Luther "Lute" Guy Smith

Luther married Clara J. Fullen on 4 Jun 1983 in Sabine County, Texas. Clara (daughter of Lawrence Allen "Lon" Fullen and Margaret Elvina "Viney" McNaughten) was born on 12 Nov 1906 in Sabine County, Texas; died on 12 Nov 1985 in Sabine County, Texas; was buried in Fairmount Cemetery, Yellowpine, Sabine County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married:
Luther G Smith Gender: Male Marriage Date: 4 Jun 1983 Estimated birth year: abt 1907 Age: 76 Spouse: Clara J Fullen Spouse Gender: Female Spouse Est Birth Year: abt 1907 Spouse Age: 76 Marriage County: Sabine Marriage State: Texas Source: Texas Marriage Index, 1966-2002

Notes:

A digital image of his actual Texas Death Certificate can be viewed online at FamilySearch.org, Texas Deaths, 1890-1976. He is shown as the son of W. H. Smith and Mary Ellen Giddens. The informant was Mrs. Abbie Lee Pratt, his daughter. He was not a veteran, and was shown as a retired farmer. His year of birth was shown as 1878 versus 1875 as shown by White and Toole.

(Research):Census Listings:

1920 Census
Texas, Sabine County, JP One
Enumerated 3 and 4 February 1920
SD 326 ED 168 Sheet 26B
524-546
Smith, James L Hd M W 41 M Tx Ark Ark Farmer
Smith, Doshia L Wf F W 32 M Tx Tx Tx
Smith, James O Son M W 17 S Tx Tx Tx Farm Laborer
Smith, Laura O Dtr F AW 15 S Tx Tx Tx
Smith, Luther G Son M W 12 S Tx Tx Tx
Smith, Abbie L Dtr F W 10 S Tx Tx Tx
Smith, Johnnie H M W 6 S Tx Tx Tx

(Medical):See attached sources.

James married Theodosia Luma Whittlesey on 4 Jul 1901. Theodosia (daughter of Luther Cogswell Whittlesey and Sophronia Lee Travis) was born on 13 May 1885 in Sabine County, Texas; died on 1 Mar 1960. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Mary Ellen Giddens. Mary was born on 14 Feb 1840 in Arkansas; died on 30 Sep 1932 in Hemphill, Sabine County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Shown as Ellen? on 1880 census? Or was the woman on the 1880 census a second wife?

Luther married Sophronia Lee Travis in 1882. Sophronia (daughter of James Cannon Travis and Sophronia Pauline White) was born on 25 Feb 1866 in Texas; died on 3 Feb 1932. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Constance Harris before 1835. Constance was born about 1815 in Louisiana; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"Records of the WHITTLESEY family have been traced to 664 A.D. in Whittlesey Mere, County of Cambridge, England. William Whittlesey (1300-1374) was the 57th Lord Archbishop of Canterbury (1368-1374). John Whittlesey came to America in 1623, and is a direct ancestor of Joseph Adolphus Whittesley b 1820. He was in Texas before 1840. In 1841, he was co-editor of the REDLANDER in San Augustine. He taught school, served in the Mexican War, was County Judge of Sabine County, and Postmaster of Sabinetown." (White and Toole, p 82).

The death certificate of his eldest son, Oscar, instead showed that Joseph was born in Virginia.

Joseph married Anne "Annie" Newton Bullock on 19 Apr 1849. Anne (daughter of Lemuel Bullock and Martha L. Day) was born about 1833 in Mississippi; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The daughter of Lemuel Bullock and Martha Day. Dale Rubel shows that she was born in Holmes County, Mississippi, and died ca 1912 in Short, Texas.

The death certificate of her eldest son, Oscar, instead showed that Anne was born in Virginia.

Notes:

He was known by his middle name, Cannon. He may have been married previously to an Elizabeth, also from Mississippi.

According to the MINUTES 1858-1890 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH HEMPHILL, TEXAS, (James) Cannon and Sophronia (White) Travis were among the 11 founding members of the church. Sophronia was admitted by voucher on September 7, 1857 from W. C. Southwell, Missionary East Texas, as was her husband, Cannon Travis. Fellowship was withdrawn from Cannon Travis on November 10, 1860, and restored September 24, 1864. In June 1884, "charges having been preferred against Bro. Cannon Travis for unchristian conduct & said charges as alleged being Sustained, it was ordered that the Church withdraw fellowship from him & it is further ordered that his name be erased from the Church Book."

Note: Children's names and birthdates are based on a transcription of the 1870 census. The actual 1870 and 1880 census microfilm's should be carefully checked. The 1880 extract seems to have several glaring discrencies in names and dates. Blanche Toole speculates that perhaps the census taker knew Cannon and his family, and completed the information from (faulty) memory instead of by actually interviewing the family. Also, Charlie White lists a child named Jann White, born ca 1868 per the 1870 census who is not listed on either transcription of the census. Perhaps this is Martha Jane White.

Military Service Co. D 1 Tex HV Arty CSA (Courtesy of Tony Pickett)

Was shown on the muster roll of Captain J.M. Burroughs Company of the Sabine County Volunteer Infantry, CSA, and was enlisted at Hemphill, Texas by Drury Field for 3 months duty on January 15, 1863.

Jules Hurst writes that "I understand that Cannon died in Texas of cancer of the eye."

James married Sophronia Pauline White on 5 Dec 1850 in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana. Sophronia (daughter of Edward White and Elizabeth Strickland) was born in Nov 1833 in Amite County, Mississippi; died on 15 Jun 1915 in Hemphill, Sabine County, Texas; was buried in Hemphill City Cemetery, Hemphill, Sabine County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Sophronia was born during an auspicious month. On November 13, 1833, between midnight and dawn, thousands of meteors showered the sky over North America. To the native peoples of the land, it appeared that the stars were falling out of the heavens. Some thought it was the judgment day. Others called it "The Night the Stars Fell".

A young girl who was a slave at the time of the event said "Somebody in the quarters started yellin' in the middle of the night to come out and to look up at the sky. We went outside and there they was a fallin' everywhere! Big stars coming down real close to the groun' and just before they hit the ground they would burn up! We was all scared. Some O'the folks was screamin' and some was prayin' we all made so much noise, the white folk came out to see what was happenin'. They looked up and then they got scared too."

The celestial phenomenon called "the most impressive and awesome display ever recorded" was, in fact, the Leonids meteor shower seen in one of its most impressive years. Viewers witnessed 50,000 to 150,000 meteors per hour, only equaled by the November 17, 1966 display, when the Leonid shower brought 150,000 meteors per hour. Debris from the comet Temple-Tuttle that orbits the sun every 33 years causes the shower.

She was born and raised in Amite County, Mississippi, and can be found on the 1850 census with her parents. Sometime after that, the family moved to Sabine County, Texas.

After her husband's death, she lived with her oldest son, William Hardy Travis. She can be found living with he and his wife, Grace Ener, at the time of the 1900 and 1910 Sabine County census.