John Smith IV (1687 - 1719)

Ancestors

Husband of Deborah (Angell) Smith — married 12 Jun 1716 in Providence, Providence, Rhode Island

Descendants

Died 24 May 1719 at about age 32 in Providence, Providence, Rhode Island

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Biography

John Smith, of Providence, called John, the fuller, died 24 May 1719 intestate. He was married to Deborah Angell by Richard Waterman, justice, on 12 June 1716. His wife was the daughter of James and Abigail (Dexter) Angell of Providence and was born on 4 April 1695 and died on 25 February 1738 on Providence.

On 5 October 1719, the Providence Town Council granted the request of the widow to take the administration of John Smith's estate, and her brother James Angell provided the bond. The inventory was taken by John Angell, John Whipple, and John Jenckes on 26 May 1716, and it was approved by the Town Council on 29 August 1719. It totaled £142 4s 10d and included mill irons and tailor's shears.

Town records give no clue to the cause of John Smith's death, but he was certainly a young man when he died. It may be that he was buried in his father's lot in Charles Town in what was then the compact part of Providence.

His wife Deborah Smith's gravestone is in North Burial Ground beside that of their only child, Martha. Her inscription reads, "Deborah Smith, relict of John Smith, died Feb. 25, 1738 in her 44th year."

Child of John and Deborah (Angell) Smith:

1. Martha Smith, b. 3 April 1719 in Providence; d. 1. September 1760 in Providence; m. (1) in Providence 23 March 1737 Elisha Brown of Providence, of James and Mary (Harris) Brown, grandson of John Brown and great-grandson of Chad Brown. He was born on 25 May 1717 and died on 20 April 1802. He m. (2) 22 February 1716 Hannah (Barker) Cushing, widow of Elisha Cushing.

DNA

After John Smith III's death, it ended his Y-DNA line here because he had one daughter. However, his brother, Philip Smith's Y-DNA paternal-line descendants have continued, so here is the Y-DNA results.

The Y-DNA STR (short tandem repeat) and SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) or haplogroup results can be viewed under the Group R1b-NE40 John Smith the miller at SmithConnections Northeastern project from Family TreeDNA. The haplogroup of this line is R-DF27, and it descends to the most recent haplogroup R-BY165944. John Smith the miller (c.1595-1648) shares this mutation of R-BY16944 with Robert Gray of Yorkshire (1677). When this mutation that most recent common ancestor had is unknown. It is likely that the most recent common ancestor had this mutation long before the system of surname had developed in 11th century.

Sources

• Find a Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com: accessed 08 June 2020), memorial page for John Smith (1687–24 May 1719), Find a Grave Memorial no. 29670071, citing North Burial Ground, Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island, USA; Maintained by Scout (contributor 47319613).

• SmithConnections Northeastern DNA Project. Family TreeDNA.com.

• Farnham, Charles William. “John Smith, the Miller, or Providence, Rhode Island, Some of His Descendants.” Rhode Island History, vol. 21, no. 2, Apr. 1962, p. 49.