Mass.", p. 61:124, reports the following monument:

West Side
Buried Here JOHN SMITH and SARAH, his wife.
First Ancestors from Sudbury, England, 1638.

North Side
THOMAS SMITH, Son of John & Sarah SMITH, born July 29, 1658, died Nov. 2, 1730.
ABIGAIL, his wife born June 17, 1657, died Oct. 10, 1727.

South Side
AMOS SMITH, Son of Thomas & Abigail SMITH, born Jan. 21, 1699, died Sept. 5, 1786.
SUSANNAH, his wife born May 20, 1701, died Sept. 12, 1778.

East Side
BENJAMIN SMITH, Son of Amos & Susannah SMITH, born Oct. 29, 1741, died July 2, 1819.
LUCY, his wife born Sept. 8, 1741, died Oct. 8, 1816. Entombed in Stow.

Erected by Mrs. Sarah S. Jones, one of the sixth generation.

Note: Sarah Smith, d/o Jedediah (s/o Benjamin and Lucy) and Esther Smith, b. 1789, m. 1807 James Jones, d. 1866. The dates on this monument do not necessarily agree with the Sudbury VRs.

• Sudbury VRs give the death of a widow Abigail Smith in 9 Dec 1735, and a Thomas Smith d. 9 Apr 1718. The death dates on the monument are nowhere in evidence in the Sudbury VRs. The will of their daughter Abigail indicates the monument is wrong.
• Amos Smith m. 31 Jan 1724/5 Susanna Holman, but her birth date is not found. Neither death date given on the monument is listed in Sudbury VRs, but neither are any others. However a broken gravestone in Sudbury next to a footstone for "Mr. Amos Smith" seems to agree with the monument.
• Benjamin Smith m. 11 Nov 1761 Lucy Maynard. Her birth is recorded 15 Dec 1742 instead of 8 Sep 1741. The death dates for these two people are not recorded in Sudbury VRs (nor in Stow VRs).

1. ↑ Estimated marriage date of before 1679 is based on the birth of son Thomas on 3 Dec 1679 (see Source:Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records to the Year 1850, p. 135).