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mcc-jrr_722-010

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Smith Cemetery, 72-2 Summary Report, page 10

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Considering the dates, the location, middle initials, and the fact that all other records for the Redstone Arsenal initial landowner gave his name as either Hughy or Hughey, it is fairly certain that the 1857 purchase was by a different Hugh Smith. However, a photographic image of the BLM record for the 1857 purchase is included in the computer CD-ROM folder supplied to the Army offices for reference by later Smith researchers. One other proof of the difference of the Hugh Smiths is the names of their wives. The Hughy Smith of the arsenal lands had a wife named Betsy (Elizabeth) E. Smith. She was born in NC per the 1880 census report for her son Stanhope C. Smith, a physician living in Huntsville at that time. That fact is further confirmed by her obituary in the Southern Advocate of January 22, 1847, where it was reported that she was born in Rutherford County of North Carolina and that she died at age 64. She was reported to be a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Betsy was Hughy's last (and only?) wife, according to the data found in early deed records and probate files. The Hugh Smith of Township 4 was married to Harriet Landman, who was the daughter of William Landman, another early plantation owner on what became arsenal lands (see LANDMAN I CEMETERY, 34-1, on this CD). Harriet lived beyond 1860, as she was still listed in the census of that year with Hugh Smith. The two cemeteries on the arsenal in what was Hughy's first purchase of government lands in Alabama in 1818 are within a few hundred yards of one another. Because of the boulder-covered grave in the southernmost cemetery (nearest to Buxton Road), it is thought that this cemetery was for the landowner and his immediate family. 10 - (2623)    

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