"Dutch Henry"Smith: A missing link?
While researching the background of Henry "Dutch Henry" Smith (1767–1848) of Caldwell County, North Carolina, I came across interesting connections that may offer areas of profitable research for those exploring the histories of "Dutch Henry" Smith, Johannes Smith (1718-1791) or Matthias Smith (1689-1753).
There appears to have been an "Irish Henry" Smith living in the same county during the lifetime of "Dutch Henry". This may explain why "Dutch Henry" required a nickname. Here is Irish Henry:
In a 2017 email exchange, Ronald "Ron" Smith & Lynn Wysocki-Smith informed me his great-great-grandfather was William M. Smith, [1] the grandson of Henry "Dutch Henry" Smith.
Ron said, “William was born near Washingtonville, Columbia County, Pennsylvania (now in Montour County). His eldest son was born in Union County (in the part that is now Snyder County) in 1854 and by 1860 he was in Lycoming County. He bought the farm my family still owns in 1863. ” [2]
William Smith is a common, shared name used by descendants of Johannes Smith.
This is where it gets interesting:
Ron and I share a paternal match as indicated by our Y-DNA test results. This means, that my John Henry Smith, a Dutchman, shares a name, and a genetically recent [3] common male ancestor a Henry Smith, a Dutchman. However, my knowledge of my family history, shows we did not immediately descend from the" Dutch Henry" line in America. We have no known connections with North Carolina where Henry lived or to Somerset County, Pennsylvania where he was allegedly born.
My family line descends from Johannes Smith (1718-1791) my 6th great grandfather, 8 generations removed. He lived near Round Mountain in Stanton, NJ on the lands now occupied by the Hunterdon County Arboretum. [4] He arrived in this country around 1743. From Johannes, and my descent can be traced through his son Christopher > Peter >William > Wilson > Herbert > Allen. Johannes was often referred to by the first name John, Hans, or John Henry and the last name Schmidt, Schmid, Smith. Many have said he came from Holland (c.f. Early Germans of New Jersey).
Matthias Smith (1689-1753) who lived near Copper Hill in Amwell, NJ, and arrived around 1730, also shares a common Y-DNA signature to Johannes, and Dutch Henry. The extended families knew each other, intermarried and lent money to each other.
When analyzing 67 Y-DNA Markers, I share a closer Genetic distance (3) to Ron & the "Dutch Henry" line than to descendants of Johannes Smith (4) or Mathias Smith (5) who have also completed Y-DNA tests.
According to the calculations on Family Tree DNA, there is an 85% chance I share a common ancestor with known John Henry Smith matches within the last 8 generations, and a 97% chance within the last 12 generations. [5]
According to the calculations on Family Tree DNA, there is a 95.27% chance I share a common ancestor with Ron & “Dutch Henry” within the last 8 generations and a 99.32% chance within the last 12 generations.
Likelihood of a genetic match with Johannes Smith line
Likelihood of a genetic match with “Dutch Henry” Line
This is a bizarre twist because outside of shared DNA, the only seeming connection to the “Dutch Henry” Smith line is a common name, Henry Smith. Let’s explore that.
The Mystery of John “Henry” Smith
The plot thickens a bit when you realize there was a son of Johannes who was left out of his father’s will. It is unclear whether he was disowned or taken care of outside of the will. By birth order, John was the third child chronologically, after brothers Chrystean (Christopher) and Marten. It has been reported by some (without some circumstantial evidence), that John’s full name was John Henry Smith, Jr. Following German naming conventions, the first name would traditionally be your Christian name and you would be known by your middle name. Hence, this John Jr. would have been likely known as Henry Smith were his middle name Henry. Documents from that era seem to show him referred to as simply, John, like his father.
Smith family historian Kenn Stryker-Rodda, writing of Johannes Smith, Sr., states he does not believe Johannes Sr. (1718-1791) had the middle name of Henry and he provides reasoning for such, claiming first, that Johannes never went by the name Henry.; and second, that Henry was never used in his will or other legal documents. [6] He also states the name Henry is conspicuously absent in the names of children and grandchildren. Stryker-Rodda (who is an excellent genealogist and historian) takes a contrarian position with his claim as it goes against almost all popular biographies of Johannes. [7] [8]
Stryker-Rodda’s last claim of the “conspicuously absent” use of the name “John Henry” does not appear to be supported by family records or oral histories. We know from baptismal records at Zion Lutheran Church at Oldwick, NJ Records of Births & Baptisms 1770 thru 1799 the following:
Johannes’s son Peter (1764-1839) and daughter-in-law, Mary Carkhuff (1764-1827), [9] baptized a son Johanes Henry Schmidt b. Oct 1, 1783, bap. Dec 9, 1787.
Andreas “Andrew” Smith (1753-1825), who married Elisabeth (1762-1788), also had a son John Henry Smith (1783-1818). [10] [11]
Johannes's namesake John (presumably Henry) Smith, Jr. married Christina/Amtina [12] and their daughter Susanna was baptized in Zion Lutheran Church at Oldwick. [13]
If John Smith Jr. was indeed a true junior, it would follow that he would have the middle name, Henry like his father. This theory is supported by Junior’s progeny and the subsequent generational pattern.
The baptismal records seem to indicate that Christina/Amtina died and John remarried Eleanor (d. Before 1828). [14] John and Christina had a son Henry (1790-1880) [15] [16] who married Abigail Ann Kinsy. They had a son Henry V. Smith, Jr. (1831-1927) [17] who married Sarah Price (B. about 1835) and had a son Charles Henry Smith (1857-1942) [18] [19] who married Elizabeth “Lizzie” Jordan (1859-1890) and had a son Charles H. Smith [20] (presumably Henry) who died young (1884-1886).
It would be an oddity indeed to preserve a name like Henry throughout 6 generations were the name not held in such high esteem and with deep family significance.
Additional support comes from the decades of family reunions held by the descendants of Johannes Smith, known as the "Peapack Smiths," who used to congregate annually at Peapack, NJ on the farm of Zachariah, [21] the 9th child of Johannes and Christina. This started in the late 19th century and continued until WWII. Their gathering swelled to 5-10,000 descendants at its peak and received headlines across the country.
Like “Dutch Henry,” attendees were known to brag of their Dutch heritage and were reported to have come over with the “Knickerbockers ”. [22] The banner which hung for all to see stated “Arrived 1686”, not 1743. [23] Adding additional credibility to the middle name Henry are all the accounts cited in countless newspaper articles reporting on the Peapack Smith family reunion referencing their progenitor’s name as John Henry Smith/Johannes Heinrich Smith. [24][25][26][27] Were such references incorrect, you would imagine the thousands of attendees with access to oral history and extant family records would have surely corrected reporters. The reunion after all required documented proof you were a true Smith to gain admittance. They commissioned a family history to be written after one event. [28] There was also a reading done of a partial history of Christopher Smith who left for the New York branch. That history has been lost.
This all begs the question, “Was there an original Heinrich Schmidt before Johannes Heinrich Schmidt (1718-1791) who spawned the naming convention?” The father of Johannes Smith has not been verified satisfactorily although theories abound. If there were a patriarch named Heinrich at some branch in the family tree, it would explain the veneration of the name Henry. Prevailing theories on the father of Johannes include Johannes Martin Schmidt (1693-1739) who married Maria Elisabetha Schloss. In this scenario, Johannes is said to have had a younger brother named George Martin Schmidt (1722-).
This could potentially provide a clue to how “Dutch Henry” is genetically related to Johannes Smith. “Dutch Henry” was born in the same generation as the children of Johannes and Christeen/Christiana Smith. Were he a son of Johannes he would have been born after Christina Smith (1764-1833) and before Isaac C. Smith (1768-1852). Tradition states that “Dutch Henry” was the son of immigrant George Schmidt (Smith). Whether this has been established beyond a reasonable doubt I cannot state. “Dutch Henry” is alleged to have been born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. His father’s name George Schmidt begs the question as to whether this George was Johannes’s younger brother. If so, it would account for the genetic similarity between the lines and go a long way to validating the Johannes Martin Schmidt theory. It does not, however, answer the question as to the origin of the name Henry.
There was a Heinrich Schmidt who arrived in New York in 1710 as recorded in “The early Germans of New Jersey: their history, churches, and genealogies” by Theodore Frelinghuysen Chambers. [29] Johann Henrich Schmidt (possibly the same man) was on “Governor Hunter's Ration Lists, June 1710 to September 1714.” Were this man the father of John Henry Smith, did he return home and have conceived him back in their native country around 1718, and then Johannes returned as a young man assuming the role of an indentured servant to Johan Christian Hassel/Harshall in 1743? Or did Heinrich Schmidt father John Henry Smith in the colonies explaining why he never was naturalized? Perhaps Heinrich was a brother of Johannes Martin Schmidt who came early and sent news back to the family?
Many Germans who fled to Neuwied embarked out of Holland and fled to find a home among the Pennsylvania Dutch. From Philadelphia, they traveled to New York only to stop along the way in German Valley or Somerset County, NJ. There they made their home. According to local Hunterdon County historian Stephanie Stevens, “Tucked into the southwest corner of Readington, the Stanton Village [home of Johannes Schmidt] extended to its western boundary line and began to take up lands in the 1740s along the highway. Their plantations created the community, which was originally named Housel, [30] after one of them. A property line between farms became the basis for a north-flowing road, Mountain Road today, that led to interior settlements earlier established by an overflow of the Dutch of Somerset County on the east [emphasis added]. ” [31] It is said that “Dutch Henry” was born in Somerset, PA. Could it be possible that he was actually born near Somerset, NJ, an area with ties to the Smith line that he is genetically connected with? [32]
The families which intermarried with Johannes and Christeen’s [Harshall/Housel] children were German and early Dutch settlers. The national lines between families began to bleed over time. Were “Dutch Henry” and Johannes truly Dutch on their paternal lines or were they German transplants who embarked from a Dutch port? Their DNA seems to suggest German rather than Dutch. It is difficult to believe the descendants of this couple wouldn’t know their true ancestry, but perhaps they were claiming a maternal Dutch descent or piggybacking their lineage out of family pride onto the original Dutch, rather than English, colonists? Maybe they built the legend of the port which Johannes left from. Maybe Johannes’s German family lived in Holland for a while before coming to America due to religious persecution?
This remains a mystery that will need additional untangling.
Areas to explore:
Is it possible that 1-3 generations prior to Matthias, Johannes, & Dutch Henry they all descended from a common male relative named Johannes Heinrich, Heinrich or some close permutation?
Who was Heinrich Schmidt who arrived at New York in 1710?
Was Heinrich Schmidt the same Johann Henrich Schmidt who was on “Governor Hunter's Ration Lists, June, 1710 to September, 1714.”
What other explanations for the closer genetic ties between Dutch Henry and myself could there be?
Why did George and Dutch Henry leave Somerset?
Were George and “Dutch Henry” from Somerset, PA or Somerset, NJ?
Why was John Henry Smith, Jr. not included in his father’s will?
Could mutations in Y-DNA markers be an easier explanation for the greater genetic similarities to the “Dutch Henry” line?
Who was Johannes Martin Schmidt? Was he the father of Johannes Smith?
Was George Martin Schmidt the father of “Dutch Henry” Smith?
How was Mathias Schmidt related to George & Johannes Schmidt?
Footnotes:
William “Billy” M. Smith (1830-1901). Needs confirmation.
Smith, Ronald. " Re: Greetings from a distant Smith relative :)." Received by Matthew Smith, 31 Mar. 2017.
In the last 8-12 generations
https://www.co.hunterdon.nj.us/depts/parks/facilitys/arboretm.htm
For more on this: https://learn.familytreedna.com/y-dna-testing/y-str/expected-relationship-match/
Honeyman, Abraham Van Doren, et al. Calendar of New Jersey Wills, Administrations, Etc. United States, P. 181, 1918 [Link].
Snell, James P. History of Warren County, New Jersey, With Illustrations And Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men And Pioneers. Centennial ed. Washington, N.J. (206 Meadowbreeze Lane, RD 1, Washington 07882): Genealogical Researchers, 1981. P. 487 [Link]
Chambers, Theodore Frelinghuysen, “The early Germans of New Jersey: their history, churches and genealogies,” Smiths of Readington, P. 501 [Online]
Alternatively, Maregrietta Maria Kerkhoff
The Henry middle name is supported by various family histories on Ancestry, would need other more formal documentation.
Married Charity Hannah Bird (1792-1817)
Chambers, Theodore Frelinghuysen, P. 501 [Online]
Schmidt, Susanna, CHURCH BIRTH/BAPTISMAL RECORDS, HUNTERDON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY, http://files.usgwarchives.net/nj/hunterdon/church/birthbapt.txt Accessed 27 Dec 2020
Need citation.
Schmidt, Henry, CHURCH BIRTH/BAPTISMAL RECORDS, HUNTERDON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY, http://files.usgwarchives.net/nj/hunterdon/church/birthbapt.txt Accessed 27 Dec 2020
By now, they appear to have abandoned the German/Dutch naming convention of putting the Christian name Johannes/John before the Henry.
There are two V’s in Henry’s (18) middle name in an 1850 Census of North Brunswick, Middlesex, New Jersey.
Smith, Chas H., Ancestry.com. New Jersey, U.S., Births and Christenings Index, 1660-1931 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Smith, Charles H., Presbyterian Historical Society; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; U.S., Presbyterian Church Records, 1701-1907; Accession Number: 07 0525 43D 3 Box 3
Smith, Charles H. Ancestry.com. New Jersey, U.S., Deaths and Burials Index, 1798-1971 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Chambers, Theodore Frelinghuysen, P. 501 [Online]
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22665197/reunion-of-the-smiths-talk-about-a/
I will unravel this mystery on a future article.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34837410/johannes-schmidth-aka-john-smith/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34715446/smith-family-reunion-1985-with-sign/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34844167/details-about-the-life-of-johannes/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34836870/story-on-the-life-of-johannes-schmidt/
Location unknown.
Chambers, Theodore Frelinghuysen, “The early Germans of New Jersey: their history, churches and genealogies,” Smiths of Readington, P. 35 [Online]
See Johannes Smith’s father in law Johan Christian Harshall/Housel/Hassel
Brecknell, Ursula C., National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, Stanton Historic Rural District, Stanton and Mountain Roads, Readington Township and Clinton Township, New Jersey, 1990, [Online]
Adding additional intrigue is that those I’ve seen claiming his origins in Pennsylvania often times also show North Carolina Death certificates for Henry’s children in which they claim he was born in Caldwell County.
