Hugh Smith – summary of secret past

Gale / Hugh Smith / Crabtree, Honeycutt /

1920

On the 1920 Census taken on January 19^th Eliza Jane Honeycutt was in the 5^th District living on Capuchin Creek Road with her parents and siblings. Her parents were James Michael Honeycutt (born on April 26, 1875 in Smith Creek, Scott Co, TN.) Ida Belle Riseden. Liza Jane was the third of nine children: Hiram, George Harrison (later became a reverend), Liza Jane, Mary Ann, Elvin, Jonah, Floria, John Calvin, and Daisy. (source http://webpages.charter.net/wepollard/d2145.html) She was 18 at the time of the census and there was no occupation listed for her.

1920 Census page for Eliza Jane Honeycutt

Post with Pictures of the Honeycutts

On the 1920 Census taken on January 20^th George Crabtree was living in the 4^th District on either Terry Creek Road or Elk Valley Road. It says George was 28, but since he was born in 1890 I assume he was 29. He was living with his wife Josephine (Josie) and 2 daughters ages 4 and 1. His occupation was a laborer on timber.

1920 Census page for George Crabtree

Article of George Crabtree killing his brother

Eliza Jane may very well have been pregnant at the time of the Census since Elihu Honeycutt was born on September 23, 1920. The birth certificate lists George Crabtree, a farmer age 30, as the father. Eliza Jane Honeycutt was listed as 18 years old and working as a housekeeper.

birth certificate for Hugh Smith (Elihu Honeycutt)

By the way dad described his early childhood I think Eliza Jane must have left home when she became pregnant. From the lack of any information about her life on web sites that have copious information about all her siblings, I wonder if Eliza Jane became a black sheep in her family and was no longer in touch with them to any great degree.

The Honeycutts and the Crabtrees were related through Marcum sisters a couple generations back. I traced Josie’s family backward and they came from South Caroline so despite having the same last name of Honeycutt I don’t believe Josie (George’s wife) was distantly related to Eliza Jane’s family.

I initially thought there may have been some kind of scandal when Eliza Jane got pregnant by George Crabtree due to a family connection. May they were appalled that she took up with a married George and got pregnant by him. She did have two brothers who became ministers. Maybe her parents threw her out when it happened.

Janie Honeycutt married J. F. Smith on December 28, 1923 in Campbell County, Tennessee when dad was three years old.

Marriage certificate

Dad indicated there were a lot of men in and out of their lives and specifically said a new boyfriend came along when dad was around three years old who didn’t like her child so he was kicked out and had to go door to door knocking to see if someone would take him in. I wonder if this story was about J. F. Smith.

1930

By the 1930 Census George was still married to Josie and had two more children – a daughter and a son and was listed a farmer. I assume he and Josie stayed together since they are buried together under the same headstone.

On the 1930 Census Janie was still married to John F. Smith. Dad had become Hue on this census. He was 9 years old and attending school. Janie and John had two more sons John F. Jr (Clay) and David who were 5 and 3. Both the younger boys were listed as born in Virginia so the family had been there at least five years. If dad was there from the ages of 5 to 9 then many of the stories of hunting and Rover he told may have taken place in Virginia instead of what I always assumed was Tennessee. I also wonder if the nice teacher he spoke of was in Bonny Blue.

It was common for miners to move to where there was work available. They lived nearby in mine housing, shopped at the mine company store, went to the mine company doctor and dentist, the kids went to the mine company school.

1930 census page for Smiths

Stories about Rover

Bonny Blue story by Charles Rogers

Bonny Blue – what happened to the coal camp

1930 Census – Images and information on Bonny Blue, VA check out picture of little boy

1930 Census – Dad living in Bonny Blue, Virginia map of where Bonny Blue was

1940

On the 1940 Census the family was back in Elk Valley. Dad was 19 and still living with them, but his name was now Hugh and he was working as a coal miner along with John Smith and Clay who was only 15. They lived at 319 Lick Fork Road which was the location of a mine, so they were in the mining camp.

1940 census page for Smiths

1942

In 1942 dad married Jeanette Botts on February 1st. She was 4 years older than dad.

Marriage certificate

On December 29, 1942 Jeanette gave birth to Stephen Hugh Smith.

Dad entered the army on October 30, 1943 and was released from service on February 6, 1946.

I have the papers where Jeanette filed for divorce on August 20, 1945. Dad responded and the divorce was granted on October 16, 1946.

Jeanette’s parents wanted to adopt Stephen since he’d been living with them since he was 10 months old — which would have been October of 1943 when dad enlisted. According to a letter dated March 1948 Jeanette had remarried and didn’t want the child. They were unable to adopt since they couldn’t find dad.

I ordered a death certificate for Stephen. He died in 1998 at the age of 55 due to a brain tumor. The certificate lists Stephen’s father as Lehigh Hugh Smith.

Stephen contacted mom at the time of dad’s death wanting to claim part of dad’s estate — at least that’s what mom said. He just may have wanted to find out what happened. It would be pretty upsetting for mom to have this man contact her at a time like that.

Mom and dad met in Berlin around March 1947 and married in May 1947 and the story of our family began.

My conclusions

I assume the name Elihu was left behind forever. Why dad took the last name of a man he must have so thoroughly detested, that he never mentioned him once in my entire life, is a puzzle. I seriously doubt John Smith went to the legal trouble to adopt dad. Maybe since Janie married John when dad was only 3 years old Smith was simply the only last name he’d ever known.

Hugh Smith is the only name on any records from that point on. He got a social security card as Hugh Smith, he enlisted in the army as Hugh Smith. The one exception, of course, is his birth certificate. Makes me wonder how he got a social security card in 1939 with the name Hugh Smith.

From what dad said about his mother I think she was a user (read post Jane Honeycutt – my recollections). Even Clay, who I’ve been told was a decent man, chose to be buried by his father and not his mother. By the way — Clay lived in Toledo, so I bet that’s where Jane was staying when she called dad when I was a little girl.

I suspect John Smith was a monster to my dad by the simple fact dad never once mentioned there had ever been a step-father.

His biological father was a married man with kids by his wife before and after dad’s birth and a murderer to boot. No wonder dad didn’t want anything to do with his family.

Mom’s story about why dad never told us about his previous marriage included dad’s belief his wife had been sleeping around. That’s about the only reason I can imagine him leaving a child behind — he believed the child wasn’t his.  I feel bad for the boy though — he got the shaft from everyone except his grandparents.

My one disappointment is that I didn’t find out if there was Cherokee blood in dad. If there was any Indian blood my guess it came from James Honeycutt (dad’s grandfather) based on how similar they looked as young men.

Picture of maternal grandfather

My research is done here. Dad was right to leave it all behind and I don’t want to be here anymore. I’ll be searching for a better place next month. I keep thinking “Let sleeping dogs lie” and that dad wouldn’t want me to hang around here.