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Smith of Smithfield

Colonel Arthur Smith settled in Virginia and became a Burgess in the Isle of Wight. The first Smith to Blakemore (Blackmore) was John Smith, second son of Thomas Smith of Rivenhall. John Smith was one of the auditors of King Henry VIII and was granted by the king the manor and the site of the Priory of Blackmore or Blakemore in 1540. He married Dorothy, daughter of Trymmell of Worcester, also an auditor for the king. John Smith made his will on 10 May 1544, wherein he bequeathed his eldest son, Thomas "all my harness, weapons and artillery that is in my armory or galleryy at Smythes Hall, Blackmore."

John Smith was succeeded by Thomas smith who married first, Blanche, the daughter of Nicholas Colshill of Middlesex by whom he had two sons and two daughters. Francis Smith, the eldest son, married a daughter of Sir Henry Billingsley, alderman of London. The second wife of Thomas Smith was Margaret, daughter and sole heir of John Turner of Cressing Hall in Essex by whom he had six sons and four daughters. John died 10 May 1594, aged seventy years; buried in the church at Blackmore. The monument of Thomas Smyth (1594) and his wife Margaret is located on the south aisle of the east end of the Parish Church of St. Laurance at Blackmore.

John Smith, the eldest son of Thomas Smith and his second wife, died without issue on 31 May 1621. Charles Smith inherited next, but by his wife, Dorothy, a daughter of Wiseman of Rivenhall, he had an only daughter, another Dorothy, who married Thomas Jennings of Dunmow. Having no male heirs, Arthur Smith, his next brother, succeeded him the manor of Blackmore.

Arthur Smith, the next brother, married Anne Milward and died 7 Mar 1622. Issue:

• Stephen Smith, Captain, died 22 Sept 1670, aged 68, married Jane, daughter of Thomas Bennett, alderman of London. From the epitaphs in the church at Blackmore with an achievement of arms on each tomb, argent a crosse gules between four peacocks azure. Issue:
  1. Dorothy Smith.
  2. Margaret Smith.
  3. Nicholas Smith.
  4. Joanna Smith, married Nicholas Alexander.
  5. Bennett Smith, died young.
  6. Christian Smith.
  7. Thomas Smith, died 1684, his will dated 1724 at Blackmore.
• Thomas Smith, patented 400 acres in Martins Hundred, James City County, Virginia 24 Apr 1632; 250 acres in Martins Hundred on a branch of Kethes Creek for the transportation of himself and four other persons.
• Arthur Smith, came to Virginia (above). He patented 1450 acres in Isle of Wight on 10 Sept 1637.
• Dorothy Smith, married Thomas Jennings of Dunmow.

Blackmore is a village 10 miles from Chelmsford in South West Essex, UK. The name Blackmore is derived from the name 'Black Marsh'. Apparently many centuries ago the soil about the village was black and marsh like. The Crown on the sign is most probably to do with the the local connections to King Henry VIII. One of his mistress's Elizabeth Blount lived in Blackmore and gave birth to Henry's only acknowledged illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy in Blackmore Priory Monastery in 1519. Henry is alleged to have been a frequent visitor to the village. Had Henry junior not died aged 17 in 1536 he would have almost certainly become the King upon Henry's death in 1547. The sign also features the Church of Saint Laurence which has the only wooden church steeple in Essex. Ironically this was built on the site of Blackmore Priory monastery which was dissolved in 1525 by Henry VIII.


Newport Parish Church, Smithfield, Virginia.

Sources: Seventeenth Century Isle of Wight; Isle of Wight County wills; pedigree of Smiths of Rivenhall in Visitations of Essex; Pedigree and Peerage, Vol. II; Essex Arch. Society Transactions, Vol. III, O. S., page 5; Harleian, Vol. 13, pp. 428, 488.

Last Will and Testament of Thomas Smith of Isle of Wight County, Virginia

Last Will and Testament of Arthur Smith