The Smith - Wambaugh Family

After much searching, following many red herrings, and barking up the wrong family trees, I finally determined Katie (Catherine E.) Smith Cook's parents were Charles Francis Smith and Mary Eva (called Eva) Thekla Wambach/Wambaugh, from Somerset County, PA, which is just north of the Maryland border. Charles Smith was born in Bavaria in 1824 and was most likely Schmidt when in Germany. (That name is not much easier to research.) Charles Smith had a large orchard on land that he purchased from his father-in-law, Louis "Napoleon" Wambach/Wambaugh. Charles and Eva Smith had 12 children from 1848-1873. Here is an excerpt from the book "The History of Early Settlers of Allegheny Township":

Charles F. Smith, a native of Germany, born in 1823, came to America at the age of sixteen, and commenced work in Bedford County, near Mann's Choice. He afterward purchased of his father-in-law, Lewis Wambaugh, the farm in Allegheny Township on which he now resides. Mr. Smith has the best orchards in Somerset County; indeed they will compare favorably with any in this section of the state. He raises all kinds of fruit in great quantities, and ships to local markets as well as to Altoona and other points. Twenty-two years ago, his farm of one hundred and fifty acres, of which eighty are cleared, was a dense forest. Mr. Smith, by industry and careful management, has today one of the finest and most productive farms in this section.

Eva died six years after her youngest child Marcellus (Mars) was born. I found a cemetery record from St. John’s in New Baltimore PA., and her headstone says she died June 30, 1879. Eva Wambaugh Smith was only 48 when she died, and with 12 kids, no electricity, no indoor plumbing, and no servants, that's no surprise. Within a year, Charles Smith remarried a widow, Elizabeth Reed Baldwin, who had also been the second wife of a widower, Benjamin Baldwin. She not only raised Benjamin’s children when he died, but two of her own, plus four or five of Charles’ children. We kindly refer to her as Second Hand Liz.

The Cook Kids & The Mysterious Regina Smith

Joe and Katie Cook sort of alphabetized their children's names, but not quite; we have Anna, Albert, Bernard, Bertha, Charles, Delbert, Elroy, Louisa and....Sebastian. Where Uncle Bass's name came from, who knows? Louisa was named after her paternal grandmother, and there was a Sylvester in the Wambaugh family (Katie Smith's mother's maiden name was Wambaugh, but more on that later). In 1916, Katie's youngest brother, Mars (Marcellus Janora Smith) b. 1873 who was close in age to his nephews Bernard and Sebastian named his youngest son Bernard Sebastian Smith.

These are just some of the trivial but amusing things you learn while researching your genealogy!

Bringing Our Ancestors to Life

The purpose of this blog is to share the research and stories we have uncovered about our ancestors. At first, my interest in genealogy was merely a lark; as with many of my larks, it turned into practically a full-time job. From family lore, I knew we had a Mohawk Indian as an ancestor, but not exactly who she was or how far back she entered the scene. I had always been interested in knowing who she was. I found some information on Ancestry.com posted by one of our cousins, but reading the details required a paid subscription. I wasn't sure I wanted to spend actual *money* on this, but my curiosity got the best of me. I joined a 3-month membership to the poor-man's-version of Ancestry - Genealogy.com, for about $10 a month and within a couple of days found excellent information posted by a Cleveland cousin on the Monaghan side that detailed exactly who our Mohawk ancestor was: her name was Mary Bill, b. 1784 near or in Baltimore and was raised as an orphan. According to this story from Don Ranney (our cousin who was raised by Mary T. Dempsey Monaghan):