Individual Details

It was on the outskirts of what is now Brookhaven that the man with a deformed hand came from North Carolina to farm. He brought his family here and spent a life-time being recognized as a man with only one hand. Actually, he had a hand, the fingers had just not developed. But he was known as 'One Hand' and when he died his partial hand was pictured on his tombstone and on his wife's marker, under her name, it was noted that she was the wife of William 'One Hand' Smith. One Hand Smith's house was built of split logs and there were gun ports in the upper deck. A cellar was underneath. It stood until a few years ago when destroyed by fire. All around the house, at strategic points not far away, there were rifle pits. The family cemetery, near where their home stood, today sits almost on the brink of a 60 foot deep cavern that was created when 375 acres was dug up to supply gravel for building projects all over America. Called the world's largest gravel pit for more than a decade, it was here that the Illinois Central Railroad had the tiny rocks dug up. Most of the entire 375 acres was excavated, a few ridges being left in areas where an iron deposit made it unfeasible to excavate the gravel. The depression halted the mining (1929-1940's) and the pit was closed. International Paper Company owns the land and has leased it to the Lincoln Sportsman Club which keeps it stocked with deer and turkeys. While the place was the largest gravel pit in the world, it later lost title to the Russians who are reported to have an even larger plot from which rock is being taken. The tombstone of William 'One Hand' Smith has been almost totally destroyed and the portion with the imprint of his hand is missing. His wife's stone shows that she was born in Moore County, North Carolina, April 16, 1777 and died in Lawrence County, Mississippi, July 26, 1853. The dates of William 'One Hand' are missing from the mulitated marker. Nearby are other tombstones of Smith's family and a number of people in a Crawford family. William M. Smith, supposedly a son of 'One Hand' was born in 1821 and died in 1861. Missouri Smith born 1847 and died 1901 and Everett Smith born 1849 died 1897. Several of the children's stones indicate that they died within a very short period, supposedly from Scarlet fever. ~ Brookhaven newspaper 1978.

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Birth	30 Apr 1775	Cumberland County, NC
Marriage	Abt 1798	Franklin County, GA - Amanda JETT
Death	14 Apr 1866	Lawrence County, MS
Burial		Smith Family Cemetery, Lincoln County, MS

Spouse	Amanda JETT (1777 - 1853)
Child	Isaac Denman SMITH (1799 - 1858)
Child	Everett SMITH (1801 - )
Child	Mariah SMITH (1802 - )
Child	Martin SMITH ( - 1857)
Child	Stephen Jett SMITH (1808 - )
Child	James SMITH (1810 - )
Child	Emily SMITH (1813 - )
Child	Hamilton SMITH (1816 - 1878)
Child	Eliza SMITH (1818 - )
Child	William M. SMITH (1821 - 1861)

Father	Everett SMITH (1751 - 1822)
Mother	Elizabeth FURR (1758 - 1827)
Sibling	Isaac SMITH (1776 - 1833)
Sibling	Nathan SMITH (1777 - 1843)
Sibling	Levi SMITH (1779 - )
Sibling	Everett SMITH Jr (1780 - )
Sibling	Eli SMITH (1787 - 1872)