Abida Smith

Clarendon, Michigan

    My great, great, grandfather, Abida Smith, dob June 9, 1803, Williamstown, Vermont moved to Gouverneur, N.Y. in the early 1830's.  He married soon after and had 3 children and his wife died in 1848 of consumption, leaving him with 3 small children.  He married a second time in 1849 to a woman named Adeline Morris. They both show up in the 1850 Gouverneur, NY census but then in 1860 Abida shows up alone in Williamstown, Vt. (I believe he went back to visit his family and friends before moving to Michigan.)

   In 1863 his oldest child Harriet married a John Keep (I believe in N.Y.)  The second child, George Philo Smith, entered the Civil War in 1861 and was discharged in 1865.  Sometime in 1860 I believe Abida moved to Clarendon, Michigan.  He turns up in the 1870 census with two of his children and a son-in-law and some of the elder Keeps.
 

  I finally found his gravesite two years ago.  He is buried in the Clarendon cemetery off M-60 all by himself.  All 3 of his children moved to Clarendon.  His son George is buried in Riverside cemetery in Tekonsha and I haven't yet found where his two married daughters are buried but I'm getting close.
 

   My question is, Abida's marker says he was a "Pioneer" and on the Calhoun County website, it says a Pioneer had to have lived in Michigan before 1861, which is possible if Abida moved in 1860, right after the Williamstown census was taken.
 

   I haven't been able to find one picture of him nor one sentence of information.  If he was a pioneer of Clarendon, wouldn't there have been something written up about him?  He died June 16, 1886 and is buried in a plot belonging to Fred Hartson who died July 11, 1933.  I have no idea what their connection was except I'm assuming they must have been good friends.
 

      Would you please take the time to send me an email with any email addresses, phone numbers or addresses of anyone who keeps up with Clarendon History?  This means so much to me.  I've been trying to track down Abida's brother's family and just found them last week in Chicago and they are coming to Austin in April or May and will bring me some papers to look at.  I'm not sure if there is anything on Abida or not but it was exciting to find them.
 

Sincerely
Diane Metzger
Austin, Texas

Contact Diane Metzger with more information on Abida Smith.

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