>>>>>>Much research has been done on the background of William F. "Calico Bill" Smith and his family members. On this page, I will present both copies of the Bledsoe County, TN Census, Death Certificates, and some photos I have been able to acquire. As the reader reads down through these documents, it may be noticed that none of them ever mention that William F. "Calico Bill" Smith was a Cherokee Indian, but rather that he was a white man.
1850 Federal Census of Nine-Mile Community, Bledsoe County, Tennessee
This shows another sister of William.Brocklin Smith, as being WHITE,
on the Fannin Tx. Census. It would seem reasonable that she being a sister to William Brocklin
Smith, and if she was a daughter |
Remarks Concerning the 1850 Census of Bledsoe County in 1850
>>>>>>The 1850 Census records
of Bledsoe County, TN, the Community of Nine-Mile, show an Elizabeth Smith,
daughter of Dred Smith, his full name being (Eathelridge) and Matilda
Smith) in 1850, She being 16 years of age, living only four houses (households)
away from (the household of) Milton Smith,(father of William F. "Caloco
Bill" Smith. (See the above Census). William F., is shown to be the
age of 13.(according to Pension Claim No.353579 his age was 14, (The 1850
Census was incorrectly stated.) Between the 1850 census and the 1870 census
there is not another William (or William F. Smith) shown to be living
in the Nine Mile Community. William F. did not show up on the 1860 census.
(Because, his Pension Application states, he left Bledsoe Co.TN., in the
fall of 1858) This maybe because he had enlisted in the Union Army. (William
F.Smith enlisted into the Union Army in the State of Kentucky .on 28 Nov.
1862, according to his Pension Affidavit Papers). After he left Bledsoe
Co. fall of 1858, there was a time gap. He spent time between liviing
in Bledsoe County and his enlistinig into Union Army in Kentucky, in Franklin
Co. Illinois. It is reported that he had several Uncles and Cousins residing
in Franklin and Hamilton Co.
Illinois, at the time.
>>>>>>According to the
Pension Affidavit Statement made by William F. "Calico Bill"
Smith, he stated his whereabouts during this period of time. He states
how he had gone back and forth from Bledsoe Co.Tennessee to Kentucky and
Illinois during this time period..
Extended Remarks:
>>>>>>Death certificates
of three of Elizabeth Betsy Smith's children state that
their father was William Smith, born TN. Also the Death Certificate of
her son, William Brocklin Smith, who was living in Oklahoma
at the time of his death, states that his father's name was William Smith,
born in Tennessee. The informat on the death certificate .was his son,
Fred Smith. Thus matching the name of the father stated on his sisters'
death certificates back in Bledsoe Co.TN. in naming William Smith as their
father.
>>>>>>Family Legend
Evidence from Oklahoma: After migrating to Oklahoma. from Tennessee.
William Brocklin Smith proclaimed to his children and his grandchildren
that his father's name was "Calico," sometimes "Calico
Bill Smith." Even some Oklahoma.decendants claim he called his father
William "Calico Bill" Smith, of Bledsoe Co.TN. In his son Fred
Smith's family Bible, it has that William Brocklin's father died in 1917,
and William F. "Calico Bill" Smith of Bledsoe, Marion, and Grundy
Co. that died in 1915. That is a close comparsion for the difficult way
that death news would have traveled from Tennessee. to Oklahoma to the
ears of William Brocklin Smith who had already been living in Oklahoma
for several yearrs.
>>>>>>Special Note:
If any one reading this can document that there was "another"
William "Calico Bill" Smith who ever lived in Bledsoe Co.TN.,
please contact me, and let me know. And I will do research and look diligently
into your claim.
>>>>>>Below is the Death Certificate of Arminta Shoemate, called Minne, daughter of William Smith. Bledsoe County, Tennessee, Married to John Shoemate; Buried at Humble Cemetery, south of Pikeville, TN. She would have been born according to the D.C. in 1865.
Listed below is the Death Certificate of Margarette (Margaret) Smith Sullivan. Note that she list William Smith as her father and Elizabeth Smith as her mother. She 68 years of age, Died in 1946, and born in
Waymon Harrison Keener and his wife, Martha Angeline Smith Keener
>>>>>Below is the family picture of Waymon Harrison Keener and his wife, Martha Angeline Smith Keener. She was the daughter of William Smith and brother to William Brocklin Smith. Her mother would have been Elizabeth Smith, of Bledsoe County, TN., They are shown with their children.
Waymon Harrison Keener and his wife, Martha Angeline Smith Keener, and Family
Below
William Brocklin Smith and His Wife, Martha (Mattie) Keener
They were living in Ada, Oklahoma when William died.
