Waugh Smith

Ancestors

Son of Alfred Caleb Smith and Mary Lana (Waugh) Smith

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Kay Wilson [send private message]

Biography

William Waugh Smith, the son of Alfred Caleb Smith and Mary Lana Waugh, was born June 13, 1917^[1] and died August 27, 2010.^[2]

As a child, he was called Billie. In college he became Bill. In the 1960s he decided Bill Smith wasn't an interesting enough name, so started using his middle name, Waugh, his mother's maiden name. He sometimes signed his name Wa, and to some of his friends he was known as Wally.

Waugh was living in Honolulu when Pearl Harbor was bombed. He wanted to let everyone know he was safe, but he knew that anything he wrote would be subject to censorship, so he sent a telegram to his family with a simple message: 'Merry Christmas'.

Waugh knew that his grandfather Caleb Alfred Smith was born in East Haven, Connecticut in 1805 and that he was 72 years old in 1877 when Waugh's father Alfred Caleb Smith was born. Waugh used to joke that maybe 72-year old Caleb wasn't the father, but maybe it was the hired hand instead. In 2007 Waugh took a yDNA test that matched that of his 4th cousin twice removed Quentin Smith, who also traces his Smith line back to Thomas Smith and Elizabeth Patterson, confirming Caleb Alfred Smith was Waugh's grandfather.

DNA

Paternal and maternal relationships are confirmed by Family Finder test match between Kay (Johnson) Wilson and her maternal uncle William Waugh Smith. Their MRCAs are Alfred Caleb Smith and Mary Lana Waugh, the grandparents of Kay (Johnson) Wilson and parents of William Waugh Smith. FTDNA predicted relationship: Niece/Uncle, based on sharing 1622 cM across 47 segments.

Paternal relationship is confirmed through Y-chromosome DNA testing. William Waugh Smith, FTDNA kit #95454, and his 6th cousin once removed, Len Smith, FTDNA kit #216226, match at a Genetic Distance of 2 on 67 markers thereby confirming their direct paternal lines back to their MRCA Thomas Smith. FTDNA indicates that the probability the two share a common ancestor within the last 7 generations is 91.73% and within the last 8 generations is 94.73%.

Descendant of yDNA group NE12 Thomas Smith (1634 - 1724) and Elizabeth Patterson. See SmithConnections Northeastern DNA Project.^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ Ancestry.com. California Birth Index, 1905-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Birthdate: 13 Jun 1917; Birth County: San Bernardino.
2. ↑ Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2014.
3. ↑ SmithConnections Northeastern DNA Project, haplogroup R1b NE12 Thomas Smith.

• Year: 1920; Census Place: Etiwanda, San Bernardino, California; Roll: T625_128; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 154
• Year: 1930; Census Place: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Page: 10A; Enumeration District: 0218; FHL microfilm: 2339876