When John James Smith was born on 1 May 1860, in Richford, Franklin, Vermont, United States, his father, Alfred Gunn Smith, was 31 and his mother, Laura Sophia Esty, was 23. He married Etta Leora Foster on 3 December 1885, in Clay, Kansas, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 5 daughters. He lived in Moscow, Latah, Idaho, United States in 1900 and Latah, Idaho, United States for about 10 years. He died on 21 February 1911, in Yakima, Yakima, Washington, United States, at the age of 50, and was buried in Moscow Cemetery, Moscow, Latah, Idaho, United States.
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Historical Boundaries: 1862: Clay, Kansas, United States
Abraham Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation, declaring slaves in Confederate states to be free.
In the Mid 1870s, The United States sought out the Kingdom of Hawaii to make a free trade agreement. The Treaty gave the Hawaiians access to the United States agricultural markets and it gave the United States a part of land which later became Pearl Harbor.
English and Scottish: occupational name denoting a worker in metal, especially iron, such as a blacksmith or farrier, from Middle English smith ‘smith’ (Old English smith, probably a derivative of smītan ‘to strike, hammer’). Early examples are also found in the Latin form Faber . Metal-working was one of the earliest occupations for which specialist skills were required, and its importance ensured that this term and its equivalents in other languages were the most widespread of all occupational surnames in Europe. Medieval smiths were important not only in making horseshoes, plowshares, and other domestic articles, but above all for their skill in forging swords, other weapons, and armor. This is also the most frequent of all surnames in the US. It is very common among African Americans and Native Americans (see also 5 below). This surname (in any of the two possible English senses; see also below) is also found in Haiti. See also Smither .
English: from Middle English smithe ‘smithy, forge’ (Old English smiththe). The surname may be topographic, for someone who lived in or by a blacksmith's shop, occupational, for someone who worked in one, or habitational, from a place so named, such as Smitha in King's Nympton (Devon). Compare Smithey .
Irish and Scottish: sometimes adopted for Gaelic Mac Gobhann, Irish Mac Gabhann ‘son of the smith’. See McGowan .
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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