Catherine Ann “Kitty” (Jenkins) Smith
February 1831 – December 28, 1902
Catherine Ann,
called “Kitty Ann” by her parents and friends, was the daughter of Benjamin Shacklett Jenkins and Elizabeth
Tichenor Humphrey. Her paternal grand-
parents were John S. Jenkins and Sarah Quick Shacklett of Meade County,
Kentucky; her maternal
grandparents were Abijah Humphrey and Catherine “Katy” Emerson, from Cumberland
County, Kentucky.
She married Thomas
Smith, Jr. in 1848 on Christmas Day in Meade County, Kentucky. Both were seventeen years old, and both their
fathers had to sign a “consent” form to give to the county clerk. The consent was necessary to verify the
parents’ permission and approval of the marriage.
When Kitty Ann’s
parents moved from Meade to Ohio County in about 1857, after the birth of James
Thomas Smith in December 1856, the young couple also moved there. The death certificate of James Thomas Smith
documents that he was born in Meade County.
As mentioned, this
couple had five children: Benjamin Franklin; Eliza Elizabeth; Sarah “Sallie”
Catherine; James Thomas, and John Fulton.
Kitty Ann was six months pregnant with her last child, John Fulton, when
her husband was captured. He didn’t live
to return home to see his little son.
~.~
Life dealt Kitty Ann
Jenkins, 31, who was six months pregnant, a hard blow when her husband was
captured by Rebels on New Year's Day at Borah's Ferry on Green River in 1862. Thomas and his squad of home guards were
captured and carried off by Rebels to a prison in Maryland. Kitty Ann was left with five children to
raise and also a farm to run, to try to survive throughout the rest of the war.
It was the greatest trial of her life to be separated from her husband and
pregnant with their fifth child.
In that day and
time, when a father died with minor children, the law specified that a guardian
must be appointed, other than the mother, which was usually a relative or
perhaps a close friend. Said guardian
had to make timely reports to the Court once a year as to any disposition made
of any monies, such as for clothing, room and board, etc. for his wards. Abe Bilbro, a friend of Kitty Ann’s father,
was appointed guardian over all four children.
None of Abraham Bilbro’s records and reports to the court have been
researched.
~.~
On December 22,
1862, it was ordered that H. L. Iler, J. P. Taylor and James A. Stevens be appointed
appraisers of the Thomas Smith Estate, and that any two of them could act, to peruse the Estate
of said decedent as prescribed by law, and report to the county court.
During the February
1863 term of court, an inventory and an appraisement list of the assets of
Thomas Smith was recorded in Book H, Page 455, as follows:
An Inventory of
the Property of Thomas Smith, Deceased
Made on the 9th
of January 1863
1 Auger $
0.40
1 3-quarter Auger & drawing
knife 0.15
1/3 of a cross cut saw 1.00
1 clevis .35
1 Scythe .75
1 hoe .75
1 hoe .25
1 Basket .10
1 Flat iron .50
2 Sheep 3.00
6 Shoats 6.00
$13.25
Kitty Ann purchased
all of the above items, except two – J. H. Arnold purchased 1/3 of a cross-cut
saw for 75 cents and J. J. Leach purchased the Scythe at a cost of 75 cents.
H. L. Iler and James
A. Stevens signed the report to the Court as the Appraisers and J. J. Leach and
Catherine Smith, signed as Administrators.
Reports from the guardian continued to be made until the minors reached
the legal age, but none are available here.
On February 1, 1863,
B. S. Jenkins (Kitty’s father), Wm. M. Anglea, (a blacksmith and neighbor of
Kitty’s father); A. P. Montague (a leading merchant in Cromwell until his
death); and Jabich Williams filed a report to the court as claimants against
the estate and agreed to whatever settlement the court would make. Two of them may have been partners with
Thomas in a crosscut saw, and Thomas may have been farming crops on the halves
on land owned by one of the claimants, since it did not appear Thomas owned any
land. Montague may have let him buy seed
and supplies on an account at his store.
Tax records would
show the value and number of hogs, sheep, ox and wagons he owned.
In March 1865, J. J.
Leach and Catherine Smith were appointed Administrators to the settlement of
Thomas Smith, deceased, who died intestate.
Administration was filed during the February 1865 Term of court, and was
filed and approved in the settlement book; approved and filed for record in the
March Term 1865. Records mentioned that the Settlement Book “B” was in the
courthouse basement. Settlement
proceedings apparently carried on throughout the war until 1865.
~.~
Grandmother told me
her grandmother had a hard life – she had little or no money when her husband
was captured, and there was not much she could do except try to go forward. And
try to keep her children healthy. Her
parents and brothers probably helped her as much as they could. They ate from their garden, and part of the
hogs she grew were butchered so they would have ham, bacon and sausage to eat.
She may have raised one or two hogs to sell or to use in bartering for other
things her family needed. Her sheep
furnished her with wool for their needs.
Very little of anything was made for sale.
My aunt, Elizabeth
Sandefur, whom we called “Auntie,” told me that Kitty Ann grew one acre of
cotton every year. Even for one acre, it
took a great deal of back-breaking work to plant, weed, tend and pick. Cotton planting began in early spring and she
plowed the rows herself using her ox and a heavy plow. Grandmother said she could plow as good as a
man. All the children old enough helped
and picked the cotton and stuffed it into their small bags. Each was expected to do their share. Picking
started in late August. The cotton provided cloth, which she carded, spun and
wove herself.
Auntie said that
every evening after the regular day’s work was done, Kitty Ann gave each of her
children a cup and they picked the tiny black cotton seeds out of the fluffy
white cotton with their fingers and put them in their cups. The seeds were stored in a container for the
next year. Picking out seeds was a
tedious task, but an easy one. Most
likely she saved only enough seeds to use for planting the next year; probably
none was for sale to a market. It is
reported that it took all day long for one person to pick the seeds out of
cotton to get ten pounds done.
“One day they were
sitting around picking out cotton seeds,” Auntie told me, and one of the boys
looked out the window and said, “Look
mama, the Rebels are coming.” And
sure enough they were coming down the road and into their yard.
With all the men and boys gone off to war, Kitty Ann Smith had
learned to plow her land with her ox until the Rebels came and raided her
farm. They barged inside the house and
demanded her money. She told them she
didn’t have any; however, she was sitting in her rocking chair with little
rolls of dark colored quilt scraps in her lap, where she had hidden her money
in the rolls. The soldiers then raided
her farm, taking with them her only ox and wagon and all her blue geese. They went upstairs looking for money and tore
the feather mattresses and pillows apart and threw them out the windows,
scattering feathers everywhere. They
emptied her cellar of food, and took all the corn and grain stored in the barn.
Perhaps she later had to borrow a horse from her family members to raise a
garden and a patch of grain and corn to feed the farm animals. It was almost as difficult for the women left
at home during wartime as it was for the soldiers who left their families and
went off to fight.
~.~
After being a widow
for nearly five years, Kitty Ann, at age 36, married a second time to James
Willeby, on July 4, 1867, as recorded in Book J, page 361, Ohio County marriage
records. She was dealt still another
hard blow when she learned that James Willeby was already married, and
therefore, was a bigamist. She had the
marriage annulled within a month.
About six years
later, on October 20, 1873, she was married for a third time, at age 42, to
Franklin Williams as recorded in Book S, page 394 of the county marriage
records. He had a number of children and
for some reason the marriage did not work out.
My grandmother told me she remembered her mother telling her about seeing
him come down the road with all his children and his things loaded in his
wagon. He nodded his head as he went by
the Smith’s home.
~.~
Kitty Ann’s brother, Benjamin Fulton Jenkins, became a
popular ordained minister, very well-known and respected in several counties. He and his wife, Elizabeth, had been married
fourteen years, when their last child was born.
What should have been a happy event turned sad when Elizabeth died from
complications of the birth. She was only
thirty-three when she passed away on October 17, 1882, at her home in Cromwell,
one day after giving birth to Broadus Smith Jenkins. “Bettie” as she was known was buried at the Arnold Cemetery ,
not far from Bald Knob Church
My grandmother told me that when Elizabeth died, Benjamin
asked his sister, Kitty Ann, then 51, to look after the baby for a while,
because he had other little children at home.
Kitty cared for him until he was almost two years old, when Benjamin
married Nancy Emmaline Miller in 1884 and came after his little son, whom he
had named Broadus Smith. It was said
that Kitty Ann missed the baby terribly and was never quite the same
afterwards.
~.~
On May 13, 1887, Kitty
A. Williams (at age 56) and Eliza E. Smith sold to James T. Smith, “30 acres of
land which we now live on...to a stone on the original corner of James T.
Smith.” He was thirty-one.
On September 8, 1896
Mrs. K. A. Williams and E. E. Smith of Ohio County, Kentucky gave a deed to C.
T. Smith of Ohio County, Kentucky, containing 20-1/2 acres, for a consideration
of $50.00. Said land was described as:
“A tract of land lying in Ohio Co. Ky. joining
J. T. Smith’s, L. D. Taylor’s and Elvis Sanderfur’s land: Beginning at South East corner, thence W 87
poles to E. P. Sanderfur’s line, to a stone; thence N. 38 poles to a red oak;
thence E. 87 poles to a stone; thence S. 6 E. 38 poles to a stone at the
beginning, containing 20-1/2 acres, more or less.”
C. T. Smith, who purchased this land, was probably Charles Thomas, the
oldest son of James T. Smith.
~.~
Kitty A.
"Williams", age 69, was listed in the 1900 census living at Cromwell,
Ohio County with her daughter, Eliza E. Keown,
age 46, and Eliza's husband, Joseph Keown, age 47 - all born Kentucky,
parents all born Kentucky.
Kitty was listed on
the same census pages as Charles and Fidella Sanders and also James W. Cox and
his second wife, Rebecca Patterson.
Kitty Ann reported that she was the mother of five children, four of
whom were living. (The youngest, John
Fulton, had died in 1897 in Jacksonport, Jackson County, Arkansas.)
~.~
Kitty Ann Smith, age 71, died a few days after Christmas on
December 28, 1902, at her home. Her daughter, Eliza was living with her.
The Hartford Herald, dated January 7, 1903, page 2, column 4,
under Select, says:
"Mrs. Kitty Smith, better
known as "Aunt Kitty" died the 28th of December ult. of old age and diseases
incident thereto, and was buried at the graveyard near Luther Rogers the
29th." (the next day).
My grandmother, Eva Caroline (Smith) Cox, however, said the paper got the cemetery wrong, and that her grandmother was
buried at the Brickhouse Cemetery. She
should know.
~.~
Grandmother’s “Day
Book” also lists the death of Eliza (Smith) Keown as August 22, 1905. Eliza Elizabeth, daughter of Kitty Ann and
sister of James Thomas Smith, lived all her life with her mother. After Eliza married Joseph, he moved right in
and they continued to live with her mother.
Evelyn Elmore told me that the marriage did not work out and by the date
of her death in 1905, Eliza and Joseph were separated.
Thanks to Janice Brown for this wonderful article.
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