Lieut. Samuel Smith, Jr.

Not the same as Samuel Smith of Northumberland County

Samuel Smith Jr

• Birth 8 Feb 1625 in Hadleigh, Suffolk, England
• Death: unknown after 1664, supposedly in the Carolinas
• Son of Lieut. Samuel Smith, "The Fellmonger" and Elizabeth Smith
• Ex-husband of Rebecca (Smith) Bowman

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Samuel - bap. Feb. 8, 1625/6, Whatfield, Suffolk, England. Probably the Lt. Samuel SMITH in New London, CT from Weathersfield in 1652. Prior to 1664 he removed to VA, with letters from him dated at Roanoke, VA addressed to Rev. Bulkely concerning his action amounting to desertion of his wife. Married Rebecca SMITH (b. about 1631), daughter of Rev. Henry and Dorothy SMITH. Whether Samuel deserted his wife for his own purposes or to provide her a basis for divorce is subject to one's interpretation of archival materials. Following the divorce Rebecca married by 1669 Nathaniel BOWMAN, Jr. (b. Mar. 6, 1640, Watertown, Middlesex Co., MA; d. 1707), a mutual friend of Wethersfield. Samuel and Rebecca SMITH had no children.

Walter G. Ashworth

https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Samuel_Smith_%282%29

"Early in 1664, Samuel Smith left his wife and left New London, settling at Roanoke and then Carolina. Shortly before his departure he was frequently seen at the tavern maintained by Humphrey Clay and his wife, spending his time with their daughter, Sarah Clay, who accompanied him when he left town. Just before his departure, Smith boasted of getting Alice (Smith) Tinker with child, although Alice claimed the father was Jeremiah Blinman. Rev. Gershom Bulkeley and others wrote to Samuel Smith attempting to convince him to return to Connecticut, but he refused. Nicholas White visited Smith and found that “he had a young wife” in Carolina. Rebecca (Smith) Smith returned to Wethersfield and apparently obtained a divorce, for by 1669 she had married Nathaniel Bowman. Both Calkins (New London History, 150f) and Stiles (Wethersfield History, 2:647) saw the letters and depositions relating to Smith’s departure for the south, but suppressed the reports of his dalliance with other women."[1]

Prindle relied on the newspaper articles (The Hartford Times) for the baptismal records. Examination of microfilm of the parish registers by Myrtle S. Hyde led to corrected dates for most of these (Smith) baptisms.[1]

References

• http://pcs2051.tripod.com/smith.htm
• https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Samuel_Smith_%282%29
• Samuel Smith, in Anderson, Robert Charles; George F. Sanborn; and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635. (NEHGS, 1999-2011) 6:400-02. Samuel Smith, bp. Whatfield, Suffolk, 6 October 1625; m. by an unknown date Rebecca Smith, daughter of Henry Smith {1637, Charlestown}, but abandoned her in early 1664.
• Samuel Smith, in Anderson, Robert Charles; George F. Sanborn; and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635. (NEHGS, 1999-2011) 6:400-02. “Samuel Smith, bp. Whatfield, Suffolk, 6 October 1625; m. by an unknown date Rebecca Smith, daughter of Henry Smith {1637, Charlestown}, but abandoned her in early 1664.”
• Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862) 4:132. “Samuel Smith , New London, s. of ][[Person:Samuel Smith (1)|the preced. brot. from Eng. by his f. 1634, in the Elizabeth from Ipswich, Co. Suffolk, came from Wethersfield, there prob. m. Rebecca, d. of Rev. Henry Smith; was lieut. in 1657, and much betrust. in all town concerns, yet beyond any reason kn. for such conduct, abandon. his w. early in 1664, and went to Roanoke, on the borders of Virg. and N. C. His w. wh. had borne him no ch. was divorc. for such desert. and in 1669 m. Nathaniel Bowman of W. The runaway picked up, it was thot. ano. w. and left descend. at the S. See Caulkins' Hist.”
• Prindle, Paul W. The Wife of Lt. Samuel Smith of Wethersfield. The American Genealogist. (Oct 1956) 32:202.