Last year, The Register published a multi-part article, The English Ancestry of Elizabeth Smith, Whose Husband Was Samuel Smith of Hadley, Massachusetts, by Myrtle Stevens Hyde, FASG.

As Elizabeth and Samuel Smith are two of my ancestors, I was more than thrilled to see her ancestry documented back a further six generations!

Given that this article is newly published, I am sharing only the bare bones details about Elizabeth’s parents and siblings. I highly recommend that you join AmericanAncestors if you have early New England roots. It is well worth the membership fee. Members may view all previous issues of The Register and you can then read this terrific article with its lengthy family history and source citations  for yourself.

Elizabeth Smith is the daughter of Philip Smith and his wife, Ann Grymwade, whose family lived in Erwarton, Harkstead and then Whatfield, Suffolk, England, all parishes close to one another.

Philip Smith was baptized on 1 April 1565 in Erwarton, Suffolk, England and was buried on 27 March 1631 in Whatfield, Suffolk, not far away. He married Ann Grymwade, 1 June 1590, Erwarton. She was the daughter of Edmond Grymwade.

Ann was baptized 30 November 1570, in Rattlesden, Suffolk and was buried 26 March 1639 in Whatfield, Suffolk, England.

Philip died between March 1630/31, when he wrote his will, and 21 July 1631 when it was proved. Ann also wrote a will, but her death is noted as 24 March 1638/39, both in Suffolk, England.

They were the parents of nine children:

1. Anna, baptized 25 April 1591, Erwarton; buried 29 July 1730 (sic) as found in The Register, but likely a typo for 1630 or ?, and called the daughter of Philip Smith.
2. William, baptized 30 November 1592, Erwarton; mentioned in the 1619 will of his uncle James Smith; no further record.
3. Hester, baptized, 7 April 1594, Erwarton; no further record.
4. Jane, baptized 22 May 1597, Erwarton; no further record.
5. Elizabeth, baptized 22 July 1599, Erwarton; mentioned in the 1619 will of her uncle James Smith and called “a lame daughter of. . . my brother; married Samuel Smith, 6 October 1624, Whatfield, Suffolk, England.
6. Joane, born c1601, Harkstead; married Adam Tomson, 26 September 1626, Whatfield; no further record.
7. Thomas, born c1603, Harkstead; married Alice Colman, 20 August 1632, Whatfield. Six children baptized in Whatfield.
8. Dorothy, born c1605, Harkstead; married Matthew Andrews, 15 July 1633, Whatfield. Four children baptized in Whatfield.
9. James (probably), born c1607, Harkstead; buried in Whatfield, 14 April 1642; married Anne Hammond, 18 October 1639, Whatfield.

More to come on Elizabeth (Smith) Smith’s grandparents!