Stephen and Maria Smith

At one time I had no information about the parents of my g-g-g-grandfather, David Smith. In her book, Westward, Ho!, our fellow researcher Nancy Scott has filled in a few details of the lives of David's mother, Maria Troup and father, Stephen Smith. The following information is taken from pages 191-196 of Nancy's book.1

Stephen Smith was born in Pennsylvania, although the date of immigration of his parents is uncertain. The family of Maria Troup, Stephen's wife, came to America with the Hessians and were of German origin. Their family name may have been Straub or Stroup, rather than Troup. After Stephen died, Maria lived until c 1808, in Potters Township, where her name appears on the tax roll in 1808.

Stephen Smith's name appears in several capacities in the Revolutionary War:

One wonders if we are looking at records of more than one person. However, militia men would enlist when needed, go home when crops needed attention, and reenlist when the call went out again, so these probably are our militiaman. At any rate our Stephen Smith was active during the Revolution.

Baptismal records for John Peter Smith in 1784 show that Stephen and Maria were members of Mohr's Zion Church in Penn Township, Northumberland County. His residence there is indicated by the 1778 tax rolls in Penn Township, Northumberland County. Also in the same place 1784 & 1787, he was taxed with 100 acres. The 1790 Census of Pennsylvania in Northumberland County, Penn Township lists Stephen Smith as head of household. He moved to Potter Township in Centre County about 1792. There he was a tenant on the Potter farm in 1798,2 where he kept a tavern at the old fort until he died c 1803. Stephen left several minor children, and his will directs that his sons were to be bound to trades with their choice of masters.

Nancy credits Stephen and Maria with the following children:

Of the nine or ten children of Stephen and Maria (Troup) Smith,

Since Catherine and Mary both married men named Kephart, it seems possible that these were brothers, and that both couples may have moved to Clearfield County. None of them died in Centre County.

Another researcher, cousin Meredith (Young) Renard, has supplied a birth year of 1742 for Stephen Smith, based on Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970, for Stephen Smith, and a death date of 30 Jun 1802, based on Wills of Centre County, Pa., 1800-1853. Both publications are available at ancestry.com. Based on the SAR application and other information from ancestry.com, Meredith provides a birth year of 1750 or 1751, and a death year of 1807 or 1808, for Maria Elizabeth Troup.

1 Nancy credits yet another researcher, Kipp Melat, for most of her information on the Smith family.
2 1800 Census PA Centre Co. Potter Twp.: 3 Barbara's birth and wedding dates were also supplied by cousin Meredith, who is her descendant. According to information received from Nancy, Barbara was born 21 Jul 1791, and married Peter "c 1805" in Centre county, PA. They are both buried in the Akron Citizens Cemetery in Akron, Fulton county, Indiana, and additional information is available from both Barbara's and Peter's Find A Grave pages. Barbara and Peter were enumerated, along with an 11-year-old child, Rosann Minor Ream, who was possibly their granddaughter, in the 1850 census in Lake township, Stark county, Ohio, where their ages were listed as 61 and 63, respectively. If the birthdate given for Barbara is correct, it would make the birthdate listed for Stephen and Maria's next child, Daniel, questionable. We hope to add more information on this family, based on Meredith's research.
4 Daniel's 1850 census record lists him and Mary Ann in Rockland township, Venango county, PA. It gives his age as 60.
This page was last updated 6 Nov 2014.