First Blog Post

I’ve decided I can’t put off publishing.  I’m not getting any younger, it just doesn’t work that way.  Researching the history of John and Jane Smilie started a long time ago.  I’ve kept pushing back the start date as I discover older records that I documented.  Presently it appears that I started in 1962.

It all began when my Mother’s first cousin, Jean W. Cox, who was a professional genealogist, engaged me to do photography work.  My photography hobby had been fostered by my Dad and my ten year older brother, Harry.  We progressed through three dark rooms (dark room #1 had been abandoned by the time I started) and I learned to mix chemicals, develop negatives and print pictures by the time I was in first grade.

Jean Cox had me visit grave yards capturing images of grave markers, copying old photos, photographing houses and memorabilia.  She got me hooked on research.  And she was the one who knew enough about Fayette County PA history, and my family lineage, that she tasked me with doing a thorough research on the family of one of my ancestors … John Smilie.  I had never heard of him.

Jean White Cox, my first genealogy mentor.

Turns out John was a passionate and vocal politician who championed liberty, represented his constituents well and was a thorn in the side to many.   As a Pennsylvania legislator and Congressman, he was a firsthand witness and player in so much of what happened in America up to his death in December of 1812.

I was born and had grown up in Uniontown, Fayette County, Pennsylvania and lived less than fifteen miles from where John and Jane Smile had taken up residence in 1780.  I was fortunate to still be living in the same county where so many original records were archived.  And my next life event had me moving to Lancaster County, PA, the county where John in 1762 settled upon arrival in America.  I was to move to Lancaster County three times.  Successful research in Lancaster has been limited to tax records, not withstanding visits to Drumore Township graveyards, churches, libraries and the courthouse.

Living for the last thirty eight years in suburban Philadelphia has given me access to the places John knew first hand, Carpenters’ Company, the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall), Congress Hall, and repositories like the National Archives at Philadelphia, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Library Company of Philadelphia.  Philadelphia’s proximity to Washington, D.C. has also allowed me to visit the Capitol Building, and the Congressional Cemetery.

Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and communicating with a large number of descendants of John and Jane Smilie.  In August of 1985 we organized the John and Jane Porter Smilie Family Association.

 My Smilie family binder was just over 

3 inches thick when I converted to

a computer genealogy program.

What I hope to do with this blog is share my research and be a place where others may contribute and comment.  Just as my research expanded over the years I also advanced in my understanding of good genealogical standards.  Early on I often failed to make good citations of where records were from and I did not follow the Genealogical Proof Standard.  Publishing this blog will require me to review my own work and make this a place where accurate and retrievable information is shared.