William Wynn Smith was born about 1809. The 1850 & 1860 censuses list his birthplace as NC. But all of his children said his birthplace was SC on the 1880 & 1900 censuses. He may have been born in Rutherford Co., NC, near the Broad River and the Spartanburg Dist., SC line. His wife, at least, was from this area, and he must have lived there at one time in order to have met her.
According to this granddaughter Lula B. Duncan, who recorded her memories in the 1930's, William grew up in GA but returned to SC to marry. He married Mary J. Bostick about 1831.
Comparison of the 1850 census of Tallapoosa Co., AL with the 1840 census of GA shows that William was probably in Troup Co., GA in 1840. A William Smith bought a Lot 3 in LaGrange, GA in January 1836, part of Lot 109 in the 6th. Dist. Levi Greer was the witness. (Troup Co., Deed Bk. E p.311)
In March of that year, William W. Smith sold this lot to Moses Wilkes, with Henry Perkins as witness. (Troup Co. Deed Bk. E p.3ll)
A William W. Smith bought 108.75 acres of Lot 27 in the 15th. Dist. Of Troup Co., in 1835. The land was adjacent to James Mayfield. Joseph C. Anderson was witness. (Troup Co. Deed Bk. F p.218) this was near the now defunct town of Antioch, near the Alabama state line and the Heard Co. line.
In November 1843 a William W. Smith sold Jordan Traylor 108.75 acres in the 15th. Dist of Troup, the west part of lot 27. Thomas Bassett, who had married Mary Traylor, was the witness. (Troup Co. Deed Bk. L p.38)
Between 1844 and 1858 William W. Smith bought nine plots in Tallapoosa Co from the Federal Land Office for as little as $2.50 an acre. His land was in the Fosheeton Community, between what is now Alexander City and New Site, in T23 and R22, Sections 14, 15, 22 and 23.
In January 1845, he also bought 146 acres from John and Sarah Nilson, part of Section 23 in T23 and R22. William L. Nolan and John White were witnesses. (Tallapoosa Co. Deed Bk D p.176)
William died there in Dec. 1863 or Jan 1864 and was probably buried either on his own land or in an unmarked grave at nearby Ephesus Primitive Baptist Cemetery. His wife Mary died in 1863. William died intestate but his estate mentions all of his children by name, and gives dates of death for two of his sons who were killed during the Civil War.
Children of William W. Smith and Mary J. Bostick:
Children:
Allen married Susannah while on furlough from the Civil War. He soon returned to his unit, and on Nov. 30, 1864, Allen was captured and taken prisoner during the battle of Franklin, TN. He and his brother, John Bryant Duncan, were sent to Camp Douglas, Chicago, IL, where John died of smallpox. Allen remained in prison until the close of the war. After the war he returned home, weak and emaciated after six months of prison life, a shadow of his former self. Allen and his wife had inherited the William Wynn Smith homestead at Fosheeton in 1864, and lived there for several years after the war. They then moved to New Site, AL, a few miles away, where Allen ran a grocery business. In November 1880, Allen went to Texas on a prospecting tour. He first stopped over in east Texas with a friend of the family, Dan Boone, who lived near Linden, TX. Allen made arrangements to have his family follow him a month or two later, in 1881. Having planted several crops there, he was not entirely satisfied with that part of TX. Having heard so much about the black land belt, he decided to try his luck elsewhere. So in the fall of 1884 he moved to Bartlett, Bell Co., TX, two years after the Katy Railroad went through there. The Mayo family, having come to Texas from near New Site, AL, had bought land and settled near Bartlett a few years in advance of Allen's coming. (The farm they sold in Alabama was purchased by Lee Roy Jackson in the 1870's). So the first crop Allen made was on the Henry Mayo farm, about two miles northwest of Bartlett. Allen's sister-in-law, Laura Ann Duncan, came to Texas in 1886, and married Henry Mayo. This necessitated a change, for then Henry Mayo wanted his place back. So Allen and family moved just south of Bartlett, on the "Old Mayo Homestead", and planted one or two crops there. They then moved down to Taylor, TX, where Allen farmed and fed a lot or ranch stock for about two or three years. In 1890 Allen and family moved back to Bartlett, TX, and lived about one and one-half miles south of town on what was known as the "Felton Place". After a year or two Allen bought 165 acres, two and a half miles northwest of Bartlett, than known as the "Old Satchel Place", and later owned by Alois Weiderspahn. In the fall of 1895, Allen formed a partnership with a Mr. Lineberger in a grocery business, and moved to Bartlett. In 1896 or 1897 Allen dissolved his partnership with Lineberger and went in the Livery stable business. In 1901, Allen traded all of his town property for a large farm seven miles east of Bartlett. In November 1906, Allen decided to give up farm life once again and move back to Bartlett. In 1907 he sold the farm east of Bartlett and took a smaller farm about three miles northwest of Bartlett. About this time as well, he went into the hardware and furniture business, taking his two sons, Will and Allen, Jr. with him and forming a company known as the Duncan Hardware Co. He remained an active member of this company until his death in 1915.
Buried at the Bartlett Cemetery, Bell Co., Texas.