Lieut. Philip Smith

Notes:

Born on 30 Apr 1632 at England. Baptized in Nov 1632 at Hadleigh, Suffolk, Eng. Philip died at Hadley, MA, on 10 Jan 1685. The son of Samuel SMITH and Elizabeth CHILEAB.

Philip, first of Wethersfield, removed to Hadley after 1659.

Philip was one of the first men of his time to be a lieutenant, deacon, and representative in Hadley. He was "murdered with an hideous witchcraft" according to Cotton Mather.

Some quotations from Lawson's web pages follow.

From The Magnalia Christi Americana, by Cotton Mather - 1702.

Mr. Philip Smith, aged about 50 years, a son of eminently virtuous parents, a
deacon of a church in Hadley, a member of the General Court, a justice in the
County Court, a selectman for the affairs of the town, a Lieutenant of the troop, and
which crowns all, a man for devotion, sanctity, gravity, and all that was honest,
exceeding exemplary. Such a man was in the winter of the year 1684, murdered
with an hideous witchcraft, that filled all those parts of New England, with
astonishment. He was, by his office concerned about relieving the indigences of a
wretched woman in the town; who being dissatisfied at some of his just cares about
her, expressed herself unto him in such a manner, that he declared himself
thenceforth apprehensive of receiving mischief at her hands. Early in January, he
began to be very valetudinarious. He shewed such weanedness from the weariness
of the world, etc.... While he remained yet of a sound mind, he solemnly charged
his brother to look well after him. Be sure (said he) to have a care for me.... There
shall be a wonder in Hadley.... In his distress he exclaimed much upon the young
woman aforesaid, and others, as being seen by him in the room. Some of the young
men in the town being out of their wits at the strange calamities thus upon one of
their most beloved neighbors, went three or four times to give disturbance unto the
woman thus complained of; and all the while they were disturbing her, he was at
ease, and slept as a weary man; yea, these were the only times they perceived him to
take any sleep in all his illness. Gally pots of medicine provided for the sick man
were unaccountably emptied: audible scratchings were made about the bed, when his
hands and feet lay wholly still, and were held by others. They beheld fire sometimes
on the bed; and when the beholders began to discourse of it, it vanished away.
Divers people actually felt something often stir in the bed, at a considerable distance
from the man; it seemed as big as a cat, but they could never grasp it. Several trying
to lean on the bed's head, tho' the sick man lay wholly still, the bed would shake so
as to knock their heads uncomfortably. Mr. Smith dies; the jury that viewed his
corpse found a swelling on one breast, his back full of bruises, and several holes
that seemed made with awls. After the opinion of all had pronounced him dead, his
countenance continued as lively as if he had been alive; his eyes closed as in a
slumber, and his nether jaw not falling down. Thus he remained from Saturday
morning about sunrise, till Sabbathday in the aftenoon. When those who took him
out of the bed, found him still warm, tho' the season was as cold as had almost been
known in any age; and a New England winter does not want for cold. But on
Monday morning they found the face extremely tumified and discolored. It was
black and blue, and fresh blood seemed running down his cheek upon the hairs.
Divers noises were also heard in the room where the corpse lay; as the clattering of
chairs and stools, whereof no account could be given. This was the end of so good a
man.

From History of Hadley, by Sylvester Judd - 1863.

Mary Webster, the woman who disturbed Philip Smith, was sent to Boston, tried
for witchcraft, and acquitted. The young men of Hadley tried an experiment upon
her. They dragged her out of the house, hung her up until she was near dead, let her
down, rolled her some time in the snow, and at last buried her in it, and there left
her. But she survived, and died in 1696. No inhabitant of Hampshire Co. was ever
executed for witchcraft.

From Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut, by Lucius Barnes Barbour - 1976.

William Webster s. of John & Agnes died 1688 mar Feb 17, 1670 Mary Reeve who
died 1696 dau of Thomas Reeve of Springfield. Hadley; his wife was accused of
witchcraft and sent to Boston for trial 1684, but was acquitted and died in peace.
s.p.

Source: http://babbage.clarku.edu/~djoyce/gen/report/rr02/rr02_444.html

Philip married Rebecca Foote on 1 Mar 1657 in Wethersfield, Hartford County, Connecticut. Rebecca (daughter of Nathaniel Foote and Elizabeth Deming) was born on 3 Sep 1634 in Watertown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts; died on 6 Apr 1701 in Hadley, Hampshire County, Massachusetts; was buried in Old Hadley Cemetery, Hadley, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married:
Both James Albury and the Pane-Joyce Genealogy website list an Ichabod (1675-1746) as a son, although he is not shown on the Foote Family Website. The Genealogies and Biographies of Ancient Wethersfield, Connecticut, does show they had eight children.

Philip and Rebecca (Foote) Smith. are the seventh great-grandparents of George Herbert Walker Bush (42 President of the United States), through their daughter, Rebecca, who marreid George Stillman.

1. Deacon Samuel Smith was born in Jan 1658 in Hadley, Hampshire County, Massachusetts; died on 28 Aug 1707 in East Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut.
2. Deacon John Smith was born on 18 Dec 1661 in Hadley, Hampshire County, Massachusetts; died on 27 Apr 1727 in Hadley, Hampshire County, Massachusetts.
3. Jonathan Smith was born about 1663 in Hadley, Hampshire County, Massachusetts; died about 1737 in Hatfield, Hampshire County, Massachusetts; was buried in Old Hadley Cemetery, Hadley, Hampshire County, Massachusetts.
4. Philip Smith was born about 1665 in Hadley, Hampshire County, Massachusetts; died on 26 Jan 1724 in East Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut.
5. Rebecca Smith was born about 1668 in Hadley, Hampshire County, Massachusetts; died on 7 Oct 1750 in Wethersfield, Hartford County, Connecticut.
6. Nathaniel Smith was born on 2 Jan 1670 in Hadley, Hampshire County, Massachusetts; died about 1740 in Hatfield, Hampshire County, Massachusetts.
7. Rev. Joseph Smith was born about 1674 in Hadley, Hampshire County, Massachusetts; died on 8 Sep 1736 in Middletown Upper House, Middlesex County, Connecticut.

Notes:

"The earliest ancestor whom we can trace of Sophia Smith was Lieut. Samuel Smith, who came with his wife Elizabeth and four children in 1636 when he was 32 years old from England.....He was one of the [Hadley] selectmen chosen on the 9th of November 1659 'to order all puvlic occasions that concern the good of the country for the ensuing year,'....(Hopkins Grammer School) was the first endowed school of the kind in Hampshire County, and Samuel Smith was chosen one of the first trustees, it afterward vecame Hopkins Academy and Sophia Smith was one of its pupils.....In the early records of the town [of Hadley], he is frequently chosen for the management of town affairs, where a person of integrity and sagacity seems to have been demanded."

--Unsigned and undated history from Sophia Smith's homepage

www.smith.edu/libraries/ca/sophia/family/gen1.htm

Occupation Lieutenant and Fellmonger

Source of Information: Ancestry of Col. John Harrington Stevens and Francis Helen Miller by Mary Lovering Holman, Concord, NH. 1948, page 369-375.

Samuel Smith resided at England; traveled on the "Elizabeth" to Boston April 30, 1634 from Ipswich, Suffolk, England with wife and several children; Watertown, Connecticut 1634; Wethersfield, Connecticut 1635/1636; Hadley, Massachusetts 1659/1660. Commanding officer of Hadley, Massachusetts Company, 1663-1678, probably was in King Philips War.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mcstayfamily/lt.htm

Passenger list of the Elizabeth said to be published NEGHS register 14, page 329, not verified.

Per his FindAGrave memorial page:

New Research in 2020.... NEHGR 174:40ff.... his parents were John Smith (c1572-1618) and Mary (Gardner) Smith (c1575-1626). Both John and Mary were buried in Burstall, Co.Suffolk.

He married Elizabeth Smith/Smythe on Oct 6,1624 at Whatfield, Co.Suffolk.

He sailed from England on the ship "Elizabeth" out of Ipswich with his wife Elizabeth, and landed in Boston with their four Children, Samuel,Elizabeth, Mary, and Philip in 1634. In 1636, they moved to Connecticut, and he was one of the Founders of Wethersfield,CT. In 1659, they moved to Massachusetts and he was one of the founders of Hadley.

Samuel married Elizabeth Smith on 6 Oct 1624 in Suffolk, England. Elizabeth was born about 1602 in Suffolk, England; died on 16 Mar 1686 in South Hadley, Hampshire County, Massachusetts; was buried in Old Hadley Cemetery, Hadley, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Her maiden name is shown by some as CHILEAB, and this error probably occurred in one of the early genealogies of this family because they named one of their sons Chileab and then the error has been passed on through the years in subsequent genealogies.

Article from The American Genealogist, Vol. 32, p. 195.
THE WIFE OF LT. SAMUEL SMITH OF WETHERSFIELD
By Paul W. Prindle, B.S., of New York, N.Y.

The wife of Lieutenant Samuel Smith of Wethersfield, Connecticut., has often been named erroneously as Elizabeth Chileab. The following article appeared in abbreviated form in "The Hartford Times, " 8 Jan 1956.

About one year after their arrival from England, Lt. Samuel Smith's wife gave birth to a son,1 to whom they gave the unusual name of Chileab. Someone, possibly Stiles (he must at least be charged with responsibility for passing on the fiction in his "History of Ancient Wethersfield 2:646), assumed that this unusual name must have been the surname of the mother.

It is unfortunate that Stiles failed to consult his Bible concordance. Had he done so, he would have learned that Lt. Smith, a devout man who made a bequest of a Bible in his will to each of his grandchildren gave biblical names to each one of his other sons, - Samuel, Philip and John, - and Chileab was no exception; the original Chileab was the son of King David by
Abigail (II Samuel, 111;3). According to Rev. William Jenks, "Comprehensive Commentary on the Holy Bible" (1836), Chileab signifies "like his father, or the father's picture." Due to the unusual circumstances of Chileab"s birth, Abigail being the lawful wife of Nabal the Carmelite, we may reasonable ascribe the touching choice of the babe's name to Abigail rather than to David. In any event in the 7 Oct. 1929 issue of "The Boston Evening Transcript," one C.D.A. wrote, in answer to query 8072-15. If Lieutenant Smith had named the child Chedorlaomer, Jaazaniah, Yephibosneth, or Maher-shalal-hash-baz ( all biblical masculine names), there would have been as much ground for assuming the selected name was the family name of Elizabeth as there was that it was Chileab.

The identity of Elizabeth, wife of Lt. Samuel Smith, has been determined within the bounds of probability acceptable to careful genealogists. As long ago as 14 Aug 1943, the late Dr. Ray G.Hulbert, in his answer to query A-2442-(6) in "The Hartford Times," gave the facts, which have been repeated on a number of occasions, once at least by the present contributor. Nevertheless, to bring all the known facts together, perhaps for the first time the following account is presented to lay the ghost of Elizabeth Chileab.

The parish registers of St. Margarets's, Whatfield, Co.,Suffolk, England, show the Oct 6, 1624 marriage of Samuel Smyth to Elizabeth Smyth, and the baptism of their son Samuel on Feb 8, 1625 (1625/6?). The young couple next appear at Hadleigh, co. Suffolk, three miles south of Whatfield where, at the church of St. Mary the Virgin, they baptized Elizabeth on Jan 28, 1627 (probably New Style); Mary, Oct. 9, 1628 and Philip, November1632. The Smith, Smyth, Smithe (all interchangeable, of course) family embarked "the last of Aprill, 1634, for New England, in the "Elizabeth," from Ipswich, Mr. Wm. Andrews, "Master" (New England Hist. and Gen. Register, 14:329; Hotten' s "Original Lists," pp. 280, 282; Pope's "Pioneers of Massachusetts"; James William Hook , "Lieut. Samuel Smith (1953), p. 1.The ship's list shows the following ages for the members of the Smith family:"Samuell Smithe,"; 32; "Elizabeth his wife," 32; and children of "Sam. Smith:" Samuel, 9; Elizabeth, 7; Mary, 4; Philip, 1. The ages of the children Samuel, Elizabeth, and Philip exactly correspond with their respective dates of baptism. Mary, however, was 5, not 4. Actually, this record represents a high degree of accuracy. Most ages taken from ships' lists (and from gravestones and census records as well) are questionable unless confirmed by other contemporary records.

There remains little room for doubt that the baptismal records shown above taken from the parish registers in Whatfield and Hadleigh, are of the children who sailed on the "Elizabeth" from Ipswich only ten miles east of Hadleigh, co. Suffolk and that Elizabeth, wife of Lt.Samuel Smith, was a Smith before her marriage.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~heathsmith/smith/ancestors_gen1.htm

Per her FindAGrave memorial page:

Her surname has been identified as Smith(or Smyth) from parish registers of St.Margaret's, Whatfield, Co. Suffolk where her marriage to Samuel is recorded. Earlier resources indicating her surname to have been "Chileab" have been refuted. NEHGR Vol.174. A series of articles published in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register published in the Winter, Spring, and Summer of 2020 outline an extensive search of records in Suffolk, England. A review of wills establishes the parentage of Elizabeth as Philip Smith and Ann (Grymwade) Smith.

Church records indicate she was baptized 22 Jul 1599 in Erwarton, Suffolk, England.

Children: Samuel Smith Jr, Elizabeth Smith Foote Gull, Mary Smith Graves, Philip Smith, Philip Smith, Chileab Smith, and John Smith.

Notes:

Married:
Church marriage records show the marriage of Samuel Smyth to Elizabeth Smyth. See excellant discussion in Paul W. Pringle, "The wife of Lt. Samuel Smith of Wethersfield," The American Genealogist, Vol. 32, 1956, page 202.