EZEKIAL SMITH, YOUR GREAT GRANDFATHER, AND MY GREAT GREAT-GRANDFATHER, MARRIED SUSANNAH DINGESS, WHO WAS BORN IN 1774 IN THE JAMES RIVER COUNTRY IN WHAT IS NOW 80TTETOURT COUNTY, BUT THEN A PART Of AUGUSTA --AS ALL WESTERN VIRGINIA WAS KNOWN AT ONE TIME --WlTH THE COUNTY SEAT AT STAUNTON, VA. THUS, HIS WIFE WAS SEVEN YEARS OLDER THAN EZEKIAL. SUSANNAH D1NGESS, WHO MARRIED EZEKIAL IN 1801, WAS THE DAUGHTER OF PETER DINGESS, AN IMMIGRANT FROM GERMANY WHO LANDED AT THE PORT OF PHILADELPHIA IN SEPTEMBER, 1751. HE WAS THIRTEEN YEARS AT THE TIME; AND, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF HIMSELF AND AN UNKNOWN SISTER ~ HIS ENTIRE FAMILY WAS WIPED OUT BY SCURVY ON THE LONG VOYAGE FROM ROTTERDAM, ON THE SHIP "8ROTHERS".
EZEKIAL SMITH MIGRATED FROM LOGAN COUNTY, VA, IN 1832, WITH HIS THREE SONS, PARIS, ANDERSON, AND DINGESS. THEY WENT TO BURLINGTON, VA., VHERE THEY BUILT THE FIRST LOG CABIN IN THAT TOWN. FRENCH SMIJH MARRIED AN ELIZABETH HECTOR, A NATIVE OF GREENBRIER COUNTY, THIS STATE, REMAINED IN MERCER COUNTY. HIS DAUGHTER GERTRUDE, ALREADY MARRIED TO WILLIAM ANDERSON DINGESS, ALSO REMAINED IN THIS SECTION TO TAKE UP A LARGE BOUNDARY OF LAND AROUND WHAT IS NOW DINGESS, VA., ONCE AN IMPORTANT COMMUNITY ALONG THE NORFOLK & WESTERN RAILWAY. THEY ARE MY GREAT GRAND PARENTS.
https://mds.marshall.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1347&context=lambert_papers
