John F. Smith, Farmer

Nova Scotia # 10 on 17 May 1861 cover from Halifax to Amherst, Nova Scotia. Addressed to John F. Smith. Esq., Amherst. Backstamps Halifax MY 17 1861, Amherst MY 18 1861.

John Francis Smith was 27 years old and a farmer in Nappan, Cumberland County, just south of Amherst, when he received this letter from Halifax. He had married Sarah Anne Read five years earlier in 1856 in Nappan. Although the 1871 census for Amherst lists several John Smith families, we can confidently identify the letter's recipient by the middle initial "F" for "Francis", which was his father's name. John evidently thought it important since all census entries for his household and even his death certificate include it.

The 1871 census for Amherst, Cumberland County has John F Smith, origin Irish, 37, birthplace Nova Scotia, Weslyan Methodist, Farmer, with Sarah A Smith, 32, origin English, birthplace Nova Scotia, Armintha Smith, 13, Margrate Smith,11, Amelia L Smith, 9, John L Smith, 8, Joseph H Smith, 7, Mary L Smith, 5, Thomas R Smith, 1

The 1881 census Amherst, Cumberland John F. Smith, 46, birthdate 1835, birthplace Nova Scotia, farmer, Methodist, with Sarah A. Smith, 41, Margrate Smith, 22, Amelia Smith, 20, John S. Smith, 19, Joseph Smith, 17, Mary F. Smith, 15, Thomas R. Smith, 12, Sarah Smith, 10, Ephram I. Smith, 9

The 1891 census has John F Smith, 55, Methodist, Farmer, father's birthplace Nova Scotia, mother's birthplace New Brunswick, Sarah Smith, 52, wife, Ephraim Smith, 18, son

Thomas Smith, 21, son, Winnie M Smith, 16, daughter, Clarence Smith, 14, son, Ressa Smith, 11, daughter, Etta Smith, 9, daughter, Irvine Smith, 7, son, Edward Styles, 5, grandson, Etta Styles, 2, granddaughter.

Part of a c. 1970 hand-drawn map of Nappan by Ernest Coates showing the location of many of the original homesteads. The Smith homestead is # 60.

John Francis Smith was born in 1835 in Fenwick, Cumberland Co, the son of Francis Caleb Smith and Mary Ann Trueman. He married Sarah Ann Read in 1856 in Nappan, Cumberland Co. In 26 years, they had 15 children. John Francis Smith died December 23rd, 1917, of "old age". He was 83.

John Francis' father, Francis Caleb Smith was born May 14th, 1808 in Cumberland County. He married June 3rd, 1834, in Truemanville, Cumberland County, Mary Ann Trueman (1809-1887). They had seven sons and three daughters. John Francis was their eldest child.

John Francis' grandfather, John Smith. was born on April 2nd, 1780 in Smithfield, Guysborough County. He married Dorothy Shipley on 13 Feb 1806 in Nappan. Francis Caleb was their second son. John died on 19 Oct 1819 in Nappan. There is a family tradition he was lost at sea. According to the perhaps fanciful story in History of the Smith Family by Nathan Smith, 1862, p. 63, as a young man, John lived at Newport. "Now, whether John was fooling around a bit or not, he got credit for it, as a girl at Newport blamed him for her 'delicate condition', and apparently, he did not want to marry her, so he headed out for Cumberland County. He married Dorothy (Dollie) Shipley, who was supposed to be worth some money. He was 23 years old when he came to Nappan, and was a good businessman. He bought cattle and drove them to Windsor and area to sell. Then he bought a schooner, loaded it with plaster, and headed for (some say Boston, some say St. John, NB), and was never heard from again."

John Francis' great-grandfather, John Joseph Smith. was born on February 2nd, 1723, in Templemore, Tipperary, Ireland. In the History of the Smith Family by Nathan Smith, p. 63, "John Smith, eldest son of William and Jane (Griffith) Smith, born in Ireland, Feb 2, 1723, was the first member of his family to settle in Nova Scotia. He had been twice married and several children when he left Ireland in 1767 for the new world. He was accompanied by his eldest son, William, then a lad of sixteen years. They took up land in what is called Stanley. After witnessing the marriage of his son William, to Lucy Lake in 1771, John returned to Ireland and in 1773, brought his wife and other children to Nova Scotia, with the exception of two daughters who had married in Ireland. They lived in Stanley in Newport, where John Smith died April 23, 1806. He was buried on his farm there.

If this family history is accurate, this John F. Smith is the distant cousin of John S. Smith of Selma featured on another cover entry in this blog.

Maccan River near Nappan, Nova Scotia