This photo is of Andrew Johnson Smith’s parents, Marcus Lafayette Smith and Elizabeth Henley Nelson.There were three Smith family members baptized in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Blount County from 1893 to 1918.
Timeline of Baptisms
30 Nov 1893: Andrew Smith
1st-Generation
13 Sep 1918: James Smith
2nd-Generation
9 May 1922: Nancy Smith
1st-Generation
Andrew Johnson Smith (1862-1923)
30 November 1893: Andrew Johnson Smith was baptized and confirmed by Robert Cunningham Young
Elder Robert Cunningham Young (1863-1904)
Robert Cunningham Young served in the Southern States Mission from 1892 to 1894. He was baptized, at age 27, two years before his mission. In his mission acceptance letter to Wilford Woodruff, he wrote: “I received your letter… asking my feelings in regard to taking a mission to the Southern States. I will say that I will do the best I can and will be ready…” He was called to serve shortly after his wife passed away and he had to leave his infant son in the care of friends and family while serving. He entered East Tennessee during a period of local opposition against the Saints. He challenged the Church’s antagonists, even in the printed press of the Maryville Times, bringing light to darkness with the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He returned home early from his mission due to illness, which lasted periodically until his death. He remarried in the Salt Lake Temple after he returned home. They had four children together. He became a school teacher, but taught only a few years before he died in 1904. His transcribed mission journal provides valuable insight into the efforts of the first Smoky Mountain Saints and their missionaries in East Tennessee, from 29 August 1892 to 14 January 1894, as the Church first began to grow. Elder Young baptized Sarah Margaret Cauble, Jordan Henry Harrison Hicks, Andrew Johnson Smith, Louvenia Hicks, Alexander Harrison Garland, Joseph John Calvin (JC) Garland, and Lona Mae Garland, and confirmed the first three named as well as William Edward Silver Garland and Louella Garland as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Andrew Johnson Smith is mentioned numerous times in the journals of Robert Young, William Lehi Hayes, James Willard Hubbard, and Isaac Samuel Smith, from 1893 to 1897. He was born in Strawberry Plain and moved to Millers Cove, where was first introduced to the Gospel of Jesus Christ by JC Garland, in 1893. As the first member of his family to become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, he ultimately had an influence on at least 12 family members in the first two generations who joined the Church, beginning in 1909. There are many generations of members of the Church today because of Andrew Smith. Elder Robert Young documented his meetings with him and his baptism in the following journal entries:
Tuesday – 15 [August 1893] …Went back to James Walker’s and had dinner, then crossed the river to Joe [John Calvin (JC)] Garland‘s. Talked some on the Bible with Andy [Johnson] Smith. 5 [miles]
Wednesday – 29 [November 1893] Spent the day and night with Mr. [Joseph John Calvin (JC)] Garland. Helped him pull and pit some turnips. Talked some to Joe [John Calvin (JC)] Garland and Andy [Johnson] Smith on the gospel. 0 [miles]
Thursday – 30 [November 1893] Went over to Abram’s Creek and dedicated a spot to baptize some converts. I baptized Alexander [Harrison] Garland, son of Steven [Joseph] Garland and Betsey [Elizabeth] McKeeney. Also [Joseph] John Calvin [JC] Garland (better known as Joe), son of Alexander [Harrison] Garland and Eliza [Jane] Nelson. Sarah Margaret [Cauble] Garland, daughter of Peter Vargary [Vardry] Cauble and Mary Ann Mosteller, and also Andrew Johnson Smith, son of Marquis Lafayette Smith and Eliza[beth Henly] Nelson. I confirmed the last named, [Andrew Johnson Smith] and Sarah Margaret [Cauble Garland], and Elder [William] Ricks confirmed the other two, [Alexander Harrison Garland and Joseph John Calvin (JC) Garland]. We held meeting at Joe’s [John Calvin (JC) Garland] [William] Charley Garland said he would want to be baptized after a while. 3 [miles]. Total number of miles 3,106, tracts for month 235, houses visited 343, ent[ertainments] ref[used] 18, meetings held 2
Sunday – 7 [January 1894] Spent the day in popping corn and eating and also reading. Bro[ther Joseph John Calvin (JC)] Garland spent the night with Andy [Johnson] Smith and got back about 1 PM. We interrogated Bro[ther Joseph John Calvin (JC)] Garland on the Bible, the necessity of baptism. He is striving diligently to learn. 0 [miles]
The Smith Family – including Andrew Smith’s father, Marcus Lafayette Smith, and brother, George Marshall Smith – would become friends of the missionaries over the years. Elder William Hayes documented this, beginning in late-1894 and early-1895, in the following journal entries:
[Saturday] – 8 December [1894] Raining like fury. So we are slow at morning. About noon we come over to a friend by the name of Marcus [Lafayette] Smith(father of Bro[ther] Andy [Johnson] Smith), where we spent the remainder of the day and at night had singing.
[Saturday] – 2 March [1895] Snowing. Worked up the river and about 11 AM came across George [Marshall] Smith with whom we went home to [that of] his father Marcus [Lafayette] Smith and Andy [Johnson Smith], our “brother.”
The Smith family moved to the outskirts of Knoxville sometime before 1897. In 1896, Elder James Hubbard departed a mission conference in North Carolina with a group of missionaries in August of 1896. They walked with their “grips” over the Smoky Mountains and into Millers Cove, where they attended the baptism of Sister Mary Jane Harmon (Davis), on August 23, 1896. Following the baptism, they went to Knoxville and then held a meeting at Andrew Johnson Smith’s home. Elder Hubbard documented this in the following entries:
Thursday – 27 [August 1896] M[iles] w[alked] 10. We went to Knoxv[ille] where I got mail from home. All were well after finishing our business. Elder [Adams Wesley] Ensign and I took our leave of the other boys and started out eastward. We were lucky to strike the river and get across without trouble. We got in with William Fisher just [at] dark.
Friday – 28 [August 1896] M[iles] w[alked] 5. We continued on to Andy [Johnson] Smith‘s, where we held [a] meeting in the afternoon.
Saturday – 29 [August 1896] M[iles] w[alked] 17. We passed on up through Strawberry Plains, on to Mossy Cr[eek], through some of the best country in East Tenn[essee]. We had a hard time but got in about 9 o’clock at Samuel James’. He was very kind.
In 1897, Elder Isaac Smith, upon first arriving to Wooddale en route to Northern Tennessee for his assigned field, met Marcus Lafayette Smith, Andrew Smith’s father. He noted their meeting and being hosted for the evening in the following journal entry:
Friday – 24 September 1897 Today we reached Wooddale. Called at a Mrs. Cannon’s who kindly asked us in to dinner. From there we went to the schoolhouse and gave out an appointment for [a] meeting that night and towards evening walked to Marcus [Lafayette] Smith‘s for supper and to see about entertainment for the night, which was granted. After supper we went to the schoolhouse to fill our appointment and found a small crowd. We held a meeting just the same and appointed one for the next morning at 10:30. We then wended our way back to the Smiths.
Elder Isaac Smith arrived in Knoxville and came across JC Garland and Andrew Smith at a carnival. He noted that the missionaries spent their first night at Andrew Smith’s home, in October, and again, in November, in the following journal entries:
Monday – 11 October 1897 We walked fast this morning because Buffallo Bill’s shows were coming in and we wanted to see the parade, but we got there too late and, as we had no money, we couldn’t go to the show either. We went to the express office but found no clothing for us. About dark, Bro[ther Joseph John Calvin (JC)] Garland from Blount Co. with some of his family and neighbors came to see the carnival and happened in on us, “quite a happy surprise,” and, after chatting a while, we held a meeting with them. This was at Andy [Johnson] Smith‘s, where I spent my first night in Knox Co. The next two days, October 12 and 13, we spent the mass of our time on the streets watching the processions. They were very good but couldn’t compare with those at the carnival in Salt Lake City in ’96. We spent those two nights at Mrs. Dockery’s.
Friday – 12 November 1897 At 5 o’clock this morning we were hitting the high places toward Knoxville, reached there about 10. We stopped at Andy [Johnson] Smith‘s for my things and he asked us to stay for dinner, which, of course, we did. While there, this man “Lutteral” and another man came in and, at seeing me, pretended that he didn’t wish to stay and said he had very important business up town and would have to do. But Andy [Johnson Smith] persuaded him to come in and have some dinner. While Mrs. [Margret Nichodemous] Smith was getting dinner, he and his companion were left in the same room with Elder [Frederick Gilbert] W[arnick] and I. He never said a word to us (“a guilty conscience needs no excuses”). After dinner we went to the express office and from there down to Mrs. Dockery’s where we took a bath, etc. About 6 o’clock, who should come in but Elder [Erastus Kruso] Fillerup, who had just been released and was on his way to Mexico to teach school. We had a glorious time. Mrs. Dockery sent out for some ice cream (quite a treat). His train left at 8 o’clock so our visit was short, but very enjoyable. Elder [Frederick Gilbert] W[arnick] and I accompanied him to the depot. While there I let him have the $1 bill I had received the day before to go and buy some fruit with (grapes and oranges). This didn’t last long as I had been longing for fruit all day (they were not less ravenous) and didn’t dare spend my money, it being against counsel.
At least four of Andrew Smith’s sibling became baptized members of the Church. There are partial records of other family members – they are not included below. Of Andrew Smith’s siblings, many of his nieces and nephews were baptized as well as their husbands and wives. A number of them immigrated to Utah, where there are generations of members of the Church today. These are the first two generations of members who became members of the Church of Jesus Christ in Blount and Knox counties and their family relationship to Andrew Smith:
- 1909: David Hamilton Smith, brother
- 1909: Clara Edith Smith, niece
- 1909: Walter Alexander Smith, nephew
- 1911: Ruth Mabel Smith, niece
- 1911: William Wallace Smith, nephew
- 1911: George Marshall Smith, brother
- 1916: Roy George Smith, nephew
- 1916: Martha Elizabeth Smith, niece
- 1918: James Smith, nephew
- 1916: Elizabeth Jane Smith, sister
- 1916: James Arthur Ivie, nephew
- 1922: Nancy Mariah Smith, sister
Baptisms of James Smith and an Unidentified Member
In 1918, Elder Joseph Franklin Jensen was assigned to another county in East Tennessee when he visited Blount County for only a few days. It is likely he was requested to visit Maryville to perform two baptisms, as documented in his journal entries below. He baptized an unidentified member and James Oliver Smith, based on the coinciding date of his baptismal record and the date of the journal entry.
[Monday-Friday] – 9-13 September 1918 We left on the morning of the 9th of September, 1918 for Knoxville. Stopped at Newport and registered and reached Knoxville at 8 AM. After two days of city life we left for Blount County on the 11th, arriving in Marysville (sic) in the evening. We stayed the next day, visiting with Saints and friends. While here, I baptized two people, one was a lady weighing about 250 pounds and then the other was a small boy, [James Oliver Smith], about 14 years old (sic). It was necessary to dam a small stream of water, making a small pond, which we did by placing three ties in the stream and then piled sand and dirt against them, I baptized the boy first and when the water cleared I baptized the lady. We had hardly finished when away went the sand and mud and it was good-bye to the little pond.
Andrew Smith was introduced to the gospel by JC Garland and likely became a regular host of the missionaries in Knoxville, based on the missionary journals. The timeline of his family members’ baptisms indicates he was an active participant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Though a baptismal records does not exist for his father, Marcus Lafayette Smith, he was a good friend to the elders and had a positive impact on the growth of the Church in Blount and Knox counties. It is notable that George Marshall Smith is first introduced in the journal of William Lehi Hayes in an 1895 journal entry. He did not join the Church until 1911.
Andrew Smith died on June 21, 1923, at the age of 60. He is buried in Pleasant Hill Methodist Church Cemetery in Knoxville. Although Andrew’s wife, Margret Nichodemous, is mentioned in the journals and was likely a good friend of the missionaries, it is unknown if she joined the Church. They had two children who died shortly after they were born. Margret died some time after 1923. It is unknown when she died or where she was buried.
| 1st Generation Members: |
| Andrew Johnson Smith |
| 2nd Generation Members: |
| James Oliver Smith |
| Nancy Mariah Smith |
Smoky Mountain Ward 