JEREMIAH SMITH

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Jeremiah Smith
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Picture of Jeremiah Smith’s fort which was his home surrounded by a palisade fence. Photo is from Norman Baker’s book, Forts in Frederick Co VA, published in 2000 by Winchester Frederick County Historical Society, printed by Buckley’s Printing Inc., 946 Baker Lane, Winchester VA.
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Captain Jeremiah Smith was one of the first settlers in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia having come to the area from New Jersey. He was a heroic frontiersman who helped tame the frontier wilderness of Old Frederick County, VA.
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He fought with distinction during the French and Indian War and was a leader of economic development during times of peace.
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He is a direct descendant of two of the Founders of New Jersey, Thomas Smith and John Pancoast.
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Further information can be found in “Frederick County, Virginia Settlement and Some First Families of Back Creek Valley 1730-1830” by Wilmer L. Kerns, PhD.
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https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19480894
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From wikipedia:
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That spring of 1756, a pair of Indians, a remnant of a party recently defeated (along with their French captain) by a Capt. Jeremiah Smith at the head of the Capon (Cacapon) River, were passing through the upper South Branch (somewhere near the present site of Cabins, West Virginia) when they encountered two white women. One of these (a Mrs. Brake) they killed (tomahawked and scalped) outright and the other (a Mrs. Neff) they took prisoner. The party then proceeded to the vicinity of Fort Pleasant (at present day Old Fields and the lowermost of Waggener’s two forts) where they encamped. That night Neff escaped and fled to the fort.[5][6][7] (According to one version, the Indians deliberately allowed her to “escape” in order to draw the whites out.
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Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Trough#Background
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MARKER OF CAPT JEREMIAH SMITH
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http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=19480894
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Where is the Jeremiah Smith Gore VA grave?
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It is on Knob Road, across the Route 50 Highway from Jeremiah Smith’s fort house.
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https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1trymtX5rGYDjQ_tYJUvv63wqc1M&ll=39.27113954254935%2C-78.31444286142658&z=19 .
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FRONTIER FORTS
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http://jimmoyer1.wix.com/fortloudounva#!forts-on-the-frontier/c1wi9
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Historical Records of Old Frederick and Hampshire Counties, Virginia by Kerns has alot of info my library was able to locate it and borrow it for me to research.Has record of Capt. Jeremiah Smith he was born in Cohansey, Salem County, New Jersey 1711..his parents were Jeremiah Smith born 14 Sept. 1687 USA, died 9 Oct. 1735 USA, mother Ann Pancoast born 1690 and died 20 Mar., 1719. Capt. Smith was in the French and Indian War,there is a historical marker in Lost River, West Virginia commemorating the battle he was in, he owned like 1,000 acres, he was one of the first white settlers into the west of the Shenandoah Valley alot of this by Bradley Rymph Capt. died in 1787.
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Source:
https://lists.rootsweb.com/hyperkitty/list/njsalem.rootsweb.com/thread/592461/
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Below is from this link:
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http://www.bradleyrymph.com/genealogy_smith-jeremiah.pdf
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Local tradition once relayed that Captain Jeremiah Smith was the first white settler west of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. In fact, two men, Owen Thomas and Isaac Thomas, were probably the first two settlers in the region, known as the Back Creek Valley, when they put down roots as farmers in the 1730s.
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Regional historian Wilmer Kerns believes that Smith, a native of New Jersey, began living as a squatter on Owen’s land sometime in the years following. Over time, the Thomases receded from historical view. Smith, however, attained regional historical prominence — as a frontiersman, a road builder, an Indian fighter, and a land developer.
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Smith may have made several trips to the Back Creek Valley, before he eventually settled there in the mid-1730s. In 1736, while living as a squatter on Owen Thomas’ 806 acres, he assisted a Col. James Wood in surveying land belonging to Isaac Thomas. In 1749, Thomas, 6th Lord Fairfax, made his initial land grants in the upper Back Creek Valley. At that time, Lord Fairfax split Owen Thomas’ original tract between Owen’s widow, Sarah, and Smith. Lord Fairfax had ordered new surveys of the lands of both Sarah Thomas and Isaac Thomas. Fairfax claimed that the old surveys were longer and narrower than was allowed under colonial Virginia law and took up too much of the bottom land along both Back Creek and Isaac’s Creek to the north, which flowed into Back Creek. Fairfax reclaimed what he said was excess acreage, and sold Sarah’s land (formerly Owen’s land) to Smith.
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Eventually, Jeremiah Smith’s land holdings grew to exceed 1,000 acres. He used squatters rights to claim 450 acres in 1750 when he and several neighbors petitioned Lord Fairfax to grant him property. In petitioning for the land, Smith and his neighbors claimed that Smith’s original tract was so “Hilley” and “Stoney” that most of it was untillable.
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In the years that followed, Smith received an additional 263 acres through land grants in 1754 and 1762. In 1742, the Orange County Court (Frederick County had not yet been created from Orange County) ordered Smith and another man to “view and lay” a road between a mill near modern-day Winchester, Virginia, and a prominent home near modern-day Capon Bridge, West Virginia. This road, in essence, became the forerunner of U.S. 50.
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Smith built a home for him and his family along the road. He strategically situated it on sloped land from which he could see any Indians that came down to Back Creek Valley — either from Great North Mountain to the east or Little Timber Ridge to the west. (The house still stands today as the front portion of an existing farmhouse; it is considered to be one of the oldest houses in Frederick County.)
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In 1756, about 50 Indian warriors, led by a French officer, crossed the Allegheny Mountains and began preying on the frontier settlers. Lord Fairfax called a meeting of local militia captains, but the meeting proved indecisive. Smith then decided himself to raise a company of 20 men, who marched under his command to intercept the Indians.
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Capt. Smith and his men eventually collided with the French and Indian forces near Lost River in what is now Hardy County, West Virginia. Fighting between the two sides was fierce. Tradition relates that Smith’s forces killed five of the French and Indian fighters, with Smith himself presumably slaying the French captain. As the story goes, the slain captain was found to be carrying detailed plans for attacking Fort Frederick in Maryland and blowing up its powder magazines.
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Above is from this link:
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http://www.bradleyrymph.com/genealogy_smith-jeremiah.pdf
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Note In the quote from above link about the slain French Captain?
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That battle is attributed to the militia run by Robert Pearis instead, who had a fort just out Winchester VA on present day Indian Hollow Road. The battle that killed and scalped Sieur D’ouville, the French officer who had plans found on him to destroy the depot of munitions and supplies at Fort Maidstone is documented here in this link:
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https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-02-02-0332-0001#GEWN-02-02-02-0332-0001-fn-0004
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The location of that battle is somewhere in the North Mills area:
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https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1trymtX5rGYDjQ_tYJUvv63wqc1M&ll=39.33973770000006%2C-78.50555450000002&z=18
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Lost River

Settled before 1750. Nearby was Riddle’s Fort, frontier outpost. Here Battle of Lost River was fought in 1756 between company of Virginia frontiersmen under Captain Jeremiah Smith and band of 50 French and Indians.
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http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMEGWA_Lost_River
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We don’t know if this is true. Robert Pearis was the person who led the militia to capture and scalp the French officer who was to attack the depot at Fort Maidstone. Fort Frederick was not yet finished in construction. This author attributes this killing of the French officer to Jeremiah Smith.
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https://books.google.com/books?id=hp4pMu_hyW0C&pg=PA140&lpg=PA140&dq=lost+river+jeremiah+smith&source=bl&ots=r0oirdSIs9&sig=ACfU3U2BC5jEFXQZTTN3c90f8JH0HGuwag&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi93aCD0sPgAhVlg-AKHWxCAcEQ6AEwCnoECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q=lost%20river%20jeremiah%20smith&f=false
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More on the Lost River Battle. Lost River becomes the Great Cacapon River. There’s a picture of the Lost River Battle in this link:
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https://books.google.com/books?id=4xdODgAAQBAJ&pg=PA92&lpg=PA92&dq=lost+river+jeremiah+smith&source=bl&ots=0x0obauhG5&sig=ACfU3U2ePpjxP19Aeo5MpT_5D9lyvs1uOg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi93aCD0sPgAhVlg-AKHWxCAcEQ6AEwC3oECAMQAQ#v=onepage&q=lost%20river%20jeremiah%20smith&f=false
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MORE ON CAPT JEREMIAH SMITH
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Broken link but will try to find where it moved …
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http://www.pennock.ws/surnames/nti/nti76954.html
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NOTES

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and must call at Captain Smiths,1 and bring down what Stores belonging to the Country, are at that place.

I would recommend it to the inhabitants if they come off, to bring their Cattle, &c. with them.