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The Mythmaker, the late Joel William Smith 1893-1969 (See Mythmaker Outed .)
reported that the first wife of Rev William Smith, Sr (c1760-1841) of
Liberty and Ware (later Clinch and now Atkinson) Co, GA was born Mary Townsend or
Mary Townsend Platt.
No one can even prove that her name was Mary but out of respect for her and tradition when the Smith Family Reunion of Rye Patch, Long County, Georgia marked the graves in the old Smith burial ground we called her Mary. Only a perfectionist like this writer would fret over her given name when her maiden name is unknown. For the adventurous, it can provide a starting point if he wants to thoroughly and exhaustively investigate both the Townsend and Platt families looking for her. But such a person must find not just a Mary of the approximate correct age, but such a Mary whose husband was William Smith. The late Judge Folks Huxford (See Huxford Bio. ) took Joel's submission and in his sketch of William Smith, Sr he wrote that William's first wife was Mary Townsend Platt, born 2 Jan 1766 and died in Liberty Co about 1808. The full date of birth was one of Joel's many fabricated bits of dis-information. (See Questionable Dates. ). The estimated date of death, which likely should have been several years earlier, was calculated by Huxford, knowing the oldest child by the second wife was born 1809. Where did Joel get the name Townsend? Just south of Rye Patch Baptist Church in Long County is property called the Townsend Tract. It had been acquired by William Smith, Sr 20 Jan 1815 from a man named Light Townsend (1770-1851). [Liberty Co Deed Bk H, pgs 283-4] The Townsends were not only neighbors but also members, with the Smiths, of Jones Creek Baptist Church. William bought the land when Townsend moved his family eastward to McIntosh County and settled what is now the community called Townsend, GA. Light Townsend had a sister Mary who was about William's age but she married William Stapleton and lived in Alabama. He also had a daughter, Mary Elizabeth Townsend, but she wasn't born until 1802. This writer supposes that Platt(s) was a name Joel pulled out of the air as he did Ester (as a surname) and Cooperton, all names never found in the old Liberty County area but used by Joel in fabricated ancestors for several families besides Smith. The late Elmer O Parker (1915-2002), historian and Archivist at National Archives in Washington, DC, was a native of Long, Co and considered Joel his mentor. It was not until the 1990s when I showed Elmer Huxford's 1952 letter (See Huxford Letter. ) "outing" Joel as a fabricator of data that Elmer would believe it was true. When Elmer wrote his original History of Jones Creek Church, in his short sketch of the Smiths he identified William's first wife as a widow, Mrs Mary (Townsend) Platts. Much as I admired Elmer, he was a better historian than he was a genealogist. Elmer's speciality was military history. Having found the name William Smith among the refugees who had fled from Georgia to South Carolina during the Revolution, he wanted very hard to believe he was the William Smith Joel positioned in Georgia. (For a disclaimer see William's Places .) Elmer also knew that the Townsends had lived in South Carolina as had the Platt(s) family, so it was easy for him to suppose that a Mary Townsend married a Platts, was widowed likely by the War, and then married Smith. Unfortunately, there is not one iota of evidence known which supports Elmer's suggestions. By the time Elmer was asked to update and revise the church history I had convinced him he needed to modify his sketch of the Smiths. He asked me to rewrite that paragraph. Other obligations got in the way and I will always regret I had not done so by the time they sent the manuscript to the printer. In the meantime Elmer had added a caveat stating that not all researchers agreed with the history of the early generations of the Smith. What is so sad about that situation is that Elmer included Joel's spurious list of children of the non-existent Madison Smith, Jr, giving the fabricated years of their births and deaths, a marvelous thing to do when there are no tombstones, Bibles or public records to support one bit of the mis-information. This writer has researched the Townsend family quite thoroughly but no appropriate Mary was found. I even joined the Townsend Family national organization for a year but found no help. So, for the present, at least, we must reconcile ourselves to the fact that we cannot prove the identity of the first Mrs William Smith, Sr. A rather good source of Townsend material is The Seven Townsend Brothers of Texas 1826-1838 by Tula Townsend Wyatt. Austin, TX: Aus-Tex Duplicators, Inc, 1974. Edition limited to 500 copies. Of course, it contains many mistakes. The one I need point out here is that on introductory page xxi she wrote that Light Townsend's " . . . home was at Riceborough." That mistake was made because he had entered service in the War of 1812 at Riceborough 18 Jan 1815. He lived in present Rye Patch community of the 16th GMD, Liberty (now Long) Co and relocated to present Townsend in McIntosh Co. -CCG |
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