William Bayley Smith

William Bayley Smith rescued Jemima Boone. He was one of the rescuers of Jemima Boone (Daniel's daughter) and the Callaway girls when they were captured by Indians. At different times Boone, Smith, and Richard Callaway negotiated with the Indians.

William Bailey Smith was at the Siege of Boonesborough He worked with Daniel Boone, going up against Blackfish, fighting for Boonesborough.

Smith’s Role in Determining the Virginia and North Carolina State Line No one knew at the time whether Virginia’s boundary line would strike the Mississippi above or below the mouth of the Ohio. Confusion in the settlement of Watauga was just one example of problems that evolved as pioneers pushed westward into the hills of Kentucky and Tennessee. To put the issues to rest, both states sent Commissioners to survey the line to the west. Virginia Commissioners were Doctor Thomas Walker and Daniel Smith; those of North Carolina were Colonel Richard Henderson and William Bailey Smith. Thomas Walker may be descended from the Walker family of Westmoreland, neighbors and relations of Peter Smith.

William Bailey Smith and George Rogers Clark, the western hero of the Revolution Clark arrived in Kentucky in 1772 as a surveyor. He was among those opposed to Colonel Henderson’s Proprietary Government at Transylvania. Clark had visions of his own for the development of the region. He understood the important role these new frontier lands would play in the growth of America. In 1776, as a delegate in the Virginia Assembly, Clark strongly urged Governor Patrick Henry to be mindful of the need to protect the backside of the American front in the war with England. Kentucky settlements were frail, ill-equipped, undermanned and vulnerable to British and Indians in the Northwest Territory. Governor Henry heard Clark’s plan of attack and authorized the raising of an army to attack remote British forts and protect the western front. Clark received permission to proceed with his plan and chose the captains and lieutenants for his expedition and began recruiting. His diary says: [January 2] “Appointed W. B. Smith major. He is to receive 200 men [on the Holston] and meet me in Kentucky the last of March.” “3. Advance Major Smith 150 pounds for said purpose.” These actions are on record in the Illinois Historical Collection, V. 8, pp. 36-37. Clark wanted to raise 400 troops for his Illinois campaign and he hoped Smith alone would pull 200 soldiers out of the Watauga area. Smith’s efforts were made difficult by a number of competing issues. The locals were more concerned about defending their homes in Appalachia and did not want to leave their families vulnerable while they went off to protect Kentucky pioneers. The federal government (Continental Army) was competing with Virginia state militia efforts and paying more for soldiers. Smith did not reach his goal of 200 troops and his force, once it headed west, was running behind schedule, throwing off the timing of the entire campaign. Clark had to make adjustments in his plans. When Smith’s troops arrived in western Kentucky they heard Clark explain the nature of the task before them. Smith had been ordered by Clark to keep the invasion a secret. The Watauga men had no idea they were part of an invasion force. They expected to protect Kentucky villages from marauding bands of Indians. Many of them deserted in the dark of night and headed back to North Holston. Those who remained helped George Rogers Clark secure Forts Kaskaskia and Vincennes. The Virginia Magazine of History, V. 15, p. 88, provides evidence that Smith gave military service in Kentucky prior to the “Northwest” expedition: “1777, December 11. Smith, Captain William Bailey, for pay for his Company of Kentucky Militia, p. Pay and Cert., 878. 7. 7.” William Bailey Smith “finally settled about 16 miles from the site of the present city of Henderson, Kentucky, on a tract of land which he received from John Luttrell, of the Transylvania Company, in payment for his services. His residence was known as ‘Smith’s Valley,’ at the mouth of Green River.” He received a grant of 400 acres of land in Ohio County, Kentucky, on February 19, 1780. He also claimed for his brother Presley Smith a preemption of 1,000 acres “lying on Panther Creek Waters of Green River below the land of William Bailey Smith on the said creek” and “a preemption of 1,000 acres of land at State prices…lying on Panther Creek adjoining the lands of Presley Smith” for Peter Smith, presumably the brother of Presley and William Bailey Smith. These preemptions were granted “on account of marking and improving the same in the year 1776.” Nancy Smith Boggess, sister of the Smith men, made an entry for 1,000 acres on Clifty Creek in January 1783. William Bailey Smith died October 19, 1818, in Daviess County, Kentucky. Upon his death a will dated 1811, made in Ohio County, Kentucky was presented for probation by Moses F. Smith, his nephew, the son of Peter Smith of Caswell County, North Carolina. Presley Smith, of Washington County, Kentucky, brother of William Bailey Smith and Peter Smith of Caswell, entered a suit in chancery claiming the will submitted by his nephew Moses, was a fraud. A lengthy proceeding ensued and after Presley’s death in 1819, Presley’s son W. B. Smith, Jr., kept the case alive in court. Moses F. Smith denied any charges of forgery. [Per the work of Pearl Smith, the paperwork for this case is found in Circuit Court Equity File Box No. 17, in the Daviess County Court House at Owensboro, Kentucky. Some of the more pertinent ones from a genealogical point of view are given as Appendix C.] Presley Smith’s concern about Bailey’s will relates to the nature of the gifts: the will bequeaths $500 to nephew James Simpson Smith; $100 to William Wigginton Smith (both sons of William Bailey’s brother Peter), old slave Sinah to be set free; and balance of estate to Moses Smith. Witnesses: Richard Taylor and Jacob Shaw. Mentioned in papers pertaining to the suit were Nancy Smith Boggess and her children. Since William Bailey Smith and his nephew Moses F. Smith both lived in Daviess County, and nephews William W. and James S. Smith lived nearby in Muhlenberg County, it seems likely that they had more contact with him than did Bailey’s brother Presley, who lived at a considerably greater distance in Washington County.

Smith was described as “a tall, rollicking, unstable bachelor, energetic and brave, but with quite a turn for embellishing the facts.”[1] Smith’s positive characteristics, together with the fact that he was unmarried, seem to be those of one who might seek adventure in the settling of a wilderness as the frontier moved westward.

https://revolutionarywar.us/year-1778/siege-of-boonesborough/ http://smithtree.info/home.php/great-ggu5-uncle-william-bailey-smith/ http://www.fortboonesboroughfoundation.org/html/early_settlers.html