CAPTAIN JARED SMITH'S COMPANY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1811

The following military documents we deem worthy of preservation. We judge the company of Capt. Smith was part outside of town lines, and quite likely there was a "rifle company" at this date. The names following would come far short in number, of those liable to perform military duty.

"A Roll of Capt. Jared Smith's company, Sept. 14th, 1811:"

  • Jared Smith, Captain
  • Shibnah Nichols, Lieutenant
  • Daniel C. Henderson, Ensign
  • David Foster, 1st Sergeant
  • William Reynolds, 2d Sergeant
  • Reuben Rymph, 3d Sergeant
  • Alanson Stout, 4th Sergeant
  • Noble Ross, 1st Corporal
  • Jennings Cummings, 2d Corporal
  • Geo. Spraker, 3d Corporal
  • Griffin Tompkins, 4th Corporal
  • Geo. W. Doty, drummer
  • John Hall, drummer
  • Charles King, fifer

Privates:

  • Robert C. Reynolds
  • Isaac Cornelius
  • Geo. A. Coppernoll
  • Arnold Carpenter
  • Roland Sears
  • Sylvanus Ferris
  • Geo. Gordimer
  • Wanton Sweet
  • Oliver Whitford
  • W. Nichols
  • Enos Dickens
  • John B. Nol
  • Luther Jolls
  • Samuel Griswold
  • Philip Angell
  • Stephen K. Watson
  • Joseph Knight
  • Elkanah Williams
  • Timothy Smith
  • Timothy Conner
  • James Willoughby
  • Jacob L. Sherwood
  • Samuel R. Watson
  • Apprentice Windslow
  • Sherman Wooster
  • Christopher Hawkins, Jr.
  • Stephen Clark
  • William English
  • Robert English, Jr.
  • Thomas English
  • Jesse Fields
  • Joseph Wilcox
  • Jonathan Wright
  • Jacob Bullock
  • Dorman Cooper
  • Ira Sheperd
  • Geo. Weaver
  • John Sherwood
  • John R. Gardner
  • Cavit Barnes
  • John Cane
  • Alexander Pullman
  • Jared King
  • Geo. Rymph
  • William Green
  • Bazel Sandford
  • Abel Cabit
  • Preserved Hall
  • Christian Fisher
  • Horace Bragg
  • Simon Babcock
  • Caleb Hall
  • Nathaniel Johnson
  • Ezra Overton

The following orders explain themselves:

"RUSSIA, May 10th, 1812"
Capt. Jared Smith, you are hereby directed to order your company to appear at the Academy in Fairfield on the 13th inst. at 9 o'clock. A.M., complete in arms as the law directs for the purpose of detaching your quota of thirteen thousand and five hundred men ordered by the President of the United States.
DANIEL WRIGHT,
Major Commanding."
"NEWPORT, September, 1812
Capt. Jared Smith in obedience to the order of Gen. James Haile I order you to warn all men in your company to appear at the college in Fairfield on the 12th day of Sept. instant, at eight o'clock in the morning for general inspection. I further order you to have your mens' guns scoured bright and in good order with their cartridge and spare flints.
By order of Lieut. Col. Daniel Wright. JACOB L. SHERWOOD,
Sergt. Major."

From: Norway Tidings, Vol. 2, No. 7, July 1888. Reprinted and copyright 1987 by The Kuyahoora Valley Historical Society.


Capt. Smith's Men Enjoyed Their Drills!

Military honors were coveted in days of yore, and few men enjoyed them more than Capt. Smith. He made a fine appearing officer, but once had a funny mishap in the military line. He was maneuvering his company in Uncle Sigh Smith's meadow, and was marching backwards as his company advanced toward him, and backed into a stone hole and fell whole length. His company were not to blame for a hearty laugh. We were told this incident by Benjamin Richards.

From: Norway Tidings, Vol. 3, No. 9, September 1889. Reprinted and copyright 1987 by The Kuyahoora Valley Historical Society.


An update on Capt. Smith's post-war service!

May 5th, 1818, Supervisor Henry Tillinghast and Justices Silvanus Ferris and Jared Smith granted the following liquor licenses for the price indicated:

  • Isaac Norton, tavern, $5.00
  • Josiah Smith, tavern, 6.00 (Note: Nicknamed "Uncle Si")
  • Mitchel Hinman, tavern, 5.00
  • Shibnah Nichols, tavern, 5.00 (Note: formerly lieutenant in Capt. Smith's regiment)
  • Havens Hall, tavern, 5.00
  • Frederick Mason, store, 5.00 (Note: who couldn't keep Jared's confidence to himself)
  • Charles Bradley, store, 5.00

Low license with cheap liquors and seven places in town to buy it, prove that our foreparents were not "prohibition fanatics." Liquors were pure as compared with the poisonous compounds of the present day. Three cents purchased a drink. The evils of intemperance were felt but not realized as in later times. Every merchant kept an assortment of liquors in stock.

The two stores and Smith's tavern were located at Norway village. Nichols' and Hall's taverns at the crossing of the State and Jerseyfield roads, Norton's in the west part of town, and Hinman's we think near the Fairfield line. [Note: in later years Jared enjoyed the daily hospitality of these establishments.]

From: Norway Tidings, Vol. 2, No. 10, October 1888. Reprinted and copyright 1987 by The Kuyahoora Valley Historical Society.


Josiah Smith, Tavernkeeper

Joseph Smith was short, thick-set and corpulent, with a fine tenor voice. He was full of energy and made his tavern and farm business move lively. He began keeping public house about 1806 and continued until 1832. In 1813 he was appointed Norway's first postmaster and held the office about eighteen years. His tavern was a noted place for travelers to tarry, and headquarters for town business. All the land on the east side of the north and south roads in and about Norway village was cleared off by "Uncle Si"....About 1832 the tavern stand was sold to R.H. Crandall and the family removed to Whitesboro to secure educational advantages. Here Edward (his son) died in 1837 and ten years later Josiah Smith bid adieu to earth.

From: Norway Tidings, Vol. 4, No. 1, January 1890. Reprinted and copyright 1987 by The Kuyahoora Valley Historical Society.


The "Real" Captain Jared Smith

Jared Smith, Jr. was born in Southbury (CT), April 11, 1766, and married Jan. 14th, 1787, Dorcas Johnson of the same town, who was a daughter of Gideon Johnson. ...He purchased of James Hildreth of Johnstown, and Platt Smith of Dutchess county the east 100 acres of lot No. 32, second allotment of Kingsland or the Royal Grant, the consideration being 300 pounds. The deed bears the date Oct. 20th, 1796. A small log house was built near the brook some 30 rods north of the Dairy Hill road, and here March 3, 1797, Jared Smith and his family began Norway life. They were poor, their money invested in land, and for years poverty, sickness and sometimes real want invaded their wilderness home. With no team the process of clearing land was slow; to pay for a days' team work two days' labor was required. Prosperity came slowly; the girls worked out as soon as of sufficient age; Mrs. Smith was a skillful weaver, and her work helped keep the wolf at bay.

Jared Smith was an intelligent man and quite prominent in town affairs. He was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1816 and held the office eight years. He was lieutenant and afterwards captain of a military company. He was a fine looking man of average size, trim, and erect until old age. Social life had great charms for him and in latter life he visited the "Corners" almost daily; but he seldom indulged in strong drink  and never used tobacco. If we made mention of faults it would be pride, and desire for position. In politics he was an ardent Whig, and he greatly grieved over the defeat of Henry Clay in 1844. He died in Norway March 26th, 1845.

The family of Jared and Dorcas Smith consisted of five daughters and one son. Their names and date of birth follow:

  • Phebe, born Sept. 16th, 1788
  • Ruthem, born Nov. 19th, 1790
  • Roxana, born Dec. 12th, 1792
  • Harriet, born Sept. 16th, 1794
  • Johnson, born Oct. 30th, 1798
  • Nancy, born May 4th, 1801

No better family of girls was ever reared in town, all made superior women and married well. Phebe married Albert Coe; some descendants live in Oswego county, N.Y. Ruthem married Anson and Roxana, Truman Ives, both prominent businessmen of Salisbury. Harriet married Harvey Butler; their descendants reside in Western N.Y. Nancy who was of quite a literary turn married Ephraim S. Lamb. Johnson married Sarah Salisbury for his first and Harriet Hine for his second wife; he was a kind parent and honest man.

Excerpted From: Norway Tidings, Vol. 3, No. 8, August 1889. Reprinted and copyright 1987 by The Kuyahoora Valley Historical Society. This issue contains an extensive genealogy of Jared Smith, Sr. and his children.


The Jared Smith Family Again

Jared Smith as before stated greatly enjoyed social life; Cook's store and afterwards Squire Mason's were his favorite resorts. Here too much of his time was spent, but he never contracted habits of dissipation. One story is told that greatly amused old residents. One winter evening as usual found him at Mason's store; returning facing a furious snow storm, before reaching home his hat blew off and was whirled away over the drifts beyond recovery. He entered his home in no pleasant mood; Aunt Dorcas seeing his hat gone and his hair filled with snow asked in surprise, "Jared, where is your hat?" "Gone to the devil," was the reply, to which his wife in a soothing tone said: "Well then, Jared, never mind, you will find it again". The reply seemed so apt and sharp that Smith told it to Mason and thus it "got out."

When that "relic of barbarism" imprisonment for debt was the law in olden times, Smith got behind hand, and rather than be taken to Herkimer left his family and went to Conn. and remained one summer, where he obtained means to satify his creditors. Going to jail or debt was not considered specially dishonorable. It is said that the ancestors of several aristocratic families at Herkimer located there through the county jail.

Of fine looking, well matched working cattle Jared Smith was a great lover. His yoke of cattle often took premiums at the county fairs of his time. After sixty years of age he took great pride in drawing cheese to Little Falls with his oxen. We think he never owned a team of horses.

When well advanced in years he erected a large two-story house on Dairy Hill road, where he resided with his wife many years. He was a proud spirited man and wanted a house that would "show off" equal to any of his neighbors. Building this house after his children were married and away was one of the mistakes of his life. After his death the house was sold to John W. Hadcock, taken down and reconstructed at Norway village.

Note: on top of all of his other accomplishments, Jared Smith performed many marriages, some of which the records survive!

From: Norway Tidings, Vol. 3, No. 9, September 1889. Reprinted and copyright 1987 by The Kuyahoora Valley Historical Society.


Militia Training and A Different Smith Family!

Died

In Westmoreland, Oneida county, October 29, 1889, Mrs. Lucy Smith Brockett, widow of the late Timothy D. Brockett, aged 75 years. She was a daughter of Capt. Wm. Smith, who resided several years on Dairy Hill in this town as tenant for Esquire Ferris on his Thayer farm, and afterwards removed to Salisbury. She was the youngest of eight children, only two of whom are now living, Mrs. Rebecca Ford aged 82 of Fairfield, and Alvin Smith aged 79, of Oneida Castle. Hiram Smith formerly of Salisbury was one of the family. One daughter was made deaf and dumb, by the old time practice of "waking up" officers by firing heavy guns by their bedroom windows before daybreak on training days.

From: Norway Tidings, Vol. 3, No. 12, December 1889. Reprinted and copyright 1987 by The Kuyahoora Valley Historical Society.




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