The John + Laura Smith Family

How did John and Laura Smith's household become the family network that eventually produced Mamie Till-Mobley, Emmett Till, and later descendants?

Project type

Family reconstruction

Lead researcher

Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Status

Active

• 1870 — Copiah County, Mississippi

  5 recorded household members.

• 1880 — Rose Hill Precinct, Copiah County, Mississippi

  6 recorded household members.

• 1900 — Mount Hope, Copiah County, Mississippi

  2 recorded household members.

• 1910 — Mayharris, Copiah County, Mississippi

  8 recorded household members.

The 1890 census gap
Most of the 1890 federal population schedules were destroyed following a fire in 1921. For this family that removes the single enumeration between Rose Hill Precinct in 1880 and Mount Hope in 1900 — both in Copiah County, Mississippi. The archive draws this year as a gap rather than interpolating across it: children born, married, moved or lost in that decade are invisible to the federal count.

• George Smith — Relationship unknown · Research lead only. Not published as a child of John and Laura, and not drawn on the lineage.
• Joe Smith — Relationship unknown · Named in family history. Awaiting a record that places him in the household.
• Unknown child of John + Laura — Relationship unknown · Open placeholder. Represents absence without inventing a name.
• The three adopted sons — Raised in the household · Unnamed in the archive. Not counted as biological children.

1. between 1870 and 1880: Twp. 9 & 10, Copiah County, Mississippi → Rose Hill Precinct, Copiah County, Mississippi. Reason unknown.
2. between 1880 and 1900: Rose Hill Precinct, Copiah County, Mississippi → Mount Hope, Copiah County, Mississippi. Reason unknown.
3. between 1900 and 1910: Mount Hope, Copiah County, Mississippi → Mayharris, Copiah County, Mississippi. Reason unknown.

• Owned home — John and Laura are reported as owning their home in both 1900 and 1910.
• Approximately 80 acres — Family history — research in progress. No deed, tax entry, plat or probate record establishing acreage has been entered.
• House — Described in Alma Smith Spearman's account.
• Barns — Described in Alma Smith Spearman's account.
• Blacksmith shop — Described in Alma Smith Spearman's account.
• Wells — Described in Alma Smith Spearman's account.
• Orchard — Described in Alma Smith Spearman's account.
• Pasture — Described in Alma Smith Spearman's account.
• Streams — Described in Alma Smith Spearman's account.
• Gardens — Described in Alma Smith Spearman's account.
• Livestock and poultry — Described in Alma Smith Spearman's account.

• John and Laura raised nine of their own children and three adopted sons. — Unresolved. The two statements are held side by side, not merged.
• John and Laura married in 1852. — The marriage is corroborated; the 1852 date is not. The date remains under investigation rather than silently corrected.
• Laura could read. — Three of four schedules report literacy. The 1900 entry stands unexplained.
• The family owned approximately 80 acres. — Home ownership documented; acreage remains family history — research in progress.

• Who were the eleven children Laura reported?
• Which two did not survive to 1900, and when were they lost?
• Who were the three sons the family raised, and was any adoption ever formalised?
• What became of Green and Joe Smith after the 1880 enumeration?
• Is there a deed, tax entry or plat for the land the family remembers as about 80 acres?
• When did the family begin writing Tolliver rather than Taliaferro?
• Where and when did John and Laura die, and where are they buried?

Family history of the Smith family (BT-SRC-00040), by Alma Smith Spearman. Held and transmitted within the family. Full bibliographic details are pending confirmation and are recorded as pending rather than estimated.

No child's branch is extended without at least one credible parent-child source. Multiple independent sources are preferred.

• Unsourced Ancestry trees — Research lead only. Never a citation.
• Find a Grave — Derivative lead unless the underlying record is supplied and reviewed.
• WikiTree — Derivative / collaborative source unless it cites original evidence.

Carter-Mills, Amberly R. "The John + Laura Smith Family." Family Reconstruction 001, version 1.0. BEFORE TILL, 2026-08-12. BT-FAM-001.

Research & Interpretation: Amberly R. Carter-Mills, Founder, Creator & Descendant Archivist, BEFORE TILL.