The Smyly family came to America from County Antrim, Ireland but were of Scottish origin. The names Smiley and Smyly in Ireland were introduced by settlers who arrived from Scotland during the seventeenth century. The main settlement point was in the Province of Ulster and in County Tyrone in particular, where the majority of descendants can still be found. Smylie is another variant.

Children of James Smyly – b.ca. 1725 in County Antrim, Ireland

• John Smyly - born Abt. 1755 in County Antrim, Ireland; died Abt. 1807 in Colleton Co., SC?.
• James Smyly, Sr. - born 1 May 1769 in County Antrim, Ireland; died 17 November 1849 in

Pleasant Hill, Dallas County, buried Mt. Lebanon (Good Hope)
• Margaret Smyly -

1797ca.  married Margaret Russell daughter of Robert Russell – ca. 1797, Colleton County, SC;  (Margaret Russell b. Feb. 18, 1781, Abbeville (?) Co., SC; d. Nov. 19, 1846, Pleasant Hill, AL;)  Russell family believed to have come from Concord, N.C., Rocky River Church

1824ca.  Smylys came to Pleasant Hill.

1840 Founding member with wife Margaret of Mt. Lebanon Church

1849 Died Nov. 17, 1849, Pleasant Hill;  buried Mt. Lebanon (Good Hope) Cemetery
 

Children of James Smyly and Margaret Russell

William Smyly – b. ca. 1800, Colleton Co., SC;  m. (1) Margaret Wallace Paul (b. 1 August 1803,
Dallas County, AL; d.4 August 1853 in Dallas County, AL); m. (2) Mary Somers Parish (b. 1820 ca., Bladen, Germany) 1 May 1854, Dallas Co.

Children of William Smyly and Margaret Paul

• Jane Ann Smyly (b. 1828)
• James Archibald Smyly (b. ca. 1830, Pleasant Hill); m. Jane Elizabeth Calahan (1831-1859, buried Liberty Cemetery, Dallas Co.) 6 April 1854 , Dallas Co.
• William Thomas Smyly, born Abt. 1832.
• Robert Edwin Paul Smyly, b. ca. 1835, Pleasant Hill, AL; died Aft. 1910; m. (1)Alice ?(ca.1854-1910)  m. (2) Lizzie H. Bennett (b. ca. 1830) 13 September 1855 in Richmond, Dallas Co., -Richmond Meth. Church.
• James William Smyly, born Abt. 1837. [gravestone at Pleasant Hill Presby. for one James W. Smyly; Holloways Co., CSA  - right person?]
• Seth A. Smyly, born Abt. 1841.
• Charles Frank Smyly, born 16 September 1843.

• Betty Smyly - born 1855.

Seth Robert Smyly -  b. 13 Sept. 1822 in Pleasant Hill, AL; died 26 Dec. 1900 in Jacksonville,
Calhoun Co., AL; m. (1) Mary Jane Foster (1823-1855) 8 February 1842; m (2) Margaret A Cobb (1833-1904) Nov. 4, 1861, Columbiana, Shelby Co., AL

   Children of Seth Smyly and Mary Foster

• Laura S. Smyly – (b. ca. 1843, Pleasant Hill)
• James William Smyly – (1844-1904); m. Sarah Sophronia Cobb
• M.C. Smyly – (b. ca. 1847, Pleasant Hill)
• Lucinda Smyly – (b. ca. July 1850, Pleasant Hill)
• Mary E. Smyly – (b. 1852, P. Hill; c. 1886)

• Francis Atkins Smyly (ca. 1864-1941); m. Alice Boozer 1887, Calhoun Co.
• Don Judson Smyly (1866-1927) m. Minnie Bell Watson.
• Euclid Jacob Smyly (ca. 1870-1943) m. Florence Frey
• Pearl Smyly (1872-1886)
• Elizabeth E. "Eliza" Smyly – m. Edward Jennings; 1820 founder of Town Creek Church
• Margaret C. Smyly – m. Robert L. Hardy.
• Mary Ann Smyly – m. Washington Hardy

1802ca.  born ca. 1802, Colleton Co., SC; son of James Smyly and Margaret Russell

m. Lucinda Mayes (daughter of Robert Mayes and Priscilla Parker; b. ca. 1807, GA; d. ca. 1851, Dallas County, AL)

1850 Dallas County Census:

James Smyley  48M  Farmer  1,600  SC
Lucinda  43F    GA
T. E.   18 M  Farmer   AL
C. N.   13 M    "
M. L.   9F    "
M. C.   7F    "
M. E.   2F    "
M. A.   2F    "

1851ca. death of wife Lucinda Mayes, Dallas County, AL

1860 Marengo County Census:

James Smyly 58 M W farmer 5000 22000 S.C. Clayhill
Martha E. 14 F W Ala. Clayhill
Mary Ann 10 F W Ala. Clayhill
Lucy 9 F W Ala. Clayhill

1860 Marengo County Slave Census:

Name of Slave Owners   Age  Sex  Color  # of Slave Houses
 
James Smyly  1. 56  M  B  4
40 M  B
28  M  B
26 M  B
5. 20  M  B
25  M  B
6  M  B
4  M  B
1  M  B
10. 50  M  B
40  M B
37  F  B
24  F  B
22  F  B
15. 19  F  B
11  F  B
9  F  B
6  F  B
4  F  B
20. 2  F  B
1  F  B
4  F  B
1870 Died after 1870, Marengo County, AL
 
 

Children of James Smyly (1802) and Lucinda Mayes

• John J. Smyly -  born ca. 1825,  Dallas Co.; m. Elizabeth M. Patton (1828-1869)

• Oliver Smyly (b. ca. 1852)

James John Smyly (1783 – 1849)

1783     Born in SC– July 16, 1783; son of Maj. John Smyly (1755-1807) and Margaret Caldwell (b. 1758);   grandson of James Smyly
 
Nephew of James Smyly (b. 1769)

1808ca.  married Rebecca DeWalt (b. Sept. 30, 1790 at sea on ship named "Rebecca;"  died Feb. 22, 1855 at Pleasant Hill) – ca. 1808

1824 Moved to Pleasant Hill - 1824

1849 Died of dropsy at Pleasant Hill, AL – September 7, 1849
 

Family of John and Rebecca DeWalt Smyly:

 1.  John DeWalt Smyly – b. 20 November 1809 , Newberry, Newberry District, SC .
2.  Margaret Ann "Annie" Smyly – b. 15 December 1811, Newberry, Newberry District, SC; d. Shreveport, Caddo Parish, LA;  m. Laird Graham.
3.  Samuel A. Smyly  - b. Sept. 11, 1815, Newberry, Newberry District, SC;  died Co. G, 5th Ala. Inf., CSA
4.  Daniel Caldwell Smyly, M. D. – b.7 October 1818,  Newberry, Newberry District, South Carolina; d. 1898, Pleasant Hill, AL. m. 1 Malena Walthall (b. Oct. 5, 1826; d. June 2, 1852, Pleasant Hill) 2 December 1846 in Marion, Alabama; m. 2. Elizabeth H. Reese (b. 1834; d. 2 May 1859,  Pleasant Hill, AL.
                             Child of Daniel Smyly and Malena Walthall is:
Caroline Smyly -  born 1849
5.  Nancy Caroline Smyly – b. 20 June 1820, Newberry, Newberry District, SC; m. John T. Bender of Pleasant Hill, February 4. 1845, Selma, AL.   John Bender was father of George Bender.    1st Lieut. John T Bender; died 2nd Ala. Cav. CSA ; parents of Julius C. DeWalt Bender, Cadet Corps; Schochly’s Escort Co., CSA
 7.  Susannah Smyly – b. Sept. 27, 1824, Newberry, SC; d. Nov. 9, 1894 DeFuniak Springs, FL
married John Gunn McLean, Dec. 29, 1847, Selma, AL

McLean – At the home of her daughter, in [D]eFuniak Springs, Fla., November 9, 1894, in the [se]ventieth year of her age, Mrs. Susannah SmileyMcLean, relict of the late J. G. McLean, of Pleasant Hill, Ala.  Born in Newberry, S.C., came to Alabama when very young, united with the Presbyterian church of Pleasant Hill, lived a consistent Christian life, and died in peace, leaving two daughters and one son, together with many friends, to mourn her departure.
J. S. L.

    from The Christian Observer

7.  Rebecca Adeline Smyly – b. Nov. 3, 1826, Pleasant Hill; d. Nov. 13, 1877, Pleasant Hill; m. Samuel Walker Catts [father of Sidney J. Catts] June 17, 1850, Pleasant Hill.
8.  James John Smyly, II – b. 2 September 1829, Pleasant Hill, AL; d. 18 September 1895, Pleasant Hill, Alabama.  gravestone says James W. Smyly; Holloways Co., CSA  [this could be James William Smyly, son of James Smyly and Margaret Russell, b. ca. 1837]
 
 

Posted By: Jeffrey Reed <jefareed@pinebelt.net>
Date: Tuesday, 12 December 2000, at 10:46 p.m.

  Meg Stringer Buchner, 1967.
  Jeffrey Reed; 2000.
  Meg Stringer Lambert, 1999.
  Jeffrey Reed; 2000.
  Notes made 8/16/2000 by M. V. Sims  from typed manuscipt in Anne Young Collection, in possession of Dr. Clyde Cox.
  Jeffrey Reed; 2000.
  Jeffrey Reed.
  Anne Young; Jeffrey Reed; 2000.
  Anne Young.
  Jeffrey Reed; 2000.
  Grave marker; Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church.
  Anne Young; Jeffrey Reed, 2000.
  Dallas Co. Marriage Book I; p. 302.
  Anne Young.
  Grave marker; Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church.
  Grave marker; Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church.