SMITH, Robert Sr^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]}  

1595 - 1643  (48 years)  Submit Photo / Document

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• Name	SMITH, Robert
  Suffix	Sr
  Birth	Mar 1595	Kirton, Lincolnshire, England
  Christening	5 Mar 1595	Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, England   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Death	Oct 1643	Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, England
  Burial	20 Oct 1643	Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, England   [5]
  WAC	6 Mar 1936	SLAKE
  _TAG	Reviewed on FS
  Headstones	Submit Headstone Photo
  Person ID	I72245	Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith
  Last Modified	3 Jan 2022

  
  

  Father	SMYTHE, Edwarde ,   b. Abt 1570, Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, England Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, Englandd. Apr 1632, Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, England (Age 62 years)
  Mother	FLAYNE, Margaret ,   b. Jan 1573, Wood Enderby, Lincolnshire, England Wood Enderby, Lincolnshire, Englandd. Aug 1637 (Age 64 years)
  Marriage	20 Nov 1592	Wood Enderby, Lincolnshire, England
  Family ID	F34230	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	WATSON, Grace ,   b. Abt 1610, Boston, Lincolnshire, England Boston, Lincolnshire, Englandd. Feb 1625, Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, England (Age 15 years)  [7]
  Marriage	1 Jun 1624	Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, England
  Children	3 sons
  1. SMITH, Thomas ,   b. May 1624, Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, England Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, Englandd. 1625, Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, England (Age 0 years)   2. SMITH, William ,   b. Jan 1625, Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, England Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, Englandd. 30 Jan 1625, Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, England (Age 0 years) + 3. SMITH, Robert Jr.   ,   b. Jan 1625, Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, England Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, Englandd. 30 Aug 1693, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America (Age 68 years)
  Family ID	F32366	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	24 Jan 2022

  
  

  Family 2	GIBSON, Margareta   ,   b. 1602, Edenham, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom Edenham, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdomd. Abt May 1645, Sutterton, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom (Age 43 years)  [7]
  Marriage	14 Nov 1626	Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, England
  Children	5 sons and 4 daughters
  + 1. SMITH, Robert Jr.   ,   b. Jan 1625, Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, England Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, Englandd. 30 Aug 1693, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America (Age 68 years)  [Father: Birth]  [Mother: Birth]   2. SMITH, William ,   b. 30 Sep 1627, Kirton, Lincolnshire, England Kirton, Lincolnshire, Englandd. Abt 1692, Essex, Massachusetts, United States (Age 64 years)   3. SMITHE, Susan ,   c. 11 May 1628, Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, EnglandKirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, England d. Oct 1629 (Age ~ 1 years)   4. SMITHE, Katherine ,   b. 1629, Kirton, Lincolnshire, England Kirton, Lincolnshire, Englandd. Nov 1629, Kirton, Lincolnshire, England (Age 0 years)   5. SMITHE, John ,   b. 1631, Kirton, Lincolnshire, England Kirton, Lincolnshire, Englandd. DECEASED (Age ~ 7 years)   6. SMITH, Samuel ,   b. Feb 1632, Kirton, Lincolnshire, England Kirton, Lincolnshire, Englandd. Feb 1636, Kirton, Lincolnshire, England (Age 4 years)   7. SMITH, Thomas ,   b. Feb 1634, Kirton, Lincolnshire, England Kirton, Lincolnshire, Englandd. Nov 1635, Kirton, Lincolnshire, England (Age 1 year)   8. SMITH, Grace ,   b. Oct 1635, Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, England Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, Englandd. 12 Oct 1635, Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, England (Age 0 years)   9. SMITH, Susan ,   b. 30 Jul 1637, Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, England Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, Englandd. 27 Aug 1637, Kirton in Holland, Lincolnshire, England (Age 0 years)
  Family ID	F32367	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	24 Jan 2022

  
  

• Notes

  **CAUTION MANY DIFFERENT ROBERT SMITHS** **DATES AND LOCATIONS ARE IMPORTANT** Robert Smith Sr was born in Kirton in Holland Lincolnshire, England, (FamilySearch Person Page). His father Edward Smith (1570-1632) was also born in Kirton in Holland, and migrated to Wood Enderby, Lincolnshire where he married Margaret Flayne in 1592, (Wood Enderby parish record, Marriages 1592). After a time, they returned to Kirton in Holland where their son Robert Smith was born and baptized 5 March 1595 (Kirton in Holland parish record Baptisms 1595). They remained in Kirton in Holland until their passing. The records show that Robert Smith (1595–1643) was a householder and spent his life as a resident of Kirton in Holland parish despite various epidemics from 1600–1625 that caused many families to relocate (Kirton in Holland parish record, Burials, 1643; Fea,2020; Wood, 2020). On 1 June 1624, Robert married Miss Grace Watson (Kirton in Holland parish record, Marriages, 1624). Grace Watson was born to parents Andrew and Ann Butcher Watson and was baptized in 1610 in the port city of Boston, Lincolnshire (Boston Botolph parish record, Baptisms, 1610). Before her marriage to Robert, Grace Watson and her family attended services at the Boston Botolph parish. John Whittingham, who played a significant role in the Smiths’ later migrations, was baptized in 1616 (Boston Botolph parish record, Baptisms) and participated in the services of the same parish as Grace. Robert and Grace’s first son Thomas (patronym for Robert’s grandfather) was baptized in May 1624, in Kirton in Holland and was buried about 19 months later in November of 1625 (Kirton in Holland parish record, Baptisms, 1624; Burials, 1625). Their second son William (patronym for his great uncle William who settled in Haydor) was baptized 30 January 1625, and was buried the “same day” as noted by Vicar John Vues (Kirton in Holland parish record, Baptisms, 1625; Burials 1625). Both sons possibly died from the 1625 plague and were buried in the Kirton in Holland parish (Wood, P. H. “Infection unperceiv’d, in many a place”: The London plague of 1625, viewed from Plymouth Rock. We’re History.Wood, 2020). William may have died due to complications during his delivery. Their third son Robert (named for his father) had to have been born as a surviving twin to William for his birthdate to fit with William’s baptism and death. Pregnancy and delivery, or perhaps due to the epidemic of 1625 that may have taken her other sons (Kirton in Holland parish record, Burials, 1625/6). This left Robert Sr. with an infant son who needed to be baptized and cared for in the wake of grieving and sudden single parenthood. Two months after his mother’s death, Robert Jr. was baptized in Kirton in Holland parish on 30 April 1626 (Kirton in Holland parish record, Baptisms, 1625/6). Nine months later, Robert met and married Margareta Gibson 14 November 1626 in Kirton in Holland (Kirton in Holland Parish Records Marriages). (Also see Margareta’s Life Sketch). They along with along with infant Robert Smith Jr., began their new life together and remained in Kirton in Holland after Margaret and Robert’s marriage. Robert and Margaret had eight children together: 1) William (patronym for Margaret’s father and possibly in honor of Robert and Grace’s deceased son, 1627–1709), 2) Susan (1628–1629), 3) Katherine (1629–1629), 4) John (1631–1638), 5) Samuel (1633–1636), 6) Thomas (1634-1635), 7) Grace (patronym for Robert Sr.’s first wife, unbaptized–1635), and 8) Susan (1637–1637) (Kirton in Holland parish record, Baptisms, 1627, 1628, 1629, 1631, 1633, 1634, 1635, 1637; Burials, 1629, 1629, 1638, 1636, 1635, 1637; see Robert Sr’s Person Page). At this point it must be mentioned that the only children of Robert Smith Sr. to survive to adulthood were Robert Jr. and William, who both emigrated to America with John Whittingham in 1638—and consequently took all of Robert Smith Sr.’s Y chromosomes with them to Northeastern Colonial America. This provides a reason for why there is no apparent DNA evidence of this Smith family existing now in Lincolnshire, England, as noted by Ugo Perego (De Groote, 2008, para. 20). The most likely reason for the death of Robert and Margaret’s children was a lack of food caused by multiple well-documented deficient harvests from 1629–1637 (Hoskins, 1968, p. 16). Robert Smith Sr., as a householder and smallholder who might also have had to work on the land of larger landowners to maintain himself, was impacted by deficit harvests and these would have directly affected Robert’s ability to provide for his children. Also spreading through England in the Early Modern period of the 16th to the 18th centuries was the Golden Age of English Literature (Mastin, 2011). The Lord guided Robert Sr. to the places “according to [His] will and timing” (Bednar, 2011, para. 11) and blessed and prepared his sons Robert Jr. and William by staying in Kirton in Holland. A “grammar school. . . . originally a free school, [was] founded [there] in 1624 by Sir Thomas Middlecott” for “the benefit of children of the parishes of Kirton” and others nearby. The curriculum included “Latin and Greek languages and provid[ed] English commercial and agricultural education to children.” As children, Robert Smith Jr. and William Smith would have learned “principles of the Christian religion, Latin and French, mathematics, algebra, land surveying, with the several branches of a thorough English education” (Staunton, 1869, p. 484). What a convenient and timely way for Robert Sr. and his wife Margaret to educate and prepare their sons to be successful patriarchal emigrants. Robert passed away in Kirton in Holland in 20 October 1643.

  
  

• Sources

  [S1099] Lincolnshire Baptisms for Robert Smith, Sr in www.findmypast.com. [S1101] Lincolnshire Marriages. [S1102] Robert Smith, Sr and Margaret Gibson [Gilpin] marriage in www.findmypast.com, the original copy. [S1103] Grace Smith, spouse of Robert buried 21 February 1626. [S1100] Robert Smyth, Sr. burial in the www.findmypast.com, the original copy. [S1104] Thomas Smith death and burial from www.findmypast.com. [S1000] Kristen Cannon, Robert Smith Ancestry by Kristen Cannon 3 Jan 2022.