Samuel Smith

SAMUEL SMITH was born January 27, 1637/38 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut, and died September 10, 1703 in Hadley, Hampshire, MA. He married MARY ENSIGN April 1662 in Northampton, Hampshire, MA. She was born August 01, 1649 in Northampton, Hampshire, MA, and died July 01, 1723 in Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut.

Notes for SAMUEL SMITH: Samuel, son of Rev. Henry Smith, was born in Wethersfield, in 1638-39. He lived at Northampton, Massachusetts, from 1666 until about 1680. He removed then to Hadley, to take care of his mother. The following, taken from his letter in 1698-99, refers to his stepfather, John Russell: "But he was sometimes a little short of ye Charity which thinketh no Evil, at ye least I was wont to think so when his Hand was too heavy on my Shoulders & I remembered ye sweetnesse & ye Charity of my firste Father, but on ye whole said he was a Goode Man & did well by my Mother & her children & no doubt we did often try his wit & temper." Samuel Smith died at Hadley, September 10, 1703, aged sixty-five. He married Mary, daughter of James Ensign, the immigrant who was one of the first settlers of Hartford.

=============================

http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sam/hsmith/henry.html

A letter written by his son, Samuel Smith, from Hadley, Massachusetts, January 1, 1698/9, to his own son states:

My Revered Father was an ordained Minister of ye Gospelle, educate at Cambridge in England & Came to yis Land by reason of ye Great persecution by which ye infamous Archbishop Laud and ye Black Tom Tyrante (as Mr. Russell was always wont to call ye Earl of Stratforde) did cause ye reign of his Majestie Charles ye Firste to loose favour in Watertown which is neare Boston, & after a year or two to Weathersfield on ye great River, where he became ye firste settled pastor...My Parents had broughte bothe Men Servants & Maid Servants from England...I so well remember ye Face & Figure of my Honoured Father. He was 5 foote, 10 inches talle & spare of builde, tho not leane. He was as Active as ye Red Skin Men and sinewy. His delighte was in sportes of strength & withe his own Hands he did helpe to reare bothe our owne House & ye Firste Meetinge House of Weathersfield, wherein he preacht yeares too fewe. He was well Featured & Fresh Favoured with faire Skin & longe curling Hair (as neare all of us have had) with a merrie eye & swete smilinge Mouthe, tho he coulde frowne sternlie eno' when need was...My Mother & Sister did each of em kill more yan one of ye gray Howlers [wolves] & once my oldest Sister shot a Beare yt came too neare ye House. He was a good Fatte onne & keept us all in meate for a good while. I guess one of her Daughters has got ye skinne. As most of ye Weathersfield settlers did come afoot throu ye Wilderness & brought with em such things only as they did most neede at ye firste ye other Things was sent round from Boston in Vessels to come up the River to us. Some of the shippes did come safe to Weathersfield, but many were lost in a grate storm. Amongst em was onne wch held alle our Beste Things. A good many Yeares later, long after my Father had died of the grate Fever & my Mother had married Mr. Russell & moved to Hadley, it was found yt some of our Things had been saved & keept in ye Fort wch is by ye River's Mouthe, & they was brought to us. Most of em was spoilt with Sea water and Moulde especially ye Bookes & ye Plate. Of this there was no grate store, only ye Tankard, wch I have, and some spoones divided amongst my sisters, wch was alle so black it was long before any could come to its owne colour agen, & Mr. Russell did opine yt had it not been so it might not have founde us agen, but he was sometimes a little shorte of ye Charity wch thinketh no Evil, at ye least I was wont to think so when his Hand was too heavy on my Shoulders & I remembered ye sweetness & ye Charity of my firste Father...

References

• Ancestry.com. Hale, House and Related Families [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data:Jacobus, Donald Lines. Hale, House and Related Families, Mainly of the Connecticut River Valley. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2001. “ Rev. Henry Smith, Wethersfield, Connecticut.” Page 732. Archive.Org
• https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Samuel_Smith_%2852%29