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Smith Cemeteries in Ararat, Virginia

Passage from May Belle Thompson Smith's "The Smith Family Genealogy"

The following passage is quoted directly from The Smith Family Genealogy, by May Belle Thompson Smith, privately published (Ararat, Virginia, 1987). Posted here with permission from the author's family. The following is from pages 304-309.

Smith Cemeteries in Ararat, Virginia

 

One of the oldest Smith cemeteries in Ararat is located in the woods near road 645, about ½ mi. from road 773. Only 4 of the graves have monuments, the others are marked by a field rock placed at the head and foot. There are 3 rows of graves. In the first are:

  1. George Smith (husband of Sarah Smith)
    Born: 1789; died: Aug. 31, 1853
  2. Child: Probably Jo Ellen Smith (daug. of George and Sarah Smith)
  3. Child: Probably Octavia Lea Smith (daug. George and Sarah)
  4. George Soyars, (grandson of George and Sarah Smith)
    Born: Feb. 1, 1861, died: Dec. 24, 1889
  5. Sarah Smith (wife of George Smith)
    Born: Oct. 9, 1809; died: Dec. 5, 1893
  6. Sarah Jane Smith Soyars (daughter of George and Sarah Smith; mother of George Soyars)
    Born: 1839; died: Aug. 23, 1918

2nd. row — There are 5 graves, no monuments. Two are children and the other three are adults or older children.

3rd. row has 4 graves, no monuments. Two appear to be adults, one an infant, the other probably an older child.

 

The other old cemetery in Ararat is sometimes called the Munford Smith Cemetery. To reach this cemetery: turn left at Doe Run Church on road 767, go about ½ mi. turn left on a farm road, walk about ¼ mi. down the ridge, cemetery is in woods on left across a wire fence.

There are 4 rows of graves. The first row has only two. The one with a monument is:

  1. Samuel A. Smith (son of William Henry "Bill" and Charity Frances Gwynn Smith)
    Born: May 28, 1887; died: Aug. 16, 1914
  2. John Hunter (son-in-law of Euell Smith) no monument.
    Born: 1877; died: May 27, 1942. There is a Moody Funeral Home marker at this grave. This is the last person buried in this cemetery.

2nd. row has 5 graves:

  1. William Henry Smith (son of James and Sarah Willis Smith)
    Born: July 20, 1833; died: Jan. 3, 1906
    His monument has been broken. According to Willie Matt Smith (a grandson) it was broken when timber-cutters fell a tree on it.
  2. Parthene McMillian Smith (1st. wife of William Henry Smith), no monument at this grave.
  3. Childs grave—no monument. Probably Lorenzo Dowe Smith (Little Ransey) son of William Henry and Parthene McMillian Smith. He was born: Sept. 1, 1877 and died when about 2 yrs. of age of Croup.
  4. There are 2 adult graves—these could be parents of William Henry Smith (James and Sarah Willis Smith) think they are buried in this cemetery, since they owned the land and lived near.

3rd. row has 7 graves.

  1. Two adults and a child (no monuments)
  2. Euell Smith (Son of James and Sarah Willis Smith)
    Born: May 12, 1842; died: Aug. 22, 1907
  3. Probably Euell Smith's wife: Elizabeth Henley
  4. Two more un-marked graves.

4th. row has 5 graves—no monuments. There appeared to be a childs grave and 2 adults, a short distance from these were 2 adult graves, close together—Probably man and wife. This could be the graves of Munford and Catherine Armstrong Smith (some say they are buried in this cemetery).

One of the graves in this cemetery is Euell Smith's son, Hulet Moser Smith, born: March 26, 1873 and was murdered Oct. 20, 1923. According to Willie Matt Smith he was shot by Frank Hicks in the Bannertown section of Mt. Airy, N.C. on Smith Road.

Crawford "Croff" Smith, son of Munford and Catherine "Cash" Boyd Smith, is also buried in this cemetery. He died as the result of a blow to the head. Everett Scales was said to have hit him with a gun barrel and the sight on the barrel penetrated his skull, causing his death a short time later. This was the result of a misunderstanding in a card game.

 

Harden M. Smith Cemetery located north of road 773 between Blue Ridge School and the Cross Roads (773 and 614) near the old home place. (Now owned by Alton and Phyllis Clement.)

1st. row has 6 graves:

  1. Harden M. Smith (son of James and Sarah Willis Smith)
    Born: Sept. 6, 1827; died: Feb. 10, 1910 (82 yrs. 6 mo. 4 da.)
  2. Harden A. Smith (son of Harden M. and Elizabeth Smith)
    Born: Jan. 6, 1872; died: June 6, 1915
  3. Dora Gates Smith (wife of Harden A. Smith)
    Born: July 12, 1876; died: Jan. 18, 1928
  4. Julia smith Mankins (Daughter of Harden A. and Dora Smith)
    Born: July 18, 1899; died: May 28, 1916
  5. Child's grave (daug. of Julia and Johnnie Mankins) no monument.
  6. Johnnie Mankins (husband of Julia smith Mankins)
    Born: April 28, 1894; died: Nov. 20, 1924

2nd. row has one adult grave, no monument, is said to be the grave of Green Ayres Jr. (son of Elizabeth Smith Ayres Smith).

3rd. row has 3 graves.:

  1. One adult, no monument. I am interested in learning the name of this person.
  2. J.S. Smith (probably Joseph, son of Ewell Smith)
    Born: Feb. 19, 1833; died: Apr. 18, 1882 (49 yrs. 1 mo. 29 da.)
  3. Emberzetta Smith Ayres (dau. of Joseph and Elitha Fowlkes Smith)
    Born: Aug. 29, 1818; died: Sept. 6, 1900 (82 yrs. 7 da.)

 

Elizabeth P. Smith, wife of Harden M. Smith is buried with her first husband, Green Ayres Sr. near their home on road 631 near the foot of the Blue Ridge Mts. Both have tall monuments with legible names and dates.

  1. Elizabeth P. Smith Ayres (Smith) (daug. George and Sarah Smith)
    Born: Sept. 18, 1833; died: Sept. 4, 1906
  2. Green Ayres Sr. (son of Col. William and Frances Davis Ayres Sr.)
  3. An infant grave not identified—no monument.

 

Smith Cemetery west side of road 740 about 1/8 mi. from road 773.

This cemetery was started as a Deatherage family burial area with probably as many as 6 or 7 graves in a row. The only one having a monument is R.D. Hendrick, a Civil War Veteran, who married one of the Deatherage daughters. She is buried beside him, but there is no monument to her grave. The parents and 2 or 3 unmarried daughters are thought to be buried here also. Sometime in the past when working on the cemetery head and foot stones have been removed.

The first in the Smith Family buried here:

  1. Charity Ann Martin Smith (wife of Stephen P. Smith)
    Born: 1822; died: 1902
  2. Stephen Pinkney Smith (husband of Charity Ann Martin Smith)
    Born: 1812; died: 1903
  3. Charity Ann Smith (grand-daughter of Stephen and Charity Ann Martin Smith and daughter of Glover and Susan Ella Cranford Smith)
    Born: Apr. 24, 1902; died: Apr. 14, 1909
  4. Virginia Vivian Smith (grand-daughter of Glover and Susan Ella Smith and daughter of Edgar and Crrie Smith)
    Born: Apr. 21, 1918; died: Jan. 8, 1919
  5. Octavia Elizabeth Smith (wife of Council Smith and daughter of Harden M. and Elizabeth P. Smith)
    Born: Apr. 9, 1863; died: Feb. 26, 1927
  6. Council Smith (son of Stephen P. and Charity Ann Smith)
    Born: June 16, 1857; died: Nov. 16, 1949
  7. Melvin B. Smith (adopted son of Harden and Elizabeth P. Smith—son of Texas Smith, grandson of Munford and Catherine B. Smith)
    Born: ; died: Nov. 14, 1944
  8. Lula Lovell Clement Smith (wife of Melvin B. Smith)
    Born: 1883; died: 1946
  9. Harden Moore Smith (son of Council and Octavia Elizabeth Smith)
    Born: Aug. 9, 1902; died: June 19, 1982
  10. May Belle Thompson Smith (wife of Harden M. Smith and daughter of John Henry and Notie Alice Puckett Thompson)
    Born: Feb. 26, 1918; died:

 

James B. Smith Cemetery is located about 1/8 mi. south of road 631. Land is now owned by Russell and Georgia Goins Smith.

James must be related to the Joseph and Elitha Fowlkes Smith Family. When the estate was being settled, he sued the estate and was given a boundary of land. A recent survey of Fowlkes Smith (he was a county surveyor at that time) (135 Acres out of 169 Acres, recent survey)

  1. James B. Smith, born Feb. 28, 1810; died: Apr. 28, 1892
  2. Judih Smith, wife of James, born: March 8, 1809; died: May 27, 1893 (she was a Bowman before she married)
  3. Euel M. Smith, born: Sept. 13, 1851; died: Sept. 23, 1879
  4. Embersetta Smith, born: Oct. 26, 1837; died: July 5, 1862
  5. Purris Smith, born: May 18, 1848; died: March 30, 1912
  6. Litha Smith, born: Apr. 5, 1835; died: Jan. 30, 1902

I found 3 more children in Moody Funeral Home Records that are probably buried here, but have no monuments

  1. Susan Smith, farmer, died: May 22, 1919 age 82 (of old age)
    Buried: Smith Family Cemetery
  2. Elitha Smith, died: March 9, 1923 about 67 (heart disease)
    Buried: Smith Family Cemetery
  3. Ellen (Eleanor) Smith, died: Jan. 28, 1925 age 86 (old age)
    Buried: Smith Family Cemetery

There were 2 more boys listed in this family in the 1860 census but I found no further record of them. Floyd Smith, born about 1842 and James Smith, born about 1846.