Ruth Smith

Birth: Dec. 31, 1713 Smithtown Suffolk County New York, USA Death: Apr. 9, 1793 Smithtown Suffolk County New York, USA

Daughter of Jonathan Smith and Elizabeth Platt.

She married (1) Henry Smith in 1738, and (2) Nathaniel Brewster after 1750.

Family links:

Spouses:

 Henry Smith (1711 - 1747)

 Nathaniel Brewster (1713 - 1772)

Children:

 Charles Jeffrey Smith (1740 - 1770)*

 Elizabeth Smith Smith (1744 - 1823)*

*Calculated relationship

Inscription:

[headstone]

Sacred to the Memory of Mrs. RUTH BREWSTER relict of Mr. NATHANIEL BREWSTER Obt. April 9th 1793, Ӕt 80.

She fear'd the Lord obey'd his Voice Believ'd his Word & died of choice.

[footstone]

Mrs. RUTH BREWSTER

Burial: Smith Family Graveyard Nissequogue Suffolk County New York, USA

Created by: Charles Boetsch Record added: Oct 26, 2014 Find A Grave Memorial# 137797615

_________________________________

• In the Patentee's burial ground at Nissequogue is the gravestone of Mrs. Ruth Brewster, who died 9 Apr 1793, aged 80 years, relict of Nathaniel Brewster. Among the known descendants of the Rev. Nathaniel Brewster, the only Nathaniel that this could be is the one here named, whose first wife was Gloriana Smith, Sister of the above Henry Smith who died in 1747. Mrs. Gloriana Brewster died in 1750. The will of Henry Smith mentions no son other than Charles Jeffrey Smith. The will of Charles Jeffrey Smith names his brother James, and in another place his brother James Brewster. Published genealogical items referring to this family, including statements by Thompson, Pelletrean, Mather, and by Mrs. Sullivan, compiler of the genealogy of the descendants of the Rev. Nathaniel Brewster, do not give such a second marriage, hut appear to assume that the name James Brewster was the given name of an own brother of Charles Jeffrey Smith, supposedly born after the date of the father's will. That Nathaniel Brewster left a widow Ruth is shown by the Brookhaven tax list for 1775. and she is also named in the 1776 Census, and indicated as then living at the homestead in South Brookhaven. Her gravestone is with a group of Floyd Stones, including those of Charles Floyd and General John Floyd and members of their families. The cumulative evidence appears so strong as to render the conclusion irresistible that Nathaniel Brewster's widow had also been the widow of Henry Smith. As no trace of James Brewster has been found, later than mention in the will as above, it would appear probable that he died when young. Ruth Brewster, named by Herbert F. Smith and by Mrs. Sullivan in their manuscripts as a daughter of Nathaniel Brewster, must have been a daughter by the second marriage. It seems altogether likely that Mrs. Ruth Brewster, at some time after 1776, returned to Nissequogue and made her home with her Floyd nephew, thus returning to the home of her childhood. Otherwise it would seem likely that she would have been buried beside the grave of her husband, Nathaniel Brewster, in the South Haven churchyard.