He went by a nickname of "Burt". When he died in 1856, he was buried near his home, and relatives were sent back to Mississippi to tell his parents there what happened. It took many months to get there with news and have his parents come out to Texas by wagons. Family lore says they brought slaves with them, but when they got to the Texas border they were told they couldn't have slaves in Texas. Thus they had to go back to Mississippi and journey a second time to Texas. When they finally arrived, his body was moved. A site was chosen for a cemetery (now Smith Bend - Coon Creek Cemetery), but at the time he was the first burial there, I believe it was just called Smith Bend Cemetery. An account of his death and the founding of the cemetery are found briefly in James Michenor's book "Texas". He is mentioned, not by his name, but by the event of his death and afterwards. Since he was the first burial in this cemetery, I am surprised he doesn't already have a memorial page. I'll get a picture of his stone posted just as soon as I can. His widow was Isabella Jane "Jennie" Hearne. The Isabella part did not get used much and was sometimes not seen at all, and sometimes as just a letter "I". She left Texas and I believe married the governor of North Carolina. The governor part turns out to be an exaggeration. She did marry again in North Carolina, but Richard A. Caldwell, was not a Governor. His middle initial of "A" stood for Alexander. Someone else has added a death certificate for her and it says Mrs. Jane C. Caldwell. I think I am reading the writing incorrectly. What I am seeing as a "C" is probably an "I". It is still wrong, though, as I'm fairly sure her name was Isabella Jane not Jane Isabella.
I have a copy of a letter she wrote from Albemarle, North Carolina, to her deceased husband's parents in Texas (her in-laws, John Jackson Smith & Margaret "Peggy" Katherine Butler Smith), and I guess during her marriage to "Burt" Smith that she felt toward them as if they were her own parents, or on the same par with them.
Family lore states that Burton went on a bear hunt with some comrades, and drank out of the river on a hot day, and turned blue and died. Other stories say he was bitten by a rattlesnake. What is true, is that he did die, and this cemetery was founded with him as the first one in it.
I have a copy of a letter she wrote from Albemarle, North Carolina, to her deceased husband's parents in Texas (her in-laws, John Jackson Smith & Margaret "Peggy" Katherine Butler Smith), and I guess during her marriage to "Burt" Smith that she felt toward them as if they were her own parents, or on the same par with them.
Family lore states that Burton went on a bear hunt with some comrades, and drank out of the river on a hot day, and turned blue and died. Other stories say he was bitten by a rattlesnake. What is true, is that he did die, and this cemetery was founded with him as the first one in it.
He went by a nickname of "Burt". When he died in 1856, he was buried near his home, and relatives were sent back to Mississippi to tell his parents there what happened. It took many months to get there with news and have his parents come out to Texas by wagons. Family lore says they brought slaves with them, but when they got to the Texas border they were told they couldn't have slaves in Texas. Thus they had to go back to Mississippi and journey a second time to Texas. When they finally arrived, his body was moved. A site was chosen for a cemetery (now Smith Bend - Coon Creek Cemetery), but at the time he was the first burial there, I believe it was just called Smith Bend Cemetery. An account of his death and the founding of the cemetery are found briefly in James Michenor's book "Texas". He is mentioned, not by his name, but by the event of his death and afterwards. Since he was the first burial in this cemetery, I am surprised he doesn't already have a memorial page. I'll get a picture of his stone posted just as soon as I can. His widow was Isabella Jane "Jennie" Hearne. The Isabella part did not get used much and was sometimes not seen at all, and sometimes as just a letter "I". She left Texas and I believe married the governor of North Carolina. The governor part turns out to be an exaggeration. She did marry again in North Carolina, but Richard A. Caldwell, was not a Governor. His middle initial of "A" stood for Alexander. Someone else has added a death certificate for her and it says Mrs. Jane C. Caldwell. I think I am reading the writing incorrectly. What I am seeing as a "C" is probably an "I". It is still wrong, though, as I'm fairly sure her name was Isabella Jane not Jane Isabella.
I have a copy of a letter she wrote from Albemarle, North Carolina, to her deceased husband's parents in Texas (her in-laws, John Jackson Smith & Margaret "Peggy" Katherine Butler Smith), and I guess during her marriage to "Burt" Smith that she felt toward them as if they were her own parents, or on the same par with them.
Family lore states that Burton went on a bear hunt with some comrades, and drank out of the river on a hot day, and turned blue and died. Other stories say he was bitten by a rattlesnake. What is true, is that he did die, and this cemetery was founded with him as the first one in it.
I have a copy of a letter she wrote from Albemarle, North Carolina, to her deceased husband's parents in Texas (her in-laws, John Jackson Smith & Margaret "Peggy" Katherine Butler Smith), and I guess during her marriage to "Burt" Smith that she felt toward them as if they were her own parents, or on the same par with them.
Family lore states that Burton went on a bear hunt with some comrades, and drank out of the river on a hot day, and turned blue and died. Other stories say he was bitten by a rattlesnake. What is true, is that he did die, and this cemetery was founded with him as the first one in it.
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