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Archiver > BRETHREN > 1998-06 > 0897225185


From: "J. M. Freed" <>
Subject: Re: Northeast Oklahoma Brethren, 1880's
Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 09:13:05 -0400


Carol Mosher stated the following:
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>I'm new to the list and hoping that somebody may be able to tell me if they
>know of ANY type of Brethren church or mission that was located in the
>Vinita or Ketchum area of Oklahoma in the late 1800's.
>
>I've been told that my great grandfather, Andrew Jackson Smith (b. Dec. 1,
>1862), attended the Brethren Church in the Carselowey Community near
Vinita.
>He was supposed to have been a deeply religious man. I've been trying to
>find his place of birth in Iowa (according to 1910 census) and why his
>parent's (James and Margaret E. Smith) migrated from Indiana (again from
>census) to Iowa and then to Indian Territory by 1876. He was a deputy U.S.
>Marshal sometime in the late 1800's, but I don't know what other
occupations
>he had besides farmer/rancher.

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Commenting on the above, Jewel McDaniel wrote:
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I have an A. J. Smith whose parents were Wm. Smith and Elizabeth Speraw.
Siblings of A. J. were Mary who married Jacob Root; Florence who married
David Moyers; and E. J. Smith who married C. Root Firestone.

E. J. Smith was the father of Jesse and twin Bessie, Ed, and Katie.
Bessie Smith married Willis Earl Niswander who was a brother to my
father. Of that line only one descendant is living and that is a son of
Katie.

Another researcher may be of help to you. He is James M. Freed.
****************************************************************************
****

This is Jim Freed commenting on the above:
1. The A.J. Smith about whom Jewel wrote was Albert Smith, a mininister in
the Church of the Brethren, and not Andrew Jackson Smith, and was my
grandmother's oldest brother. I doubt that the above mentioned Andrew
Jackson Smith was a close relative of my Smith family, at least the name
"Andrew Jackson" has not been seen in this Smith family of Brethren and
Quaker ancestry; probably "too worldly" or "too political" of a name.
2. The 1922 History of the Oklahoma Brethren, "Thirty-one Years of
Organized Work in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Louisiana by the Church
of the Brethren from 1891-1922" (Edited by James H. Morris, assisted by Eld.
Wm. P. Bosserman, as well as others--often wondered if he was a relative of
our list moderator, Joe Bosserman), does NOT contain an Andrew Jackson Smith
in the index; many references to A.J. Smith, but they all appear to be
Albert Smith as mentioned above.

In the chapter on "Church Work before 1891", much information is provided
about the Brethren in Texas, but no comments about any Brethren in the twin
territories of Oklahoma and Indian. In checking the sections of the book on
the Oklahoma Churches after 1891, there does not appear to be any
information about any congregations or meetings in northeast Oklahoma,
although not all congregations or meetings mentioned are clearly identified
by location. As I look at a map, it would appear that Vinita was then in
the Cherokee Nation, and also I would suggest that very few Brethren would
have settled in that area, and as far as I know, there have never been any
congregations in that area, except for an attempt to start one in Tulsa much
later.

By the way, Carol, do you know who were the parents of James E. Smith? If
they were Jonathan and Martha VanHorn Smith (parents of the above named
William Smith, and who, I believe, had a brother James, and there are Iowa
connections), then I can provide you with much information.

Jim Freed, Delaware, O

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