For Southland Loved, Chapter 1

Smith/Taylor/Somerville Bloodlines

Jane Morton Smith was born to George Andrew Smith and Julia Somerville 
Smith on February 5, 1832.  Both her father and mother came from highly 
respected families with roots that could be traced back to Scotland.  It was 
on September 9, 1829, that George married twenty-year old Julia Somerville, 
the daughter of James and Mary Atwell Somerville.  The union of James and 
Mary had already produced 11 fine Virginians who would plant their Scottish 
roots deep in the soil of the Old Dominion.  (Ref. 3141)

According to author Philip Slaughter, the first Somerville to come to  Virginia 
was James, who had been born in Glasgow on February 23, 1742.  He 
“located at Fredericksburg, became a wealthy merchant; died at Port Royal 
on April 25, 1798, and having no heir of his body, left his estate to his 
nephew James, son of Walter and Mary (Gray) Somerville, of Scotland.”  
The younger James (1774-1858) had been born in Glasgow as well, but 
“emigrated to America in 1795 to take possession of his inheritance.” (Ref. 2374)   
James married Mary Atwell (born June 22, 1778) of Fauquier County, 
Virginia, in June 1798, and the couple lived in Fredericksburg several 
years before relocating to Culpeper County in 1812, where “in accordance 
to the recommendation in his uncle's will (James Somerville of Fredericksburg, 
Va.), he built a new home there which he called SOMERVILLA.”  (Cemetery notes)  
Uncle James had recommended the lands in Orange and Culpeper as “a 
healthy agreeable, beautiful and eligible situation --- which I would have 
freed and settled had I married, or intended to marry.” (Cemetery notes)

The elder James Somerville left quite a legacy for himself in Fredericksburg 
before he died.  “In 1782, the justices who held the first court were Charles 
Mortimer, William J. M. Williams, James Somerville, Charles Dick, Samuel 
Roddy and John Julian . . . . It is worthy of note that these gentlemen were 
all men of respectability and excellent standing.” (Fredericksburg: Past, Present and Future 
by Willard Adams  1898)

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James was elected Mayor of Fredericksburg three different times (see chart 
below) and “discharged the duties faithfully.” (“William and Mary Quarterly”)  At one time, 
he “was mayor of Fredericksburg, Virginia, when James Monroe was on town 
council.”  (Ref. A History of James Somerville of Culpeper County, Virginia:  His Ancestors and Descendants from 1700 to 
1987 by: Robert Somerville Radford Yates, 1988, Culpeper, Va.)

MAYORS OF FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

Charles Mortimer from March, 1782, to March, 1783
William McWilliams from March, 1783, to March, 1784
James Somerville from March, 1784, to March, 1785
George Weedon from March, 1785, to March, 1786
Charles Mortimer from March, 1786, to March, 1787
James Somerville from March, 1787, to March, 1788
Charles Mortimer from March, 1788, to March, 1789
George French from March, 1789, to March, 1790
Benjamin Day from March, 1790, to March, 1791
William Harvey from March, 1791, to March, 1792
James Somerville from March, 1792, to March, 1793
Fontaine Maury from March, 1793, to March, 1794
George French from March, 1794, to March, 1795

James also served faithfully as a Mason.  “The Masonic Cemetery is part of the Fredericksburg Lodge #4 A. F. & A. M.  The half acre of land was donated to the local Lodge in 1784 by James Somerville, a Scottish merchant and early mayor of Fredericksburg, and may well be the oldest American Masonic cemetery.  It contains over 225 graves.” (Masonic Cemeteries)   According to author Jeffrey Garth Edmunds in his 2002 book titled 250 Years of Freemasonry in Fredericksburg:

“The list of early members reads like a ‘Who's Who’:  Revolutionary War heroes Hugh Mercer, George Weedon, Gustavus Brown Wallace, William Woodford and Thomas Posey; Fielding Lewis of ‘Kenmore’; Virginia Governor Robert Brooke of ‘Smithfield’; most of the early Mayors of Fredericksburg, including Charles Mortimer, William McWilliams, James Somerville and Benjamin Day; Bazil Gordon; the Rev. Mr. James Marye of St. George's Church; James Mercer of

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‘Marlborough’; Mann Page, Sr., of ‘Rosewell’ and ‘Mannsfield’, and Mann Page, Jr.  The list could go on and on. . . . ”

DESCRIPTION:

The Masonic Burying Ground covers approximate one-half an acre; bought and enclosed by the Fredericksburg Lodge of Masons for members and their families.  This plot is strongly protected with a substantial, irregular rock fence sides and front, at the back a massive, brick wall.  There are several lovely old trees such as fir, locust, mimosa and an usually lovely walnut, south side of the cemetery.  Border of hollyhocks on the northside, roses trailing on the old wall in a wild, natural state, lilacs which bloom abundantly in the  Spring and the delicious fragrance from the blossoms fill the resting place of these faithful Masons and their families.  Adjoining this cemetery on the north side is President Monroe’s Office.

James Somerville (February 23, 1742 – April 24, 1798

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The nephew of James Somerville, also named James, was the son of Mary Gray and Walter Somerville.  Although born in Scotland in 1774, he came to America and settled on land that his uncle bequeathed him.  He and his wife, Mary Atwell, had a large family.

  
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In 1858/59, there was a terrible outbreak of diphtheria and both James Somerville (11/1777- 08/29/1858) and his wife Mary (06/22/1778 – 02/14/1845), plus many children, died.  They were buried in this family cemetery.

James Somerville (1777 – 1858) and Mary Atwell Somerville (1778 – 1845) had eleven children born to them:

1.  Dr. James Somerville, Jr. (04/12/1799 – 02/03/1842)

James married Helen Glassell Wallace.  He settled in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he practiced medicine.  He and Helen were buried in the Somerville mausoleum, which underwent renovation circa 1984 and is now called Evergreen Cemetery.

  
 
 
Helen Glassell Wallace Somerville
all photos courtesy of ‘Find a Grave’

2.  Margaret Ann Somerville (12/06/1800 – 03/09/1832)

Margaret married William Erasmus Glassell, son of Elizabeth (Taylor) and Andrew Glassell of ‘Torthwald’ in Madison County on Feb. 4, 1819.  William’s brother, John Glassell, married Louisa

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Brown and their daughter was Frances Glassell Ware – the mother of James Alexander Ware.  Margaret is buried in Somervilla Cemetery in Culpeper, Virginia.

3.  Henry Somerville (04/02/1802 – 01/14/1836)

Henry practiced medicine in Orange County, but when his older brother, Dr. James Somerville, Jr., moved to Madison Co. from his home "Somerset," Henry moved there and remained until his death. He never married and is buried at ‘Somervilla’ with his parents.

4.  Walter Somerville (09/02/1804 – 11/28/1890)

Walter was a doctor and died at ‘Edgewater’ in Culpeper Co., Virginia.

5.   Albert Somerville (10/12/1806 – 09/30/1826)

Albert was a merchant, never married, and died at the age of 20. He was 
returned to the Somerville Cemetery for burial near his parents.

6.  Julia Somerville (05/09/1809 – 02/14/1881)

Julia married George A. Smith on Sept. 29, 1829 and they eventually settled in Salado, Texas.  She was the mother of Jane Morton Smith Ware who married James Alexander Ware.

7.  Samuel Wilson Somerville (04/06/1811 – 09/03/1876)

Samuel married Jeannie Grant Beasley Farish. They had nine children and 
Samuel is buried in Mitchell’s Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Culpeper, 
Virginia

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8.  Robert Briggs Somerville (08/01/1813 – 10/24/1904)

Robert married Laura Ann Gray (1818-1890) and they had seven children.  Sadly, only three lived to adulthood.  The children were: Harriet Gray Somerville (1839-1840), Mary Ella Somerville (1842-1858), Julia Somerville (1844-1917), Helen Somerville (1848-1850), Robert Somerville (1851-1925), Atwell Somerville (1857-1950), and Louisa Somerville (1859-1859).

9.  Mary Eleanor Somerville (11/18/1815 – 09/10/1902)

Mary married Quintas Barbour 01/13/1812 – 06/17/1855) on September 28, 1833.  Quintas was the son of Honorable Philip Pendleton Barbour.  The couple had five children:  Frances Todd Barbour, Cornelia Barbour, Philip Barbour, Jane Barbour, and Philip Pendleton Barbour.

10. William Gray Somerville (10/20/1817 – 09/25/1859)

William married Martha Churchill Knox on Dec. 11, 1844.  The couple had seven children, but six of the siblings died between the dates of September 18 and October 10, 1858.  The children were:  James Somerville (1845 - Sept. 25, 1858), Anna Campbell Somerville (1847–Sept. 18, 1858), John Knox Somerville (1849 – Sept. 20, 1858), William Gray Somerville (1851 – Sept. 25, 1858), Churchill Seldon Somerville (1853 – Sept. 29, 1858), Elizabeth Fitzgerald Somerville (1855 – Oct. 10, 1858), and Rev. George S. Somerville (April 5, 1858 - ). William is buried in Somervilla Cemetery.  

11.  Jane Elizabeth Somerville (06/01/1820 – 04/12/1841)

Jane married William T. French on Nov. 21, 1839.  The Henley Marriage & Obituary Database confirms the following:

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Jane had every reason to be proud of her Somerville heritage, and as was the custom of the day, she would later name her only son Somerville Ware.  Throughout her lifetime, Jane treasured an old letter that had been written to her grandfather (James Somerville) sometime in the late 1700s.  It provided such a wonderful insight into the life of her grandparents in early Virginia,
and she, in turn, added much personal information that would benefit future generations for years to come.  The following is a copy of Jane’s letter and a scanned copy of the original letter that her grandfather was given by one of his tenant farmers.

Jane wrote:   
This is an exact copy of a letter received by my Grandfather, James  Somerville, of Culpeper County, Virginia, from one of the tenants who lived on his land.  There was no date to the letter and no punctuation points, but my mother (who kept it as a curiosity) said it was received during her girlhood, in the fall of 1791.

My grandfather came from Glasgow, Scotland, at the age of eighteen to inherit from an old bachelor uncle property in Fredericksburg and a tract of land which included a large part of the Wilderness where so much hard fighting was done during the War Between the States; also several farms on the Rapidan River.  He had many poor tenants on the outskirts of the Wilderness and was very lenient with them, taking in payment what they could afford or offered him - some paying by the work of their women folks who would weave cloth or knit socks for his negroes.  He acquired a taste for persimmons after
they were fully cured by frosts - these he called American figs.  This will explain the last sentence in the letter.  It may be of interest to note that when he divided his lands among his several children, three thousand acres of this Wilderness track fell to my mother’s share which, when sold, brought only $3,000.00.   This was invested in Texas lands after the War with Mexico in 1846, which ended in great glory for our country and gave many the “Texas fever.”  It eventually caused my father to move here in the fall of 1856 –

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bringing his family, household goods, and over a hundred negroes around from Norfolk, Virginia, to Galveston on the bark ‘Lamertine,’ which he had chartered for the purpose.  My father was George A. Smith - only brother of Dr. William R. Smith who was on General Zachary Taylor’s staff during the War with Mexico.  When the war ended, he was appointed Collector of the Port at Galveston by General Taylor, and had his office in the cabin of an old ship.

Jane Morton Ware

September 2, 1910

Original letter from Jane – property of James and Judy Ware

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A rough transcription of the letter is:

As Jane mentioned in her explanation of the old letter, her father was George Andrew Smith, and it was this George who married into the Somerville line when he wed Julia Somerville on September 29, 1829.  The union of her parents gave Jane an interesting connection to the Smith and Taylor family lines, which would ultimately relate her to the familial lines of President James Madison and President Zachary Taylor.  Since her husband (James
Alexander Ware) was a cousin, he also was a part of this unique and famous lineage.    

Col. James Taylor II (03/14/1674 – 06/26/1729) married Martha Thompson on 02/23/1699.  They had 10 children and two of their grandsons were presidents.  Eldest daughter, Frances Thompson Taylor, married Ambrose Madison and their line produced President James Madison.  One son named Zachary Taylor (04/17/1707), married Elizabeth Lee and their line produced
President Zachary Taylor.  Another son of the union between James and Martha Taylor was Erasmus Taylor (09/05/1715) and his marriage to Jane Moore.  They produced the line that would connect the families of the Glassells, the Smiths, and the Wares. The following breakdown displays more clearly this family link:

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Erasmus Taylor (09/05/1715 – 12/18/1794) and Jane Moore (1728 -1812) had:

 Elizabeth Taylor (09/22/1755 – 07/24/1828) who married Andrew Glassell

  Elizabeth Taylor and Andrew Glassell (10/08/1738 – 07/04/1827) had:

1. Mildred Glassell (06/21/1778 - 1810) who wed Rueben Smith on
12/03/1796.

  Had:  George A. Smith (1804 -1887) who wed Julia Somerville (1809 –
1880) and they had Jane Morton Smith Ware in 1832

2. John Glassell (10/29/1780 – 09/30/1850) who wed Louisa Richard Brown
(Glassell)

  Had:  Frances Toy Glassell (07/25/1809 – 05/10/1842) who wed Josiah
Ware (08/19/1802 – 08/13/1883) and they had James Alexander Ware in
1832

James’ parents = Josiah Ware and Frances Glassell Ware

Grandparents = John Glassell (10/29/1780) and Louisa R. Brown (Glassell)

Great Grandparents = Elizabeth Taylor and Andrew Glassell     

Great, Great, Grandparents = Erasmus Taylor and Jane Moore

Erasmus Taylor

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William Thornton Glassell

Andrew Glassell

Lucy Toland Glassell

Andrew Glassell

     
John Glassell

Jane’s parents = George (1804 - 1887) and Julia Smith (1809 -1880)

Grandparents = Rueben Smith and Mildred Glassell Smith

Great grandparents were Elizabeth Taylor and Andrew Glassell

Great, Great Grandparents =   Erasmus Taylor and Jane Moore

Grave for Andrew Glassell

Grave Marker for Erasmus Taylor –
both men were relatives of both Jane and James Ware

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Consequently, James and Jane were cousins and they (and their offspring) were distant cousins to both President Zachary Taylor and President James Madison. 

Erasmus Taylor – courtesy of Fred Sheffield and Amy Wilson

Greenfield

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Bible Extracts from the Taylor Family Bible showing marriage
date for James and Martha Taylor and also the birth date of their
son, Erasmus Taylor

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The Glassell and the Taylor families were linked by the marriage of James Taylor and Martha Thompson in 1699.  Their son, Erasmus Taylor (1715 – 1794) and his wife, Jane Moore Taylor (1728 -1812), had a daughter named Elizabeth in 1755 who married Andrew Glassell in 1776.  Andrew, born in Scotland in 1738, was the son of John Glassell and Mary Coalter.  (See more about this line later.) He and Elizabeth Taylor Glassell had nine children.

1. Mildred Glassell  (1778) married Reuben Smith on 12/03/1796. They had: (1) Mary Eleanor Jane Smith (1801) who married Jeremiah Morton, (2) George Andrew Smith (1804), who married Julia Somerville and they had Jane Morton Smith (Ware), (3) William R. Smith (1807) who wed Margaret Mayrant.

2 John Glassell (10/29/1780 – 09/30/1850) wed Louisa Richard Brown.  They had:  (1) Andrew Glassell, (2) Frances Toy Glassell who wed Josiah Ware and became the parents of James Alexander Ware, (3) Marian Glassell who wed William H. Conway, (4) Elizabeth Taylor Glassell who died at 16, (5) Cecelia Glassell who died at 3, and (6) Louisa Brown Glassell (who wed Josiah William Eno).  When John Glassell remarried, he had Mildred Smith Glassell who wed
Edward Matthew Covell, and Rev. John Glassell who wed Mary Foote Thom.

 3. Mary Kelton Glassell (05/1783 – 06/06/1818) married Michael Wallace.  They had: (1) Robert Wallace, (2) James Wallace, (3) Louisa Wallace, (4) Mary Anna Wallace, (5) Elizabeth Brown Wallace, (6) Gustavus Brown Wallace, (7) Horatio Nelson Wallace, and (8) Helen Glassell Wallace.  Helen Glassell Wallace married James Somerville in 1821.

4.  Helen Buchan Glassell (07/28/1785 – 10/16/1853) married Daniel Grinnan on 11/20/1815.  They had:  (1) Robert Alexander Grinnan, (2) Eliza Richards Grinnan, (3) Cornelia Grinnan, (4) Helen Mary Grinnan, (5) Daniel Grinnan, (6) Andrew Glassell Grinnan, and (7) Daniella Morton Grinnan.

5.  Jane Moore Glassell (11/17/1787 – 04/23/1812) married Benjamin Cave.  They had one daughter named Jane Moore Cave.

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6.  James McMillan Glassell (01/01/1790 – 11/03/1838) married Eudora Swartout.  They had one daughter named Eudora Swartout Glassell.

7.  Andrew Glassell  (05/15/1793-1873) married Susanna Thompson Thornton.  They had:  (1) Ellen Elizabeth Glassell, (2) Andrew Glassell, (3) Philip Rootes Glassell, (4) William Thornton Glassell, (5) John Henry Hobart Glassell, and (6) Susan Thornton Glassell.

8.  Robert Alexander (1795-1812) died of fever during the War of 1812.

9. William Erasmus Glassell (05/17/1797 – 08/26/1885) married Margaret Ann Somerville on 02/04/1817 (1819).  They had:  (1) Mary Jane Glassell, (2) Robert Alexander Glassell, (3) James Somerville Glassell, (4) Albert Somerville Glassell, (5) Walter Glassell, (6) Julia Somerville (7) Alexander Glassell, and (8) Margaret Ann Glassell.

All the children of Andrew and Elizabeth Glassell were born at Torthorwald.  Andrew died July 4, 1827, at the age of 89. (Ref. 6)  It was the eldest son, John, who was the father of Frances Toy Glassell Ware, the mother of James Alexander Ware. The following are two grave markers belonging to (1) John Glassell and his daughter, (2) Frances Toy Glassell, who married Josiah W. Ware.

        
John Glassell                                                                    Frances Toy Glassell Ware       

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The Smith family came on board when Reuben Smith married Mildred Glassell.  Jane’s father, George Andrew Smith, was their son – born on June 15, 1804.  He “graduated A.B. from William and Mary in Virginia; studied law and was admitted to the bar on May 16, 1827, but his mother being a widow, he removed with her on the farm in Madison county, and devoted himself to agriculture.” (Ref. 6)  On September 9, 1829, George wed Julia Somerville, the daughter of James and Mary Atwell Somerville.  (Ref. 3141)  Julia, who had been
born on May 9, 1809, was twenty years old at the time of their marriage.  They had a large family of ten children:

1. Eudora Glassell Smith (10/30/1830 – May/1915)
Eudora (her sister, Jane, named one of her daughters after her) married Andrew Murray of Scotland on Jan. 30, 1858.  Sadly, he died of yellow fever in Galveston.  Eudora later married David Todd Lees of Edinburgh, Scotland.  She lived the remainder of her life in Edinburgh, and it is there that both she and her husband are buried. They had a son named Andrew who moved to Texas in 1879 and married his cousin Marcia (Maria) Garfield Briggs.

Grave marker for Eudora Smith Lees who died in Scotland

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2.  Jane Morton Smith   (02/05/1832 – 01/26/1916)
Jane was often called Jeanie or Jeannie.  She married James Alexander Ware, the son of Josiah William Ware and Frances Glassell Ware on November 26, 1856, in Stillmore, Culpeper County, Virginia.  (Ref. 6, 2033)  The couple had three children:  (1) Frances Glassell Ware, (2) Somerville Ware, and (3) Eudora Murray Ware. 
Jane died on January 26, 1916.

      
UDC Memorial                     Grave for Jane Morton Ware           

3.  Reuben Smith (10/07/1833 – 08/24/1862)
Reuben graduated with a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania, never married, entered the Confederate Army, and died in 1862 of disease.

4.  Mary Somerville Smith (04/27/1835 – 1911)
Mary is buried in Pecan Grove Cemetery in McKinney, Texas.

Mary’s grave

Mary was usually called by her middle name of ‘Somerville.”  She married Aaron Coffee of McKinney, Texas, on March 28, 1860.  Aaron was a Brazoria County planter and had been born in Mississippi in 1833. He personally had twenty-five slaves, and the plantation he managed, Halcyon, had 132.  In 1860, he owned real property valued at $100,000 and personal property valued at $167,350.

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Somerville and Aaron had 2 children:  Julia Coffee and Cassie Kyle Coffee.  Sadly, Cassie only lived to be ten years old.  Julia married John Church and they lived in McKinney, Texas.

Daughters of Mary Somerville Smith Coffee

5.  James Glassell Smith (05/18/1837 – 04/04/1908)
James served in the Confederate Army from 1861 to 1865.  He died in 1908 and is buried in Sandy Point Cemetery in Brazoria County.  His marker reads, “In memory of our loved one J. Glassell Smith, born in Orange County, Va. May 18, 1837,   Died July 4, 1908.”

Grave of J. Glassell Smith

6.  Mildred Jaquelin Smith (Milly) (07/19/1839 – 11/28/1861)
Milly married Oscar Briggs on March 8, 1858.  They had two children: Marcia Garfield Briggs who married Andrew Murray, and George Smith Briggs.

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7.  Walter Somerville Smith (02/16/1841 – ?)
Walter served in the Confederate Army.  He never married; living with his sister, Jane Ware, for some time after the war.  It is believed he ended up in the Old Confederate Home in Austin, Texas.  In a letter to her sister Jane, Eudora asked, “Have you ever written to Morton about his neglect of Walter?  He is so easily satisfied.  I will write to Marcia to hunt him out at the Confederate Home.  She will be kind to him.”  Marcia was his niece by his sister, Milly.

  
8.  William R. Smith (09/21/1842 – 12/26/1881)
William served in the Confederate Army and died from a disease he contracted while serving.

 
9.  Margaret Atwell Smith (01/30/1845 -   )
Margaret’s name was corrected in Hayden’s genealogy to ‘Mary,’ and she was often called Maggie.  Hayden also wrote ‘she married Daniel Lindsay Russell on Jan. 31, 1867, in Galveston, Texas.’  Daniel served with Company C, 8th Texas Cavalry and appeared on the list of Rock Island prisoners in Illinois, where he spent 17 months during the war.  He practiced law in Belton, Texas and died in 1906.  Maggie and Daniel had four children:   (1) William Jarvis Russell, (2) Daniel Lindsay Russell, (3) George Smith Russell, and (4) Julia
Morton Russell.  Little George Smith Russell only lived a year.  They had one daughter, Julia, who died at the age of 22.  The following announcement of her death (on the left) appeared in the Belton News.  There is also an announcement of Daniel’s death on the right.

 
"Miss Julia Russell, the beloved and only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. D. L. Russell died at midnight on Wednesday at the family residence in this city.  She had been a patient sufferer for many months and for the past few days those who cared for her so tenderly knew that the end was very near.--Belton News"

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Grave markers for Daniel L. Russell and George Andrew Smith Russell
Plot 91 in
Old section of North Belton Cemetery

10.  Jeremiah Morton Smith (04/20/1848 – )
Jeremiah was always called Morton.  He married Cora Lee Fowler on March 1, 1877, and the couple had three children: (1) George A. Smith, (2) Fowler Smith, and (3) Murray Mayrant Smith.  The gravestones below are for their tiny son (Fowler Smith) who only lived a little over a year.   (Ref. 221, 224, 3141)

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The home of Cora’s parents, Josiah and Rebecca Fowler in Salado, Texas  (Ref. 3294)

Jane’s father, George A. Smith, had a younger brother, William R. Smith (01/21/1807 – 06/09/1873), who became a doctor and moved to Galveston in 1839.  He became one of the first collectors for the port of Galveston.  During the 1840s and 1850s, Smith partnered with Judge William J. Jones and purchased hundreds of city lots.  William had graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1829, and later served as the surgeon-in-chief on the staff of his kinsman, General Zachary Taylor, in the war with Mexico.  He married Mrs. Middleton, but they had no children.  After her death, he then wed Margaret Mayrant of South Carolina, and they had two offspring,   (1) J. Mayrant Smith and (2) Mildred Smith (Crosby).  It may have been at the urging of William that George was encouraged to uproot from Virginia and move to Texas. The brothers were very close and corresponded often during the years Jane was attending school.  In the following copy of the last will and testament of Dr. William R. Smith, it shows how much land he gave to (not only his brother George), but his nieces and nephews as well.

Estate of Wm. R. Smith, deceased March 30, 1874.  Recorded in Book V, Page 257 in 
office of the County clerk of Bell County, Texas.


I, Wm. R. Smith, of the County of Galveston and State of Texas of sound mind and memory, do 
make, ordain and publish this my last will and testament.

I will and bequeath to the children or their survivors of my brother, George A. Smith, and his 
wife, Julia Smith, all my real estate in Texas of which I die possessed except my interest in 
Sour Lake property and my property in the City and County of Galveston, two thirds which 
for  the benefit of the daughters and one third for the benefit of the sons appointing at the 
same time my nephew, J. Glassell Smith, and Morton Smith and Aaron Coffee husband of my 
niece Somerville to divide or manage the same as in their judgment may seem best for the 
interest of all especially for the interest of their sisters:

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At the time of his death in 1874,it is estimated Smith’s estate was worth more than $250,000, which 
was inherited by his son, J. Mayrant Smith.” (Ref. “Exploring Living History on Galveston’s 40th Annual Historic Home Tour”
website)  

Dr. Alpheus B. Crosby with daughter                            Grave of Mildred Glassell Smith Crosby

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Residence of Dr. William R. Smith – three story brick house in Galveston fronting Tremont Street  

 #3224

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 After the beautiful home fell into disrepair

It is not hard to imagine how elegant the interior of the home was in the beginning.

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Dr. Smith was highly instrumental in the growth and advancement of business in Galveston.  He was one of the early incorporators of the railroad line, and as Earle B. Young mentioned in his work titled Tracts to the Sea, “about half of the commissioners named were well-known Galveston businessmen:  Albert Somerville,
Peter J. Willis . . . Dr. William R. Smith.”   His name is on a historical marker that is located in Bay Street Park on Bay Street at 14^th Avenue in Texas City.  It is mainly concerning William Jefferson Jones, but it does say, “With William R. Smith in 1853, and again with his son, Walter C., in 1885, Jones produced plans for a city at Virginia Point.” (Historical Marker)   In his later years, Dr. Smith “suffered from a spinal affection being almost constantly in torment.”  After Jane and James Alexander Ware were married, Jane often visited her ailing uncle and kept him company.  He died at the age of 67 on June 9, 1873.  The best way to understand his importance to the
town is to read the following remarks made after his death.

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This information comes from #6

Grave for Dr. William R. Smith

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With the passing of her Uncle William (who died after the rest of the family moved to Texas), Jane not only inherited the Texas property he bequeathed her, but she also owned (as she previously wrote in her letter about her grandfather) sizable property that came through Grandpa James Somerville and her mother, Julia.   

It may be of interest to note that when he [James Somerville] divided his lands among his several children, three thousand acres of this Wilderness track fell to my mother’s share [Julia Somerville Smith] which, when sold, brought only $3,000.00.   This was invested in Texas lands after the War with Mexico in 1846, which ended in great glory for our country and gave many the “Texas fever.  It eventually caused my father to move here in the fall of 1856 - bringing his family, household goods, and over a hundred negroes around from Norfolk, Virginia, to Galveston on the bark ‘Lamertine,’ which he hadchartered for the purpose.” (Ref. 6, 2557)   There were definitely several compelling reasons for the Smith family to eventually move to Texas.  Prior to the move, however, Jane Morton Smith celebrated two major milestones in her own personal life – graduation and marriage.

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