Rev. Malcolm C. Smith was born 4 July, 1754 in Chatham County, North Carolina. He was the son of Malcolm C. Smith I and wife Margaret Sarah Patterson/Peterson/McKissick.
Malcolm Sr came to America from Scotland and resided on the Cape Fear River in Cumberland County, North Carolina.
Malcolm II, was married twice. There has been some confusion about the identity of his wives. In this document I will be addressing his first wife only. Malcolm and his wife and their children resided in Chatham and Cumberland, North Carolina. Between 1816-1820, Malcolm moved his family to Smith County, Tennessee, where he died in 1827. He last appeared on the 1816 list of Taxables in Captain Patterson's District in Cumberland, North Carolina. He previously had a bunch of his land seized and sold by the sheriff. I am not sure if the land loss was the reason he chose to move to Tennessee or what the reasoning behind the move was
The first clue we have as to the identity of Malcolm`s first wife, appeared within his probate file.
He first refers to his then wife Sally, who was his second wife, and the mother of his youngest children. He then goes on to speak about his “oldest Sons and Daughters:Radisa Fieldings` Heirs;”
Thus his first wife's name was Radisa Fielding. At the time of this writing, I have 85 known matches to Descendants of Malcolm C. Smith II.
I have multiple matches to most of his children, by both wives Within those matches are multiple connections to descendants of the family of Charles Powell Sr (1720-1777) and Elizabeth Brewer (1732-1801). Charles Powell was born abt. 1720 in Brunswick County, Virginia. He owned land in Meherrin Parish in Brunswick County, Virginia. There are multiple deeds there between him and the Brewer family Chatham County, NC was established in 1771. Charles will was probated in Chatham County 4 Sep, 1775. Said will was witnessed by James and Howell Smith.
Charles and Elizabeth had several children. The main two I wish to focus on were Charles Powell Jr and Rhodisa Powell.
Malcolm Smith and wife Rhodisa Fielding married about 1795 based on the birth year of their oldest child. They likely married in Chatham County, North Carolina. No marriage record has been found. In 1800, Malcolm and Rhodisa were living in Chatham County, North Carolina. They were living next door to John Brewer. A little further down on that same census page appears Charles Powell JR and his family. On 5 Nov, 1804 in Chatham County, North Carolina There was a Deed between Malcolm Smith and Charles Powell Jr. Deed Book:M, pg 530, Filed in Feb 1805. Charles Powell is selling Malcolm 60 acres of land on the waters of Wilkerson's Creek , said land begins at Thomas Powell`s corner, running through his Plantation. Deed was witnessed by Jonathan Tripp and J. Burnett. On 7 April, 1809, Malcolm Smith mortgaged his land on the Little River in Cape Fear, Chatham County, North Carolina to John McNeill. Said Deed can be found in Deed book 26, page 524. Malcolm cannot be found on the 1810 Census and I believe this is the reason why; I believe that when Charles Powell Jr sold his land to Malcolm, Charles then moved to Smith County, Tennessee. I think that Malcolm likely followed him there when he mortgaged his land in 1809 to John McNeill. Malcolm and his family settled on the East Fork of Goose Creek, in Smith County, Tennessee. The 1810 Census records for Smith county were lost, so we won't find them there on the 1810 census. However, the absence of finding them elsewhere, lends credence to the possibility of them having already been in Tennessee. Malcolm was one of the founding Pastors of the then named Church of the East Fork of Goose Creek then in Smith County, Tennessee. Today the church is known as Hillsdale Baptist Church in Macon County, Tennessee. Smith county later became Macon County. Malcolm Smith served as the Pastor of the Church from 1824-1827 when he died. We find Malcolm on the 1820 Census for Smith County, Tennessee. Charles M. Powell can be found in Smith County, Tennessee on the 1820 Census. It seems as though this particular census year they chose to list families in Alphabetical Order as opposed to by neighbors. So we cannot know how close Malcolm and Charles may have resided to one another. It appears as though the Smith and the Powell families followed one another.
Conclusion
It is my firm belief that the first wife of Malcolm Smith II was none other than Rhodisa Powell the daughter of Charles Powell Sr and Elizabeth Brewer. My DNA results seem to concur with that assumption. I have multiple DNA matches across all of the major testing companies to the descendants of Charles Powell and Elizabeth Brewer as well as their Ancestors.
So why does Malcom refer to her as Rhodisa Fielding within his will? I can only assume one of two reasons, that absolutely fit and make sense. Charles Powell Sr died in 1777 at which time his daughter Rhodisa was just a mere 8 years old, providing we have her birth year correct. At any rate she was a minor child. There are court records dated 1 April, 1780 in Chatham County, North Carolina where Elizabeth Powell (Brewer) on behalf of the Orphans of Charles Powell, received from the State of North Carolina a sum of 50 Shillings for every 100 acres, 650 acres on Wilkinsons Creek, waters of the Haw River. Then on 11th May, 1784 in Chatham County, Elizabeth sold 40 acres of that same land to John Edwards: Elisabeth Powell TO John Edwards for 40 Acres on N Side of Haw River, Wilkinson's Creek. Witness: John Stephens and James Smith
Perhaps Rhodisa and some of the other minor children were taken in by the Fielding family and adopted as such? Considering the mother was left to support minor children in those days that is not entirely unheard of. The second possibility is that Rhodisa was previously married to a man with the surname Fielding. If her birth year is correct and the birth year of their oldest child is correct, we can assume they likely married at least 1 year prior to said child's birth. In that case we arrive at a possible date of marriage in the year 1795. Based on those figures, Rhodesia would have been about 26 years old. Certainly old enough to have been previously married to someone.
