Laura Tolliver Smith

Born

about 1852

Died

Not yet documented

Archive identifier

BT-PER-00003

Claims attached

9

• 1880 census: the Smith household at Rose Hill, Union County, Kentucky

  1880 · Census

• 1870 census: Laura and John Smith in Copiah County, Mississippi

  1870 · Census

• 1900 census: the Smith household at Mount Hope, Copiah County, Mississippi

  1900 · Census

• 1910 census: the Smith household at Mayharris, Copiah County, Mississippi

  1910 · Census

• Birth of Laura Tolliver

  about 1852 · Birth

• Marriage of John Smith and Laura Tolliver

  about 1869 · Marriage

• Laura named in an 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register of former slaves

  1865 · Emancipation

• SpouseCorroborated

  John Smith

  Married June 1870, recorded on both of their lines in the 1870 census of Copiah County as married within the year. The household is then carried forward in the censuses of 1880, 1900 and 1910 and in the Alma Smith Spearman family history.

  Evidence for this relationship
• ParentUnder Investigation

  Hilliard Taliaferro / Tolliver

  Parentage is carried in family research and has not yet been established here by documentary evidence.

• ParentUnder Investigation

  Bettie Alexander Taliaferro / Tolliver

  Parentage is carried in family research and has not yet been established here by documentary evidence.

• ChildDocumented

  George Smith

  Recorded as a son, age 8, in the John Smith household in the 1880 federal census — Rose Hill Precinct, Copiah County, Mississippi, dwelling 288, family 288.

  Evidence for this relationship
• ChildFamily Tradition

  Amanda Smith

  The family history names Amanda Smith among the children of John and Laura Smith. No census line, birth record or death record naming both parents has yet been transcribed into this archive.

  Evidence for this relationship
• ChildDocumented

  Monroe Smith

  Recorded from the 1870 census household: Monroe is entered on the line beneath John and Laura, within the same family number, as an infant born within the year.

• ChildDocumented

  Green Smith

  Recorded as a son in the same household in the 1880 federal census, Rose Hill Precinct, Copiah County, Mississippi.

• ChildDocumented

  Joe Smith

  Recorded as a son in the same household in the 1880 federal census, Rose Hill Precinct, Copiah County, Mississippi.

• ChildDocumented

  Ella Smith

  Entered as a daughter in the household headed by John Smith with Laura as wife, 1910 census, dwelling 77.

• Adoptive childDocumented

  Frank Smith

  Entered as "adopted son" in the household headed by John Smith with Laura as wife, 1910 census, dwelling 77.

• OtherDocumented

  Crosby Smith

  Entered as grandson in the household headed by John Smith with Laura as wife, 1910 census, dwelling 77. No intervening parent is named.

Role-based connections drawn from the records. These are historical relationships only. None of them establishes kinship.

• Later enslaverDocumented

  H. G. D. Brown

  Named in the 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register of former slaves as the former enslaver.

  No kinship established

• CensusDigital ImageBT-SRC-00036

  1870 U.S. Census — Copiah County, Mississippi

  FamilySearch / National Archives and Records Administration

  6 observations drawn from this source

  SOURCE CITATION AVAILABLE. ORIGINAL IMAGE VERIFICATION NEEDED — not yet independently reviewed inside BEFORE TILL.

• CensusDigital ImageBT-SRC-00037

  1880 U.S. Census — Rose Hill Precinct, Copiah County, Mississippi

  FamilySearch / National Archives and Records Administration

  6 observations drawn from this source

  SOURCE CITATION AVAILABLE. ORIGINAL IMAGE VERIFICATION NEEDED — not yet independently reviewed inside BEFORE TILL.

• CensusDigital ImageBT-SRC-00038

  1900 U.S. Census — Mount Hope, Copiah County, Mississippi

  FamilySearch

  7 observations drawn from this source

  SOURCE CITATION AVAILABLE. ORIGINAL IMAGE VERIFICATION NEEDED — not yet independently reviewed inside BEFORE TILL.

• CensusDigital ImageBT-SRC-00039

  1910 U.S. Census — Mayharris, Copiah County, Mississippi

  FamilySearch

  8 observations drawn from this source

  SOURCE CITATION AVAILABLE. ORIGINAL IMAGE VERIFICATION NEEDED — not yet independently reviewed inside BEFORE TILL.

• Freedmens BureauDigital ImageBT-SRC-00035

  Register of Formerly Enslaved People — H. G. D. Brown / Lucky Hit Plantation

  FamilySearch / National Archives and Records Administration

  6 observations drawn from this source

  Both page images have been reviewed inside BEFORE TILL and are held with a working transcription.

• BookAuthored NarrativeBT-SRC-00040

  Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

  9 observations drawn from this source

  COMPLETE BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATION NEEDED. Published family history / descendant-authored narrative. Title, publisher, and publication date have not yet been supplied. A valuable family source; it is not automatically contemporary documentary proof for events predating the author's lifetime.

• CemeteryIndexBT-SRC-00041

  Find a Grave memorial 92711754 for George Smith (21 Apr 1881 - 3 Mar 1936), Lincoln Cemetery, Blue Island, Cook County, Illinois

  Find a Grave (database and images), online

  2 observations drawn from this source

  RESEARCH LEAD / DERIVATIVE SOURCE. User-contributed memorial content. Not treated as proof of parentage or birthplace unless supported by a monument photograph, death certificate, obituary, or burial record.

• CensusDigital ImageBT-SRC-00034

  1860 U.S. Census Slave Schedule — H. G. D. Brown Household, Copiah County, Mississippi

  FamilySearch

  1 observation drawn from this source

  SOURCE CITATION AVAILABLE. The original image has not yet been independently reviewed inside BEFORE TILL.

• Vital RecordIndexBT-SRC-00524

  Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947, entry for George Smith, died 3 March 1936, Chicago, Cook County

  FamilySearch online index

  1 observation drawn from this source

• Laura Smith appears in the household enumerated as the Lawrence Hines/Hinz household in the 1870 census of Copiah County, Mississippi.

  1870 U.S. Census — Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 109 (penned), dwelling 786, family 773

• Laura Smith is recorded as approximately age 18 in 1870.

  1870 U.S. Census — Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 109 (penned), dwelling 786, family 773

• Laura Smith is recorded as approximately age 27 in 1880.

  1880 U.S. Census — Rose Hill Precinct, Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 33A (penned), dwelling 288, family 288

• Laura Smith appears in the John Smith household at Mount Hope, Copiah County, Mississippi, in 1900.

  1900 U.S. Census — Mount Hope, Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 7B (penned), dwelling 147, family 150

• Laura Smith is reported born approximately September 1852.

  1900 U.S. Census — Mount Hope, Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 7B (penned), dwelling 147, family 150

• John and Laura are reported married approximately 31 years.

  1900 U.S. Census — Mount Hope, Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 7B (penned), dwelling 147, family 150

• Laura is reported as the mother of 11 children.

  1900 U.S. Census — Mount Hope, Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 7B (penned), dwelling 147, family 150

• Nine of Laura's children are reported living in 1900.

  1900 U.S. Census — Mount Hope, Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 7B (penned), dwelling 147, family 150

• Compiled research reports the 1900 census as indicating that Laura could neither read nor write. ORIGINAL IMAGE VERIFICATION NEEDED.

  1900 U.S. Census — Mount Hope, Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 7B (penned), dwelling 147, family 150

• Laura Smith appears in the John Smith household at Mayharris, Copiah County, Mississippi, in 1910.

  1910 U.S. Census — Mayharris, Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 5A (penned), dwelling 77, family 77

• Laura Smith is recorded as approximately age 57 in 1910.

  1910 U.S. Census — Mayharris, Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 5A (penned), dwelling 77, family 77

• John and Laura are reported married approximately 41 years.

  1910 U.S. Census — Mayharris, Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 5A (penned), dwelling 77, family 77

• The register identifies Laura by name.

  Register of Formerly Enslaved People — H. G. D. Brown / Lucky Hit Plantation · pp. 10-11, image 7 of 81

• The original page has now been read. Laura's line carries a single mark in the education columns, which the archive reads as column 17, "cannot write" - leaving column 16, "cannot read", unmarked. On the same page, Bettie's and John's lines each carry two marks. The reading is consistent with the compiled research report that Laura could read but could not write. The marks are small and faint, and the reading is the archive's transcription of the page rather than a certainty.

  Smith Laura | 18 | F | M | Miss | [one mark in the education columns]

  1870 U.S. Census — Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 109 (penned), dwelling 786, family 773, line 34

• Laura Smith appears in the John Smith household at Rose Hill Precinct, Copiah County, Mississippi, in 1880 — dwelling 288, family 288.

  1880 U.S. Census — Rose Hill Precinct, Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 33A (penned), dwelling 288, family 288

• John Smith and Laura V. Smith each carry a mark in column 23 (cannot write) and no mark in column 22 (cannot read). Read from the original page image: both are recorded as able to read and unable to write.

  lines 29 and 30, columns 22-23: column 22 blank, column 23 marked

  1880 U.S. Census — Rose Hill Precinct, Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 33A (penned), dwelling 288, family 288

• Laura is reported as the mother of 11 children in 1910.

  1910 U.S. Census — Mayharris, Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 5A (penned), dwelling 77, family 77

• Nine of Laura's children are reported living in 1910.

  1910 U.S. Census — Mayharris, Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 5A (penned), dwelling 77, family 77

• Compiled research reports the 1910 census as indicating that Laura could read but could not write. ORIGINAL IMAGE VERIFICATION NEEDED.

  1910 U.S. Census — Mayharris, Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 5A (penned), dwelling 77, family 77

• Alma Smith Spearman's published family history states that Laura Tolliver was a student at an institution identified as "Vicksburg College" at the time of her marriage to John Smith. This documents that the family account exists; it does not by itself document attendance.

  Laura Tolliver, while yet a student of Vicksburg College, was given in marriage to John Smith, a country farmer.

  Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

• Alma Smith Spearman's family history describes John and Laura as raising nine biological children and three adopted sons.

  Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

• Alma Smith Spearman's family history reports that Laura's Baptist faith and the family's religious life contributed to John and Laura welcoming Bishop C. H. Mason around 1897.

  Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

• Alma Smith Spearman's family history reports that Bishop C. H. Mason was welcomed into the Smith home and that John and Laura extended an ongoing invitation for him to stay when he was in the area.

  Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

• Alma Smith Spearman's family history reports that the Smiths' son Joe Smith cared for Bishop Mason's horse and buggy.

  Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

• Alma Smith Spearman's family history reports that the Smiths' oldest grandson, Mason Harrison Smith, was named for Bishop Mason.

  Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

• Alma Smith Spearman's family history describes John and Laura as acquiring approximately 80 acres including a house, barns, livestock, a blacksmith shop, wells, orchards, pastures, streams, gardens, trees, and poultry. These descriptive elements are recorded as the family account, not as independently proven property details.

  Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

• A Find a Grave memorial (ID 92711754) for George Smith, 21 April 1881 - 3 March 1936, Lincoln Cemetery, Blue Island, Cook County, Illinois, reportedly identifies his mother as Laura Taliaferro. Derivative, user-contributed content; treated as a research lead.

  Find a Grave memorial 92711754 for George Smith (21 Apr 1881 - 3 Mar 1936), Lincoln Cemetery, Blue Island, Cook County, Illinois

• The same Find a Grave memorial reportedly gives Laura's birthplace as Hazlehurst, Copiah County, Mississippi. Not yet corroborated by an original or near-original record inside BEFORE TILL.

  Find a Grave memorial 92711754 for George Smith (21 Apr 1881 - 3 Mar 1936), Lincoln Cemetery, Blue Island, Cook County, Illinois

• The family history authored by Alma Smith Spearman identifies Laura Tolliver as the wife of John Smith.

  Laura Tolliver, wife of John Smith.

  Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

• 1870 census enumeration places Laura and John Smith in the same household in Copiah County, Mississippi.

  1870 U.S. Census — Copiah County, Mississippi

• 1900 census enumeration records Laura and John Smith in the same household at Mount Hope, Copiah County, Mississippi.

  1900 U.S. Census — Mount Hope, Copiah County, Mississippi

• 1910 census enumeration records Laura and John Smith in the same household at Mayharris, Copiah County, Mississippi.

  1910 U.S. Census — Mayharris, Copiah County, Mississippi

• The family history carries a statement that Laura and John were married in 1852. Laura's own approximate birth year is also about 1852, so the date as written cannot be correct as a marriage year.

  Married 1852.

  Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

• 1880 census enumeration records Laura and John Smith in the same household at Rose Hill Precinct, Copiah County, Mississippi.

  1880 U.S. Census — Rose Hill Precinct, Copiah County, Mississippi

• The register records Laura as female.

  Register of Formerly Enslaved People — H. G. D. Brown / Lucky Hit Plantation · pp. 10-11, image 7 of 81

• The register records Laura as age 12.

  Register of Formerly Enslaved People — H. G. D. Brown / Lucky Hit Plantation · pp. 10-11, image 7 of 81

• The register describes Laura using the historical color/complexion term "yellow". This is language used by the record-keeper to categorise perceived complexion. It is not a statement of parentage or ancestry.

  yellow

  Register of Formerly Enslaved People — H. G. D. Brown / Lucky Hit Plantation · pp. 10-11, image 7 of 81

• The register identifies Laura as a field laborer.

  Register of Formerly Enslaved People — H. G. D. Brown / Lucky Hit Plantation · pp. 10-11, image 7 of 81

• The register identifies Laura as formerly enslaved by H. G. D. Brown.

  Register of Formerly Enslaved People — H. G. D. Brown / Lucky Hit Plantation · pp. 10-11, image 7 of 81

• An eight-year-old girl is entered in the female column of the H. G. D. Brown block of the 1860 slave schedule. Laura is recorded elsewhere as born about 1852, which would make her eight in June 1860. The schedule records no names. This is an age match, not an identification - but it is the only entry on these pages that matches her recorded age exactly. Read against the 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register, which names this person under the same former owner, this line is consistent with the documented household rather than standing alone.

  1 | 8 | F | B

  1860 U.S. Census Slave Schedule — H. G. D. Brown Household, Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 13 (penned), left column, H. G. D. Brown entry continued, female column line 17; digital image 12 of 101

• Laura Smith's line carries a mark in column 14, "If married within the year", written as June. The census was taken 30 July 1870, so the mark records a marriage in June 1870.

  Smith Laura | 18 | F | M | Miss | [married within the year] June

  1870 U.S. Census — Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 109 (penned), dwelling 786, family 773, line 34

• Hilliard, Bettie, Laura, John and the infant Monroe are enumerated on consecutive lines within dwelling 786, family 773 - one household, headed in the schedule by Lawrence Hines. Four further Talleferro lines follow: Amanda 13, Henry 6, Joseph E 2 and Thomas 25.

  Dwelling 786 | Family 773

  1870 U.S. Census — Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 109 (penned), dwelling 786, family 773, line 32-40

• Laura V. Smith is recorded as Wife and as a Farm Hand — the first occupation entered for her in any census in this archive.

  line 30 | - Laura V. | Mu | F | 27 | Wife | Farm Hand

  1880 U.S. Census — Rose Hill Precinct, Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 33A (penned), dwelling 288, family 288

• Laura is written as "Laura V." in 1880, the only record in the archive giving her a middle initial.

  line 30 | - Laura V.

  1880 U.S. Census — Rose Hill Precinct, Copiah County, Mississippi · p. 33A (penned), dwelling 288, family 288

• John Smith is reported born in Mississippi to a Virginia-born father and a Virginia-born mother. Laura is reported born in Mississippi to a Virginia-born father and a Mississippi-born mother — consistent with Hilliard's reported Virginia birth and Bettie's Mississippi birth.

  Mississippi | Virginia | Mississippi

  1910 U.S. Census — Mayharris, Copiah County, Mississippi · ED 53, sheet 5A, dwelling 77, family 77

• The entry gives the birthplace of George's mother, Laura, as Hazlehurst, Copiah County, Mississippi. This is reported secondhand by an informant in 1936, decades after the fact, but it agrees with the Copiah County records in which Laura appears.

  Mother's Name: Laura Tatlefero / Mother's Birthplace: Hazlehurst, [Copiah], Miss.

  Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947, entry for George Smith, died 3 March 1936, Chicago, Cook County

• Documented

  Enslaved by H. G. D. Brown · Lucky Hit plantation

  Named entry in an 1865-era Freedmen's Bureau register of former slaves.

  Start date unknown. End date not recorded as a specific day; emancipation context is 1865.

  Read the claim and its evidence

• Under Investigation

  Did Laura Tolliver attend "Vicksburg College"?

  The family account is documented. Laura's attendance is not. BEFORE TILL preserves Alma Smith Spearman's statement as evidence that the family account exists, while the institution itself and Laura's attendance remain unverified.

• Under Investigation

  Did John and Laura Smith own an approximately 80-acre farm?

  The 1900 and 1910 censuses reportedly record John and Laura as owning their home. Home ownership supports property ownership generally, but does not by itself establish acreage, boundaries, or any of the described buildings and improvements.

• Under Investigation

  Did Laura and John Smith provide hospitality and support to Bishop C. H. Mason around 1897?

  BEFORE TILL preserves this as a family account recorded by Alma Smith Spearman. The events themselves have not yet been independently corroborated inside the archive.

• Under Investigation

  How many children did John and Laura Smith raise?

  The 1900 and 1910 censuses report Laura as the mother of 11 children, nine then living. The family history describes nine biological children and three adopted sons. These statements do not necessarily contradict one another, because adopted children would not be counted among children born to Laura.

• Under Investigation

  What do census records indicate about Laura Tolliver Smith's literacy?

  Three compiled census entries reportedly indicate that Laura could read but could not write; the 1900 entry reportedly indicates she could do neither. The original images have not yet been reviewed inside BEFORE TILL.

• Corroborated

  Laura Tolliver was formerly enslaved on H. G. D. Brown's Lucky Hit plantation.

  The 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register associates Laura's former enslaver with Lucky Hit plantation. The precise location of Lucky Hit has not been independently established and no coordinates are recorded.

• Corroborated

  Laura Tolliver was formerly enslaved by H. G. D. Brown.

  An 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register names Laura and identifies her as formerly enslaved by H. G. D. Brown. An unnamed eight-year-old female in Brown's 1860 slave schedule is consistent in age but cannot independently be identified as Laura.

• Corroborated

  Laura Tolliver and John Smith were husband and wife.

  The marriage relationship itself is well supported: the family history names Laura as the wife of John Smith, and census enumerations place them in the same household as a married couple across multiple decades. The exact marriage date remains unresolved and is tracked separately.

• Documented

  When did Laura Tolliver and John Smith marry?

  Laura Tolliver and John Smith married in June 1870, as recorded on both of their lines in the census taken the following month. The family account of an 1852 marriage is preserved as a family statement that the record contradicts.

• Did Laura Tolliver attend "Vicksburg College"?
• Did John and Laura Smith own an approximately 80-acre farm?
• Did Laura and John Smith provide hospitality and support to Bishop C. H. Mason around 1897?
• How many children did John and Laura Smith raise?
• What do census records indicate about Laura Tolliver Smith's literacy?

• Reading the literacy conflict rather than resolving it
• Documenting the account is not documenting the event
• The 1852 marriage date does not hold