Sm6 Mary Smith

    was the daughter of  John Smith Sm7of Carlisle, Pennsy1vania later Baltimore MD and Mary (or Mol1y) Buchanan Bu7
    Born: about 1758
    Married about 1778, probab1y in Baltimore, Md. (1st child born 1779) George Nicholas Ni6
    Died.: About 1804 in Lexington, Ky.

    Children:
    Ni5-1 Col. Robert Carter Nicholas (1779 - 1836)
    Ni5-2 Maria Nicholas (1780 - ? ) 17 March 1804 married Col. Thomas D. Owings of Kentucky in Lexington Ky.
    Ni5-3 Smith Nicholas (1782 - ? )
    Ni5-4 Ann Nicholas (1783 - ?)
    Ni5-5 Sidney Nicholas (1785 - ? )
    Ni5-6 Major Cary Nicholas (1786 - ? )
    Ni5-7 George Ann Nicholas (1788 - ?)
    Ni5-8 Margarette Gailbraith Nicho1as (1789 – Aug.13, 1819) married first Gen. J.C. Bartlett, second Gov. Thomas Fletcher, died without issue. She was portraited by Jouet; the portrait in the posession of Gen Charles Parsons Nicholas Ni3-5-4 in 1975.
    Ni5-9 John Nelson Nicholas (1791 - 1826)
    Ni5-10 Elizabeth Randolph Nicholas (1793 -  married James Gabriel Trotter of Lexington
    Ni5-11 George Wilson Nicholas (1795 - ? )
    Ni5 Samuel Smith Nicholas (1797   1869)
    Ni5-13 Henrietta (Hetty) Morrison Nicholas (1798 - ? ) married Richard Hawes
    ? Clara Nicholas, unmarried

    Sources: Charts of Smith family (Appendix Sm6)
    Family records owned by Mrs. George Nicholas (Ni3.4)

    ,
     Appendix to Page Sm6 Miscellaneous items concerning Mary Smith (Sm6).
    Wood's History of Albermarle lists Mary Smith) Nicholas, (Sm6),
    with her husband, George Nicholas, as an emigrant from Albemarle county. This was in 1790, when they moved to Kentucky. She  was a widow for about six years after her husband' s death in 1799. During that time she continued to live in Kentucky, where she died when her youngest son, Samuel Smith Nicholas, (Ni5) was about eight years old.  Her brother, General Samuel Smith of Baltimore, (who reared her  son Samuel Smith Nicholas in Baltimore), and. Wilson Cary Nicholas, later Governor of Virginia, both visited Kentucky during the settlement of the  George Nicholas estate.  'This process was of  long duration, and was a very involved affair.  The large estate was much dep1eted - by debts - and fees.

     Mary Smith Nicholas’ son, Samuel Smith Nicholas, married the great niece of his mother and of his father, who was also named Mary Smith (Sm4.), after the death of his first wife (See page Ni5).
    The Smith family originally came from Ireland and settled in Pennsylvania. The line from the original settlers to Mary Smith is well known, but was not included in this Appendix because the information was not available in form suitable for Mrs. George Nicholas (Ni3-5) to type it in 1948.
     

    A Brief History of Baltimore County from http://www.bcplonline.org/info/history/hist_bacohistory.html

    County Name

    Baltimore was named for Cecilius (Cecil) Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore and the proprietor of Maryland, who in turn took his title from his barony estates in Longford County, Ireland.

    Brief County History (1650 to 1854)

    By the 1650's when settlement began, Baltimore County was primarily a geographical entity more than a political one. Its territorial limits consisted of Baltimore City, Cecil and Harford Counties, as well as parts of Carroll, Anne Arundel, Frederick, Howard and Kent Counties. The legal origin of Baltimore County is not known, but it was in existence by January 12, 1659, when a writ was issued to the county sheriff. Formal county boundaries were mentioned when Cecil County was formed out of Baltimore County in 1674. Thus early county history is more a story of the settling of northern Maryland than a history of the county. Most of the early land grants were situated along the coastal region. Since few if any roads existed, the navigable waterways such as Back and Middle Rivers of the seventeenth century carried most commerce and transportation. The Gunpowder Falls area became a choice area for land grants. "Old Baltimore" on the Bush River (in what is now Harford County) became the first permanent county seat. In 1712, Joppa near the mouth of the Gunpowder River became the second county seat and a thriving tobacco port. In 1768, as Joppa's commercial influence faded the influence of the port of Baltimore Town, now known as Baltimore, resulted in it being named the county seat. Baltimore separated from Baltimore County in 1854. The city remains an independent jurisdiction. In 1854, Towsontown, now known as Towson, became the current county seat. The cornerstone of the courthouse was laid on October 19, 1854.

    Battle of North Point in the War of 1812 (September 12 to 14, 1814)

    After the invasion and burning of Washington, DC in August 1814, Rear Admiral George Cockburn reloaded the British troops of Major General Robert Ross to prepare for seizing Baltimore, a chief privateering nest in the United States. The location of Baltimore made it necessary to defend the city from both land and sea attack. Major General Samuel Smith was placed at the head of the city's defenses. The Baltimore harbor defenses rested on Fort McHenry. On September 11, 1814, the British fleet appeared off North Point in Baltimore County. The British strategy was to approach the city from the North Point and enter Baltimore by way of Hampstead Hill, now known as Baltimore's Patterson Park.

    The attacks by land and water would be simultaneous.

    Smith ordered General John Stricker's 3rd Brigade of about 3,200 militia down the North Point Road to the narrow neck of the peninsula. A stronger fortified line ran along Hampstead Hill. Stricker intended to execute a delaying action along North Point Road before withdrawing into Hampstead Hill's fortifications.

    On the morning of September 12, Major General Ross' troops advanced slowly yet confidently up North Point Road. Ross predicted that the American militia would run when fired upon and initially they did pull back. However, significantly a major casualty was General Ross. Legend has it that two sharpshooters, Daniel Wells and Henry McComas, made Ross their target. Whether they actually fired the shots will never be known. The boys fell almost immediately to British bullets. A monument immortalizes their valiantry. Carried to the rear, Ross died a few hours later.

    The British forces advanced and that afternoon, Colonel Arthur Brooke, Ross' second in command, charged. The center and right wing of Stricker's line held before retreating to the reserve units a mile behind the lines. Stricker than moved his forces to the fortification on Hampstead Hill to reorganize.

    Colonel Brooke, lacking confidence in his new position, halted his troops. The British fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, maneuvered into the Patapsco River in preparation for the attack on Fort McHenry. While the fleet fired on Fort McHenry during the day, Colonel Brooke prepared for a night assault on Hampstead Hill. Brooke was again certain that the militia would flee. Later that night he cancelled the plan upon seeing the fortification. Admiral Cockrane's fleet would need to subdue Fort McHenry before they could help the land forces take the Hill. The tactic failed. The dawn of September 14, immortalized in our National Anthem, showed the success of the American defense. September 12 continues to be celebrated as a Maryland legal holiday, Maryland Defender's Day. An annual reenactment of the battle takes place at Fort Howard Park, Edgemere, Maryland.

    Source: Neal A. Brooks and Eric G. Rockel. A History of Baltimore County.
    Friends of the Towson Library, Inc. Towson, Maryland. 1979.
     
     

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    Baltimore County Public Library, Towson Maryland USA
    Last Revised: 23 January 2006
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