NY Militia, 4th Regt., Revolutionary War

Abraham Smith Born 6 Jun 1733 in Ridgefield, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony [1]

Son of Jabez Smith and Ruth (Seymour) Smith [1]

Brother of Sarah (Smith) Morehouse, Jabez Smith, Joel Smith, Ruth (Smith) Trusdell, Abigail (Smith) Wildman, Matthew Smith and Isaac Smith

Husband of Mary (Baxter) Smith — married 1752 in North Salem, Westchester, New York [2]

Father of Abraham Smith II (1754), Mary Smith (1756), Jabez Smith (1759), Ruth Smith (1760), John Smith (1763) and Petitt Smith (1765).

***NOTE: on familysearch as of 26 April 2024 there is also a Seth Smith listed as Brother. There is no source for this information and it is highly improbable***

AbrahamSmith Died 20 Mar 1784 at age 50 in North Salem, Westchester, New York, United States

He was a Lieutenant and served with Westchester County New York Militia during the American Revolution. He is a DAR Patriot and assigned Ancestor ID A104596.

His son Abraham was also a DAR patriot and their information oftentimes gets confused especially with headstones in the same cemetery. The younger Abraham Smith, (son) went on to marry his commander's daughter, Sarah Paddock Crane, the daughter of Col Thaddeus Crane.

Units for Lt Abraham Smith:

• Crane's Regiment of Artillery. [3][4][5]
• Col Samuel Drake's Regiment, New York Troops, [6]

Abraham is believed to have been with the militia unit from Westchester County, New York that fought under General Wooster at the Battle of Ridgefield on 27 April 1777. In that battle, General Wooster was killed and Thaddeus Crane, a captain in the Westchester County Militia, was shot through his hip. According to Silvio A. Bedini in his book "Ridgefield In Review", (Ridgefield 250th Anniversary Committee,Inc., Walker-Rackliff Co., New Haven, Ct.,1958.), "He was shot through the body at almost the same time that General Wooster received his fatal wound. Although bleeding profusely, Crane managed to keep on his horse until he was carried to the rear. His boots were filled with blood and he was laid on the same flat rock at the intersection of the highway and Barlow Mountain Road where the surgeon had cared for Wooster's wound. Crane was very weak from loss of blood. The bullet had passed through his body and punctured the lungs, remaining lodged in the skin of his left shoulder blade. It was probed out, and after the wound was dressed, Crane was conducted to his home in North Salem."

One account of that battle reported that " ...an Abraham Smith of North Salem was wounded and taken home and died of his wounds."

Receipt for payment for service during the war was not received by Abraham until after his death. The entry reads as follows:

Received 15 July 1785, of Thad Crane, a certificate for 34 pounds, 1 shilling and 10 pence in full for my service, a private in his regiment, 34-1-10. And likewise a certificate for 177 Pounds, 19 shillings and two pence, 177-19-2, in full for the service of my father, Lt Abraham Smith, late of Salem, deceast. - Abraham Smith, executor. [7]

Abraham died on 20 Mar 1784 of wounds that he had suffered several years earlier during the Battle of Ridgefield. He is buried in June Cemetery, North Salem, Westchester, New York. [8]

SOURCES

1. ↑ Land Records, Volume 1, page 222, Town of Ridgefield, Connecticut. 5 entries: "Sarah ye daughter of Jabish and Ruth Smith was born on ye 17th Day of September 1730." - "Jabez Smith ye son of Jabish and Ruth Smith was born on ye 12th Day of December 1731." - "Abraham ye son of Jabish and Ruth Smith was born on ye 6th Day of June 1733" - "Joel ye son of Jabish and Ruth Smith was born on ye 9th Day Anno Domini 1735/6." - "Ruth ye daughter of Jabish and Ruth Smith was born on ye 16th Day January 1736/7"; Records copied during a personal visit to the Ridgefield Historical Society, Ridgefield, CT, October, 2010.
2. ↑ Crane, Angeline Smith Pickering. The Genealogy and History of the John Keysar Smith Family of Valley Rest, Florence, Nebraska (Angeline Crane, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1922) Page 3-4 & Page 33
3. ↑ Lineage Book of the Charter Members of the DAR Vol 044, page 254; Ancestry.com
4. ↑ NARA Microfilm Roll #72 of the Series M880 has two record cards evidencing the Revolutionary War service for Lieutenant ABRAHAM SMITH of Crane's Regiment of the New York Militia
5. ↑ NY Rev. Colony & State: Vol. 1, Pages 214-216
6. ↑ Lineage Book of the Charter Members of the DAR Vol Volume 165 : 1921; Ancestry.com
7. ↑ U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970; Ancestry.com; Published 2011 by Ancestry.com Operations; Volume: 61; SAR Membership Number: 12001
8. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/21700311/abraham-smith : accessed 11 February 2022), memorial page for Pvt Abraham Smith Sr. (1733–1784), Find A Grave: Memorial #21700311 citing June Cemetery, North Salem, Westchester County, New York, USA ; Maintained by Pat (contributor 46871295) .

• "Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F74Y-S8T : 9 December 2019), Jabish Smith in entry for Abraham Smith, 1733.
• DAR Patriot Index Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed 20March2020), "Record of Abraham Smith", Ancestor # A104596.