James Smith, whose parents are unknown, is said to be the husband of Nancy Drake, and the father of their daughter Frances Maria Smith. Little is known about him. Aunt Mary Swansborough's (1930) letter on the Toombs family history mentions him briefly as follows, "In 1817 one of the daughters, Nancy, sixteen years old, was married to James Smith, a sergeant in the regular army. Two children were born to them, a girl and a boy. In a few years she was left a widow. She took her children and moved to Burlington, Racine County, Wisconsin, where some of her relatives lived and there raised her family." Irene MacBeth (1960), who married one of Mary Swansborough's nephews, writes in a later letter, "Your Great, Great Grandmother Nancy Drake Smith married in 1817 at the age of 16 to James Smith. She was the daughter of Tomas Geraud and John Drake. Born at Sackett harbor, New York. She had 2 children, a boy and a girl Frances Maria (Toombs)"
Because James Smith was a U.S. Army sergeant in 1817, when he married, we can probably assume that he served during the War of 1812, and that he was honorably discharged sometime after the war ended. We also know that he was from New York, as his daughter Frances Maria Toombs (neé Smith) states on the 1880 U.S. census that her father was born in New York. "Records of Men Enlisted in the U.S. Army Prior to the Peace Establishment, May 17, 1815", in the National Archives, is a record of those men who served in the regular army, as opposed to a state militia unit, during the war. Although it contains records for 103 men named James Smith, only thirteen of them were born in New York, and only one of these thirteen, the James Smith on line No. 3261, actually served a full 5-year term to receive an honorable discharge. Although we do not know for sure, there is a reasonable chance that he is the James Smith we seek.
James Smith #3261 enlisted, five months after the war began, on Dec. 29, 1812, as a private in Capt. Robert Grays's Company of the 16th Infantry Regiment, which was commanded by Col. Cromwell Pearce. He gave his age as 23 years, and his occupation as a "hatter". Although Philadelphia is shown as where he enlisted, this might actually be the home office of his recruiting officer, in which case Smith may have enlisted near his home in New York, when the 16th regiment was camped nearby. As it turns out, the 16th was made up mainly of men from the Philadelphia area, as the regiment was originally formed there by Col. Pearce as a unit in the Pennsylvania state militia. Later, it became part of the Regular U.S. Army, and recruited in New York enroute to the Great Lakes region.
Men, like Smith, who enlisted early in the war, had five-year commitments, for which they were promised a $31 bounty, and 160 acres of land, at the successful conclusion of their service. But when enlistments lagged, later recruits had the option of signing on for just the duration of the war. Congress also increased enlistment incentives for some later recruits to $124, and 320 acres of land, which no doubt did not sit well with those who had signed on earlier. The National Archives has records of the land bountys awarded to several men named James Smith, who served in the War of 1812. Their warrants in all cases were for 160 acres in the Missouri Territory, with some men receiving two different warrants, for a double allotment. Because the Sgt. James Smith named in the Mary Swansborough and Irene Macbeth letters married, raised his family, and presumably died in New York, he probably never petitioned the government for the land he was entitled, the reason no doubt being that he chose to settle in New York, rather than Missouri, Illinois, or some other recently acquired U.S. territory.
The company that Smith belonged to was sent early in the war to where the Niagara River flows into Lake Ontario. Here the British held Fort George on the west side of the river, whereas the Americans had Fort Niagara on the other side. Although the 16th Infantry was not at the March 1813 capture of Fort George, Gray's Company was part of the occupying force. The 16th did fight in the Battles of York (April 27, 1813), and Stony Creek (June 6, 1813), with Gray being promoted on Aug 15 to Major. Fort George proved to be a drain on American resources, and when they evacuated it in December, the British took it back. Later, the 16th fought in the Battle of Crysler's Farm (Nov. 11, 1813). Smith on April 30, 1814 is shown in Capt. James F. McElroy's Company, but this change no doubt resulted from Gray's earlier promotion. Finally, the 16th took part in the Battle of Cooks Mills (Oct. 11, 1814), which was the last engagement of the war. All four of these battles were fought on the Canadian side of Lake Ontario.
Peace came on Feb. 17, 1815, with U.S. ratification of the Treaty of Ghent. Then, exactly three months later, the U.S. Army underwent a major reorganization, with the town of Brownville, near the newly created Sackets Harbor naval station, becoming the new military headquarters for the Great Lakes Region. Also, the 16th Regiment was deactivated, by being merged with the 2nd Infantry Regiment. Smith was subsequently transfered to Capt. Alexander Ramsey Thompson's Company, and assigned to duty at Fort Niagara. The irony to this is that Smith's first company two years previous helped man Fort George, on the opposite side of the Niagara River. The enlistment record consulted concludes by showing that Smith was "Discharged Nov. 29/17. Term expired", but given that he apparently still reported for duty on Dec. 31, 1817, he may have re-enlisted. Even though Fort Niagara is shown as his last assignment, he almost certainly would have spent some of his remaining time in the army at Madison Barracks in Sackets Harbor, given that more military personel, and military families, were housed here in the years following the War of 1812 than anywhere else in upstate New York. In fact, close to one-third of the population of Sackets Harbor in 1820 lived on the grounds of these barracks.
We have discussed a James Smith who is mentioned in the Mary Swansborough (1930) and Irene Macbeth (1960) letters, and a James Smith who served in the War of 1812. There are also one or more James Smiths mentioned in the early 18th census records for westernmost Jefferson County. We may never know with any certainty if some of these James Smiths represent the same man, or if they are all entirely different men. Nonetheless, it is tempting to assume that they are the same, and if so, then an approximation of his life might read as follows, bearing in mind that little is known about him with any certainty.
James Smith, of unknown parents, was born about 1789 in New York. A James Smith, who might be him, appears in the 1810 U.S. Census in Brownville, near Sackets Harbor in Jefferson County, New York, with two siblings and an older woman, who is probably his mother. Nearby residents were Gilbert Drake and his daughter Nancy. Five months after the War of 1812 began, Smith enlisted as a private in the Regular U.S. Army, serving initially in Capt. Gray's Company of the 16th Infantry Regiment. This regiment saw action during the war in the Niagara area, as well as in armed engagements on the north side of Lake Ontario. Although no promotions of enlisted men seem to appear in the records reviewed, Smith probably advanced in rank to corporal, and later sergeant. He married his former Brownville neighbor, 16-year old Nancy Drake, in 1817, possibly before his enlistment ended. They then settled in Hounsfield, just east of the military barracks at Sackets Harbor, to raise a family. His widowed mother-in-law Tamar Drake lived nearby, maybe on the same farm, or town lot. The last mention of him may be a James Smith who appears as the head of a household of one male and one female listed in the 1825 New York State Census for the town of Hounsfield. His and Nancy's daughter Frances Maria Smith Smith (1825-1892) was born the same year that the census was taken, and James Smith is believed to have died when his daughter was still a young child. Family stories relate that he was deceased long before 1846, when his daughter married William Toombs.
There are a few family trees on the internet, and on Ancestry.com and Geneanet in particular, which show that James Smith, the husband of Nancy Drake, died on May 2, 1855 in Wilna, Jefferson County, New York, and was buried at the Monument Park Cemetery in nearby Carthage. However, this is almost cetainly not the correct person, for the following reasons:
James Smith of Wilna was born in Massachusetts, whereas Nancy Drake's husband was born in New York.
James Smith of Wilna married a woman named Hannah (d. 1891), who was also from Massachusets. He never married Nancy Drake of New York.
James Smith of Wilna died in 1855, whereas Nancy Drake's husband died long before the 1846 marriage of their daughter Frances, as attested to in the c.1930 family history of Aunt Mary Swansborough.
James Smith and Nancy Drake are said in Aunt Mary's history to have had two children, a boy, about whom nothing else is known, and their daughter Frances Maria Smith, who is the only child listed below.
children - SMITH
Frances Maria Smith (1825-1892) was born on Sept. 24, 1825 in New York, probably in the Sackets Harbor area. Her father died when she was young, and she moved with her mother and a brother to Burlington in Racine County, Wisconsin, where they had family. There Frances was married on Aug. 17, 1846 to an Englishman named William Toombs, who lived on the neighboring farm. William followed the 1849 Gold Rush west to California, and ended up in Placerville, with Frances joining him there in 1852 with their two-year old daughter. For the rest of Frances' story, please see the Toombs Genealogy.
The map on the left, dated 1809, shows the Lake Ontario region along the Canadian-American border. Note that the distance, as the crow flies across the lake, from the Queenston/Niagara area to Sackets Harbor is about 150 miles. The map on the right, dated 1829, shows the towns and townships in the Sackets Harbor area. Note that Sackets Harbor is actually part of the Hounsfield Township that is shown in pink. Phildephia, New York, where James Smith enlisted during the War of 1812, is located off the map, 17 miles northeast of Brownville. The 1829 map is from the David Rumsey Map Collection.
The Smith Family of Burlington, Wisconsin - There is an interesting possibility, but one without any real evidence, that Nancy Drake's husband James Smith was a blood relative of the brothers Moses (1800-1849) and Lemuel Rood Smith (1812-1874), who were two of the first settlers in the Fox River Valley of Wisconsin. The Smith brothers arrived on the banks of Fox River in late December of 1835 very near to the present site of modern Burlington, and made the first land claims in the area by carving their initials on trees. They then built the first houses there, and Moses in 1837 helped to build the first sawmill. Although neither Moses nor Lemuel were born in the Great Lakes region of New York, where James and Nancy Smith came from, they did live part of their lives in Hamilton County in upstate New York. Furthermore, Moses and Lemuel enticed many friends and relatives from western New York, among them their father Aaron, to join them in 1836 in "Foxville", as Burlington was first called. Nancy Smith (neé Drake), who at the time was a widow with limited options, may have answered their call.
An interesting footnote is that Moses Smith was one of the original followers of Joseph Smith (no relation), the founder of the Mormon faith. Moses was instrumental in converting his brother-in-law John Jesse Strang to the faith. When Joseph Smith died in 1844 his followers split into two factions - one followed Brigham Young to Utah, and another, the "Strangites", followed John Strang to a new settlement in Voree, on the outskirts of Burlington. The Strangite Church of Latter Day Saints survives today, with a small congregation in Voree, Wisconsin.
This history is an evolving document.
Despite our best intentions it probably contains mistakes.
Please let us know if you spot any by sending an email to Mike Clark
Genealogy of the Smith Family 
