129 EDWARD SMOOT3 AND HIS DESCENDANTS Edward Smoot is the inferred son of Thomas Smoot who died intestate during 1668. He was apparently the youngest and for that reason he failed to share in the landed estate of his deceased father. He married shortly after he attained his majority, but before he could acquire an estate of his own he died leaving a young widow and infant children. His wife was Susan ----, no doubt a maiden of Pickawaxon Hundred, Maryland. One son is proved, while the others are assumed. Children of Edward and Susan Smoot 1. Richard Smoot. q.v. 2. Stringer Smoot. 3. Leonard Smoot. Edward Smoot died sometime before 1702, his estate being small accounts for the fact that no administration was recorded in the orphan's court. His son Richard was bound to William Hawton, the community blacksmith, who mentioned in a court record that he had in his possession "property of Edward Smoot deceased". His widow probably married John Mandell who was the guardian of Leonard Smoot. On April 14, 1705, John Mand1 entered the cattle mark for his son-in-law Leonard Smoot. This instrument, therefore, shows that the father of Leonard was deceased by this date and that his widow had remarried. Leonard Smoot was living at late as February 1734, when he leased for 15 years "Poppleton", lying in Charles County, from Judith Dutton. The parentage of Stringer Smoot is also inferred, but he belonged of the generation to be the son of Edward, and for other good reasons it is assumed that he was of this branch. On March 17, 1723, Stringer Smoot and John Fenwick were bondsmen for Leonard Green, the executor of Cuthbert Sewell, of St. Mary's County. Stringer Smoot was therefore of sufficient age and the holder of property in 1723. No further record of him has been found. Richard Smoot4 (169- - 17--) Richard Smoot, son of Edward and Susan Smoot, was born in Pickawaxon Hundred, Charles County, Maryland. His father being seized of only a small estate at his death, Richard Smoot at a very tender age

130 was bound to William Hawton, a blacksmith. In 1702 William Hawton by will bequeathed personal property to Richard Smoot, providing that his mother "Susan Smoot do make good and confirm the indenture" to his executor John Hawton. William Hawton furthermore stipulated that Richard Smoot should have two years of schooling when he reached 7 or 8 years of age (which would indicate that he was of a very young age in 1702), and that his cattle were to be marked for him at 16 years of age. Fifteen years later Richard Smoot was still a minor, for in 1717 John Hawton, blacksmith, and son of the above-named William, devised by will his servant Richard Smoot to his executor John Maddox as well as the estate of his said servant. Richard Smoot was remembered in the will of Mrs. Sarah Maddox, dated April 29, 1760 . . . "I give and bequeathed to Richd Smoot who served his time with My Deceased Husband John Madox one feather Bed one pair Blanketts, one Rugg and four head of Cattle to him and his heirs forever, Provided he be Living at my Death But if he be Dead I will the same to my Executor hereafter Mentioned". Richard Smoot, according to the tax list of 1783, was without land but he possessed 3 horses, 9 heads of cattle, no slaves, and had eight persons in his household. At the first census of 1790, he had three women at home and no slaves. He was not listed in the 1800 census. In the same hundred, where Richard Smoot was domiciled, was William Smoot who also possessed no land, but in 1783 he had 3 horses, 7 heads of cattle, 2 slaves, and eight persons in his family. He apparently died before 1790, for in that year Mary Smoot, presumably his widow, was the head of a family with another woman comprising her household, and 2 slaves. In 1800 Mary Smoot was still the head of a family, being more than 45 years of age, with 3 slaves. In 1810 she was probably living with her daughter, for one does not find her as the head of a family. Her will was dated January 27, 1813, and proved February 9, 1813, in Charles County by John Weems McPherson, William McPherson, and Samuel S. Adams. She devised personalty to her granddaughter Mary Abigail Waters, and the residue of her estate to her daughter Sylvia Waters. She named her son-in-law John Waters as the executor. It can be assumed from the tax list of 1783 that both Richard and William had one or more sons. All Smoots listed as heads of families in 1790 and 1800, however, can more or less be satisfactorily placed, therefore, it is believed that if there were any male issues of Richard and William (the latter was probably a son of Richard) that they left

131 Maryland and settled elsewhere. The fact that their children can not be determined accounts for the number of Smoots of the next generation living in the frontier counties of Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina, whose lines can not be established beyond this point. About the fifth generation, there was an Anne Smoot, beloved by Joshua Radcliffe, who in 1759 became the mother of his natural daughter, Amelia Smoot.

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"The Smoots of Maryland and Virginia" by Harry Wright Newman, originally published privately in Washington D.C. in 1936. This edition edited and published by Frederick K. Smoot and the Smoot Family Association, copyright 2001.

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