Archelaus Smith

1734 - 1821  (86 years)

• Name	Archelaus Smith  [1]
  Birth	23 Apr 1734	Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts   [2, 3]
  Baptism	23 Apr 1734	Congregational Church, Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts   [3, 4, 5]
  Gender	Male
  Alternate death	3 Apr 1821	Cape Sable Island, Shelburne, Nova Scotia   [3]
  Death	3 Apr 1821	Barrington, Shelburne, Nova Scotia   [2, 6, 7]
  Person ID	I20146	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others
  Last Modified	3 Sep 2019

  
  

  Father	Deacon Stephen Smith,   b. Abt 1706, Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts d. 13 Jan 1766, Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts (Age ~ 60 years)
  Mother	Bathsheba Brown,   b. Abt 1710, Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts d. 16 Jan 1766, Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts (Age ~ 56 years)
  Marriage	9 Apr 1729	Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts   [5, 8]
  Family ID	F12115	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Elizabeth Nickerson,   b. 15 May 1735, Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts d. 24 Apr 1824, Cape Sable Island, Shelburne, Nova Scotia (Age 88 years)
  Marriage	16 Jul 1752	Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts   [2, 3]
  Notes	Officiated by the Rev. Stephen Emery.
  Children	1. Susanna Smith,   b. 1753, Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts d. 24 Apr 1827 (Age 74 years)   2. Eunice Smith,   b. 12 Mar 1760, Chatham, Barnstable, Massachusetts   3. James Smith,   b. 6 Oct 1762, Barrington, Shelburne, Nova Scotia d. 28 May 1842, Nova Scotia (Age 79 years)
  Family ID	F12106	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	22 Dec 2018

  
  

• Notes

  From Wikipedia: Archelaus Smith was a tanner, shoemaker and early settler of Barrington, Nova Scotia. [...] In the spring of 1760 Smith began planning to move his family from their home in Chatham to a new home in Barrington, Nova Scotia. He was to be one of the earliest settlers in the area, along with Solomon Smith, Jonathan Smith, and Thomas Crowell. He spent the summer of 1760 fishing, and during that time, determined native hostility in the Barrington area was too threatening, and so he changed his mind about moving. However, his wife Elizabeth was unaware of his change of heart, and took it upon herself to travel to Barrington with her family before her husband returned to Chatham. It is possible that they crossed paths, but certainly he was delayed in returning to Barrington. When he finally got there, he found his family being cared for by friendly natives, the same people he had feared. Smith was one of the original proprietors in the area, settling at Barrington Head in the fall of 1760. In fact, the first three houses at Centreville were called "the Housen", and belonged to Archelaus Smith, Simeon Gardner, and Jonathan Covell. "Housen" was Anglo-Saxon for houses. Smith's home was nearly opposite the old meeting house. In 1773 he moved to Cape Sable Island, where he and his family occupied almost all the land from Northeast Point to West Head (a distance of five miles). He also held a tract of land at Lower Clark's Harbour, Cape Sable Island (known then as Stumpy Cove), a large part of Hawk Point, and a great meadow in the centre of the island. He took over land that had been forfeited and abandoned by Joseph Worth, and built a home near the shore, a little north of where the Centreville Baptist Church would later stand. Around 1776 he moved to a house near the shore on Cape Sable Island, near the spot where just before 1981 Job Kenney would build the house that stands today. It is a short distance from the Centreville Baptist Church. Smith had a fair education, and was highly respected by other settlers. He was known as a "good, quiet, easy, patient man", and was chosen over several years to be clerk of the proprietors, as well as a community magistrate and a surveyor. By trade he was a tanner and a shoemaker, using lime made from mussel shells to cure leather. He was very religious, belonging to the Presbyterian church, and no food was cooked in his house on Sundays. Before a minister came to the island he conducted prayers for the community, and when necessary, buried the dead. Smith died 3 April 1821 in Centreville, Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia. He is probably buried in the Centreville Cemetery, but his grave is unmarked, so in 1998 a stone in honour of Smith and his wife was erected there. In addition, a museum on Cape Sable Island has been established in his memory, containing historical artifacts, photos, and genealogical data of area families (largely compiled by Margaret Messenger).

  
  

• Sources

  [S3449] New Englanders in Nova Scotia, manuscript and collection of articles and research material, including articles written by Fred E. Crowell in the 1920s and 30s for the Yarmouth Herald, and also Crowell's research notes. R. Stanton Avery Special Collections, New England Historic Genealogical Society. Searchable at americanancestors.org. [S20] Ted C. D'Eon, "Descendants of Stephen Hopkins - 14 Generations.". [S2654] The Nickerson Family: The Descendants of William Nickerson, 1604-1689, First Settler of Chatham, Massachusetts, Parts I, II & III: The First Six Generations with Vital Statistics of the Seventh Generation, The Combined 2nd Edition With Corrections by Pauline Wixon Derrick with Gertrude James and Barbara E. Goward. Cape Cod, Massachusetts: The Nickerson Family Association, 1997. [S2580] William C. Smith, "Smiths of Chatham, Mass." The New England Historical and Genealogical Register 64:187, 1910. [S635] Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Volume 6, Third Edition, Family — Stephen Hopkins by John D. Austin. Plymouth, Massachusetts: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2001. [S2572] A History of Barrington Township and Vicinity, Shelburne County, Nova Scotia 1604-1870, with a Biographical and Genealogical Appendix by Edwin Crowell. Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, 1923., year only. [S635] Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Volume 6, Third Edition, Family — Stephen Hopkins by John D. Austin. Plymouth, Massachusetts: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2001., place only. [S2610] A History of Chatham, Massachusetts, Formerly the Constablewick or Village of Monomoit, Part II, by William C. Smith. Hyannis, Massachusetts: F.B. & F.P. Goss, 1913., date only.