Westward !

Following the death of Robert Porter Smilie in 1851 the estate of John Smilie is distributed to his grandchildren and almost all of them leave Fayette County and move to Illinois.   

But wait ….This is a point to pause in the family’s history and review.  Almost everyone misses two facts.

Mary Smilie Huston died in 1799.[1],[2]

An infant boy child of Robert Porter Smile and Mary Ann Beatty Smilie died in 1812. [3]

John Smilie died 30 December 1812 in Washington DC and is buried in the Congressional Cemetery[4]

Family Bible of Robert Porter Smilie, showing John and Jane's deaths.

Jane Porter Smilie died in 1814. [5],[6]

Mary’s husband, Joseph Huston, died in 1824.[7]

Jane Smilie Craig died in 1835.  Her husband, William Craig, died in 1838. [8]

Robert Porter Smilie died in 1851. [9]

1. There are no marked graves of the first two generations of the Smilie family in Fayette County, Pennsylvania and the only solid evidence of a burial location is for Joseph Huston.

If there ever were Smilie family graves in the Cochran Cemetery, northeast of Dawson, they have disappeared.

There is some logic that Mary Smilie Huston who died in 1799 would have been buried in the Cochran Cemetery.  This graveyard was originally a part of Capt. Joseph Huston’s farm.  Capt. Joseph gave Tyrone Township a part of his land to create a public cemetery.  Captain Joseph Huston was the first to be buried in this cemetery. [10]  It makes sense that his son, Joseph Huston, would have buried his wife, Mary, with his father. However, we don't know if Mary's death occurred in Tyrone Township or in Uniontown, and if she died in Uniontown she may have been buried there.

I made my first visit to the Cochran Cemetery in the mid-1960’s.  At the time I lived about a half hour away. I’ve made numerous visits to the Cochran Cemetery and never found a Smilie family grave.  I believe it was 1968 that I walked with a group along the wooded ridge above the Youghiogheny River, looking for evidence of graves on private property,  which we did find, but there were no Smilies.

The current management of the Cochran Cemetery has told me that they have no records of Smilie burials.

In 1951 an entry was added to the record of graves of revolutionary soldiers and patriots at the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution indicating that Robert Porter Smilie was interred at the Cochran Cemetery.  

This entry that says that Robert Porter Smilie was buried in the Cochran Cemetery was repeated when Patricia Hatcher compiled the  Abstract of Graves of Revolutionary Patriots. Vol. 1-4. Dallas, TX, USA: Pioneer Heritage Press, 1987, from the records in the DAR Library.

Then Ancestry.com indexed Ms. Hatcher’s Abstract of Graves of Revolutionary Patriots.  Now when you do a search at Ancestry.com you get a record that says Robert Porter Smilie is buried in the Cochran Cemetery.  If you bother to read the background information of this record source, Ancestry tells you, Many listings, particularly the earlier ones, were not substantiated; all information should be independently verified and proved ...

I have contacted the National Society, Daughter of the American Revolution.  

I checked our office's catalog of chapter reports which Ms. Hatcher drew her information from.  Unfortunately, all that was reported regarding Robert Porter Smilie's grave location was the information you already have--the name and location of the cemetery.  No source information was indicated. Best wishes in your search to uncover further information about Robert Smilie's place of burial. Sincerely, Genevieve Shishak Historian Department of Archives & History NSDAR

I have contacted the DAR chapters that are in the vicinity of the Cochran Cemetery.  Only one of them was able to offer any useful information.  The Braddock Trails chapter has a survey of the Cochran Cemetery that was completed in 1956.  It has no record of a grave for Robert Porter Smilie.  If we ever find the source of the 1951 submission, we know that five years later there is no stone to mark such a grave.

Joseph Huston was buried in Uniontown in the Oak Hill Cemetery (also known as the Presbyterian Cemetery or the Public Cemetery) and his grave was found in the published 1912 survey but there is no remaining evidence of his grave. [11]

If you take note of the deaths listed at the beginning you might see that there is one missing name:  Mary Ann Beatty Smilie.

2. Mary Ann Beatty Smilie, widow of Robert Porter Smilie, moved with her son, David Smilie, to Monmouth, Warren County, Illinois, and died there.

Robert Porter Smilie and his wife were alive for the 1850 federal census and enumerated in the household of their son, David Smilie.  The 1850 federal census was the first census that asked for the names of all the occupants of a household.

1850 Federal Census PA Fayette County, Tyrone Township, page 839 penned
Household of David Smilie, lines 7 - 18, Robert P. Smilie and Mary Anna Smilie, lines 15 & 16

The family Bible of David B and Jane Campbell Smilie tells us that two people (Robert Porter Smilie and Elizabeth Campbell) that appeared in the 1850 household died the following year.

Family Bible of David and Jane Campbell Smilie
Privately Held, photo by Charles M. Grier, Jr, taken 1986, used with permission.

It also gives us a death date for Mary Ann Beatty Smilie, March 5, 1860.

The 1855 Illinois state census shows that the household of David Smiley [Smilie] in Monmouth, Illinois had a female resident whose age is between 60 and 70 years old. [Mary would actually have been 73]

The 1860 Federal Census Mortality Schedule records the March 1860 death of Irish born Mary A. Smilie in Monmouth, Warren, Illinois.

Mary went West, she did not die in Fayette County.

[1] Fayette County, Pennsylvania, Will Book 1, Vol: 286, John Smilie; Office of the Register of Wills, Uniontown.  John’s will, dated 19 November 1809, indicates that his daughter, Mary, is already deceased.
[2] Franklin Ellis, History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania: with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men (Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co, 1882): p. 675, “Mrs. Huston [Mary Smilie] died in 1799.”

[3] Smilie, Robert Porter, Family Bible, The Holy Bible, unknown publisher, privately held, photo by Charles M. Grier, Jr, taken 1986, used with permission. [Dates 1767 through 1816 appear to be entered at one time, last entry 1822]
[4] "When Did John Smilie Die And Where Is He Buried," Smilie Chatter, 14 February 2015, http://smiliechatter.blogspot.com/2015/02/when-did-john-smilie-die-and-where-is.html [extensive facts with citations and conclusion]

[5] Fayette County, Pennsylvania, Will Book I, Vol I: 329, Jane Smilie; Office of the Register of Wills, Uniontown
[6] Smilie, Robert Porter, Family Bible
[7] Ellis, History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, 339, Joseph Huston, died March 5, 1824, aged 61 years; interred Oak Hill Cemetery.
[8] Ellis, History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, 676, Mrs. Craig [Jane Smilie] died in 1835, and Mr. Craig in 1838
[9] The Genius of Liberty, Uniontown, PA, Thursday, November 6, 1851, transcribed by Edward Black 1969 at the Uniontown Public Library.
[10] Ellis, History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, 785, “Before leaving home [1782] he gave to the township a piece of land which has always been known as the Cochran graveyard.  Soon after returning from the Crawford expedition Capt. Huston died, and his remains were the first to be carried to the cemetery for which he had made provision …”
[11] James Hadden, A History of Uniontown: The County Seat of Fayette County Pennsylvania (Uniontown: Hadden, 1913), pp 654 - 677 The Presbyterian Cemetery, 668 Joseph Huston