Finding the Smiths: Stories Behind Common Names

In my post on the Chavis family, I illustrated how it was possible to find lost ancestors if you crack the code. Most aren’t lost, we just don’t know where to look. Many times, they are hiding in plain sight, in records you’ve looked over a million times. They’re hiding behind different surnames or worst, the most common names in the world. In my case, I’ve got 2x great grandparents named William & Nancy Smith. Seriously, how on earth do you begin searching for a former slave named “William Smith” from Alabama?? Or Nancy Smith from Tennessee?? How many enslaved people in the deep south probably had extraordinarily common names like that? These are really the commonest of common names!

It took me a while to start researching this branch because I figured their names were so common, I’d just waste a lot of time going in circles. But once I decided to devote some time to the Smiths, I found far more than I ever thought I would. Census records actually turned out to be more helpful than I thought they would. The family is well documented on the federal census between 1880-1940 living in Larned, Kansas and Wichita, where my mama was born. Even better, Kansas is one of the few states that also produced state-level censuses, so I found them in those records as well. But what really helped me get to know them was stepping away from the censuses and checking out a different resource — the newspaper.

The Golden Age of the local paper

Small-town newspapers of yester-year can open a window into your ancestor’s real lives. And most importantly, it can help you find the “needle in a haystack” ancestor with the common name. Early on, it didn’t occur to me to try and search newspapers for info about my people for a couple reasons. I’m from a big city where most average folks ain’t getting their name in the paper unless they got arrested for something LOL. And again, in this case their names were so common, how would I know one William Smith from another?? But 100+ years ago, things were certainly different. While big city newspapers were relatively the same as today — mostly covering stories of national interest and politics — the thousands of small-town newspapers that were once in circulation covered the everyday local happenings across America. Before phones, TV and internet, the local newspaper was where you went to get all the tea!

First glimpse – Obituaries

My newspaper sleuthing began when a helpful fellow researcher sent me newspaper obituaries they’d uncovered for both William and Nancy Smith. If you’ve ever been stuck behind the common name brick wall, I’m sure you can imagine how delighted I was to receive such a treasure! And they weren’t just mundane recognitions of their passing with only funeral info, these obituaries were both full of information that I wouldn’t have gleaned from just staring at census records.

From William’s, I learned that he was a cook for the Union army throughout the Civil War and became a “successful and respected wheat farmer” after arriving in Kansas. Nancy’s was even more detailed. It told me that she was born in Weakley county, Tennessee and that she and William married in 1866 right after the war. It also gave a specific year for when the family moved to Kansas – 1879. These small details would prove critical to uncovering more of their early lives. Both obituaries also mentioned their children’s names — Wiley, Horace, Mrs. Moses Madison (Emma), Mrs. J.H. McLean (Martha) and my great grandmother, Mrs. Marie Fox (who my mama called Nan) — confirming they were indeed the same William and Nancy I’d found in the census records.

Uncovering the life stories

Once I read those obituaries, I couldn’t help but want to know more about the family. I didn’t know if I’d find anything more through the newspapers, but I figured it was worth looking. The Library of Congress has a free searchable online database called Chronicling America that has a few papers available, but I struck out there since Larned-area newspapers are not currently available on that site. So, I decided to sign up for Newspapers.com and let me tell you, I’m SO glad I did. This is not just a shameless plug for that service. You could certainly find microfilm of old newspapers for free at local libraries or historical societies, but the hunt for the people you’re looking for is a lot harder without a searchable database. And if you’re an armchair genealogist like me, you don’t have the time or money to go galivanting around the country to search for each paper. I also like that you can easily clip and save the articles you’re interested in. There are over 11,000 searchable newspapers from the 18^th-21^st century available on the site and they offer a free trial.

For Black family researchers, I also can’t stress enough the importance of the Black press. African American newspapers gave great accounts of our people’s everyday lives while also taking great care to continually celebrate and uplift in writing about their accomplishments. Much of what I learned of the Smiths, especially my great uncle Wiley Smith, came from the pages of the Topeka Plaindealer, a leading regional news source for black Kansans and Oklahomans in the early 20^th century.

I was hoping to find a few more obituaries, maybe a couple of interesting tidbits here and there. But my discoveries soon expanded my view beyond obituaries, and I learned there was much more to the story. What I uncovered in the pages of now defunct newspapers was a proud family legacy that had been buried in time. And through the accounts of their lives, I received black history lesson I’d never received in school. I learned my Smith family were part of the Black Kansas pioneers known as the Exodusters. I learned that only a generation removed from slavery, my family became some of the most successful farmers and businesspeople the entire state of Kansas. And through accounts of their educational accomplishments, I learned about the first historically black college west of the Mississippi.

The Exodusters

In the 1870s, as the newly freed Blacks realized Reconstruction was failing them, many decided to take their chance at getting their “40 acres and a mule” by packing up and leaving the land of their former enslavers behind. Such was the case for William and Nancy Smith.

When the government gave up all together in 1877 and pulled its last troops from the former Confederacy, it sparked a resurgence of the repressive conditions Black folks had endured while in bondage. For some it was even worse, as many whites sought to punish Blacks for daring to want equal rights and protections as U.S. citizens. The dramatic increase in violence and the hopelessness of the sharecropping system sparked the first “Great Exodus” of Blacks out of the South. And long before the Black towns sprang up in Oklahoma during the 1910s, Kansas was considered the promised land for our people.

When I went back to the Smith family’s 1880 census record, I realized I’d overlooked a lot of important info that would help me track their movements and lead me to the story of how they arrived in Kansas. Aside from noting that William was born in Alabama and Nancy in Tennessee, it indicated that their oldest daughter, 10-year-old Emma Ann, was born in Tennessee and their two middle children, 6-year-old Wiley and 3-year-old Horace, were born in Illinois. The youngest, 2-month-old Mattie was born in Kansas. So, from just that one census, I was able to conclude that William and Nancy were probably married in Tennessee where they started their family. Then they moved to Illinois by 1873 and lived there until 1879, when they set out for a new beginning in Kansas. And since Mattie was only 2 months old at the time of the census, it’s likely that Nancy was pregnant while they traveled. They clearly went on quite a journey in the first decade of their marriage!

Kansas was an attractive prospect for Black emigrants because its proximity to the southern states made it relatively easy to reach. Moreover, the legend of anti-slavery activists like John Brown who’d died fighting to keep Kansas free, was still fresh in their minds. According to the National Parks Service, many of the Blacks that migrated to Kansas were Tennesseans — like William and Nancy. The movement sprang up in the mid-1870s leading to the 1875 “Colored People’s Convention” in Nashville, where organizers like Benjamin “Pap” Singleton, strongly promoted relocation to Kansas. By this time, the Smiths had already left Tennessee and made their home in Illinois. But perhaps they got word from folks back home about better opportunities that awaited them in Kansas. Whatever their reasons, they decided to join thousands of other hopeful Black pioneers in the Great Kansas Fever Exodus of 1879.  

Unfortunately, the ideal of Kansas did not live up to the hype for everyone. Many had set out with few provisions, no money and no plans for shelter once they reached Kansas. They were helped by some benevolent people and organizations along the route in places like St. Louis, but several were stricken with yellow fever and some decided to return to familiar places. Thousands soldiered on however, successfully founding small towns like Nicodemus, which prospered into the 20^th century. The black population of Kansas grew from 17,108 in 1870 to 43,107 by 1880. My Smiths were among those that stayed — and prospered.

Up from Slavery, Into Education

I’m not sure of their exact route, but the Smith family somehow ended up in Barber county in 1880 — the only black family in this sparsely populated area. William’s occupation was listed as “farmhand”, so I assume he quickly found work on someone else’s land to support his family. But by 1885, the family had moved to Ash Valley in Pawnee county and his occupation was listed as “Farmer”. Meaning he had managed to secure his own land. What’s more, I learned from the local paper that his children were attending school alongside the white children. The Larned Eagle-Optic published the school report from 1885, and there were little Emma and Wiley Smith — the only black students — listed as having earned “A” grades for “scholarship and deportment”. As you see, 70 years before the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS decision had to force integration for black students to have a chance at an equitable education, black children in Kansas — like my great aunt and uncle — were already proving themselves capable of learning with white children and excelling.

It was clear that William and Nancy place a high value on education for their children. Only five years after the Kansas State Normal school graduated its first black student in 1898, the Larned Chronoscope mentioned that my great grandmother Marie and her sister Minta left home to attend the school. And the year before, their older brother Wiley was honored as the valedictorian of the 1903 graduating class of Western University.

Western University — our forgotten HBCU

From 1865-1943, Western University, one of the finest, yet now forgotten HBCUs in the land, provided higher education to the children and grandchildren of formerly enslaved people that had journeyed west in search of better opportunities for their families. Located in the town of Quindaro in Wyandotte county, it was initially found as Freedman’s University right after the war. In 1881 the African Methodist Episcopal Church took over its operation and modeled its vocational curriculum after Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute. By the turn of the 20^th century, they added more to the curriculum, such as the business courses that Uncle Wiley took. Western U was renowned for its music program, which drew students from all over the Midwest. Its Jackson Jubilee Singers performed in every U.S. state and boasted famed gospel singer Eva Jessye among its alumni. Sadly, the school suffered a devastating fire in 1924 and then was plagued by a lack of funding in its later years which led to its untimely closure in 1943.

Prosperity in the promised land

After graduation, Uncle Wiley put his education to good use and rapidly prospered. By all accounts, he was widely known and respected — by black and white folks — and became very successful seemingly overnight. In 1905, the Topeka Plaindealer published a letter to the editor from Wiley giving his own account of his good fortunes. In the note, he thanked the editor for not cancelling his subscription when he’d had a setback and was unable to pay. He said: “As you have been so kind as to keep me posted in regard to the interest of my people and without my subscription, I assure you that you have not labored in vain. You will get every cent of your money and one year’s subscription in advance. I believe in the paper and wish you much success in the future.” He goes on to tell them about the abundant wheat crop he has brought in and lets them know that he’s amassed $15,000 worth of property so far. That’s over $435,000 in 2019 dollars O_O!

Over the next 20 years, he accumulated nearly 1,000 acres of land where he farmed wheat, raised Percheron horses and other prized livestock, owned a threshing mill and operated a livery service that offered one of the first automobile cab services in the area.  And according to a Plaindealer article, by 1925 he was worth $75,000 — nearly $1.2 million in today’s money.

Between 1900 and 1925, there were dozens of stories written about the Smiths — parties, marriage announcements, holiday plans, business successes — all showing that they had become well-known, valued members of their community. I am fascinated by the peek each one gives into well-lived lives of my family members.

But the one that intrigued me the most was the large 1919 advertisement in the Larned Tiller and Toiler for “William Smith’s Big Closing Out Sale!”. In the ad he says he is quitting farming and therefore hosting a big auction to liquidate his farming assets. I know from the 1920 census that he and Nancy moved to a nice house in Larned. So, this was in essence his retirement announcement. How remarkable for a couple who had been born and raised in the bonds of slavery, to be able to retire on their own terms — wealthy, comfortable and living their best lives enjoying the fruits of their own labor.

The epic story of my Smith ancestors proves that you should never think of the people behind the common names as, well, just common. Don’t let difficult to find ancestors discourage you from searching for them. You never know what you’ll find!