As I was completing the final edits on this First Edition, I stumbled across a marriage in Colonial Virginia circa 1735 that struck me as noteworthy: A Luke Smith married a Judith Farris and raised a family of ten children. This Luke Smith family lived adjacent to Judith’s parents, the Farris family. Generations of Smiths and Farris folk migrated into the Midwest. A James Faris family shared the neighborhood with the Smith clan in Posey County, Indiana. I began seeking connections immediately hoping to identify the source of my grandfather’s middle name, Faris. The Farris family was one of the wealthiest families in England at the time of the colonization of Virginia. They were business partners with the Gosnolds, Smythes and Raleighs, seeking to create wealth in the international marketplace.
A highly recognized family historian who has been researching the Smiths of Virginia for thirty years, informs me that it is very likely I will find a connection between the Farris and Leb Smith lineage that could explain the derivation of Leb’s middle name. Further readings also revealed that a physician surnamed Farris was delivering babies in the latter decades of the 19th Century and Leb may have fallen safely into the hands of a Dr. Farris.
Anyway… the tree is planted… the roots are deep and there are more stories to be found and told. The three most recent generations of my Father’s Tree haven’t even been touched in these chapters. That is for someone else to add and develop. I have electronic files available and ready to send. Simply ask. Carry on, connect the dots and live life to the fullest. Most of all: Cherish your family.
Cue Bruce Springsteen: Born to Run.
Editor’s Note: I didn’t think you would ever finish this.
Author’s Note: I know. It became something of an obsession.
Editor: Well, it kept you off the streets and out of trouble…
Author: Oh! Look who is wading into the river, probably hoping to recover the brew he lost last Spring… Ooooops… That didn’t end so well. I better help him out.
Editor: I’ll get some towels. He will need to dry off.
And cherish your friends.
