2010 OKC Smith Clan Reunion

You are invited----------

TO WHAT? The 2010 OKC Smith Clan Reunion!

WHERE? Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, at the HomeTown Buffet located at 3900 NW 63rd Street, OKC. [See directions below]

WHEN? August 13-August 15, 2010

WHY? This reunion is dedicated to the memory of our most common ancestors:
William Franklin Smith and his only full brother, John Alvin Smith. Without Frank and John none of us would be here today.

GUEST LIST? All descendants of Tom Smith, Ernest Smith, Rosie Crain, Julia Barton, Dovie Reynolds, and Addie Auwen plus their friends and families are invited to attend.

AGENDA?

Friday, August 13---6 pm---Supper in open dining area at HomeTown Buffet. [Attendance optional]

Saturday, August 14---11 am---Lunch in private dining room at HomeTown Buffet. [Main Event! ]

Saturday, August 14---3 pm---form caravan for drive to Noble OK for pilgrimage to homesteads and grave sites. Meet up at Frank Auwen’s home located at 107 North Fifth Street in Noble. Cousin Frank Auwen will direct us to sites. [See directions below]

Saturday, August 14---8 pm---Supper in open dining area at HomeTown Buffet. [Attendance optional]

Sunday, August 15---11 am---Lunch in private dining room at HomeTown Buffet [Main Event]

Sunday, August 15---7 pm---Supper in open dining area at HomeTown Buffet . [Attendance optional]

NOBLE PILGRIMAGE? On Saturday, August 15, after lunch---about 3 pm---we will caravan to Noble OK to visit John and Frank’s old homestead sites as well as the cemeteries where numerous ancestors are buried. [Attendance optional]

LODGING? The best lodging—for cost and location—found so far is at OKC Airport Motel 6.

FOOD? All scheduled meals are “Dutch Treat” at the HomeTown Buffet. For the Main Events we will have a private room at lunch on both Saturday and Sunday. Optional meals---everyone is welcome to join the Smith Group in the open dining area at HomeTown Buffet for supper on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday—or you can eat elsewhere. Your choice.

WEATHER FORECAST? HOT!!! Wear cool, comfortable clothing and stay in air conditioned buildings or at least under a shade tree!

CLOTHING? Dress cool. Clothing should be cool, casual, and comfortable. Blue jeans, slacks, shorts, Tee-shirts, polo shirts, sports shirts, etc. No need for fancy or formal clothing.

QUESTIONS? Information will be posted on http://viewoftherockes.blogspot.com/ If you have questions, contact your personal Mini Host or Email the Reunion Coordinator at mrsimms@peoplepc.com or phone 803-996-3567. We would love to hear from you!

PLEASE RSVP to your personal Mini Host so we can roll out the red carpet and welcome you with open arms!

YOU ALL COME---YOU HEAR

DIRECTIONS FROM WILL ROGERS AIRPORT TO HOMETOWN BUFFET---

Take Meridian Avenue north from Will Rogers Airport. Turn Right on NW 63rd Street. Go short distance on NW 63rd Street. HomeTown Buffet will be on your left.

DIRECTIONS FROM HOMETOWN BUFFET TO NOBLE PILGRIMAGE SITE, 107 N. 5th Street, Noble, OK ---

Leave HomeTown Buffet and head EAST on NW 63rd Street to Interstate 235.

Go SOUTH on I-235.

Blend onto US 77 S.

Continue on US 77 S exit Noble.

Turn left on E Ash Street.

Turn Right onto N 5th Street.

107 N 5th Street is on the left—[Frank & Adele Auwen’s home]

Alvin Smith of Cork Ireland

We have a relative who has gone missing. Yes, the trail is rather cold at this point but I still have hopes of finding traces of his life, and perhaps his burial place. Alvin Smith came to America from Cork, Ireland, probably in the early 1800s. Supposedly he took a Cherokee woman as his wife and they had a son, Julian Alvin Smith, born in Missouri in 1827. Next we find the son, Julian Alvin Smith, in Oklahoma Territory, married to Julia Addeline McConnell and the father of a son, William Franklin Smith, born November 15, 1865. Another son was born to this couple, John Alvin Smith, January 17, 1868, just three weeks before his father's death. From 1827 to 1865 I have no records showing where Alvin Smith or his son Julian Alvin Smith lived, worked, married, etc. Julian Alvin Smith died February 7, 1868, age 41, in a border clash between Indians and settlers, leaving a young wife and two small sons. But did he have another family before his marriage to Julia? And what became of his father and Indian mother? Did they have other children? What a mystery.

As for why Alvin Smith came to the U.S., there is a good website about Irish Immigration that explains it better than I can. I don't know how much time passed from when he arrived on the eastern seaboard until he fathered a son in Missouri in 1827 - maybe just a year, but I'm guessing it took five. That would have him setting sail from Cork about 1822. I'm assuming he was single since he married a Cherokee woman in the U.S. but did he travel here alone? Family legend says he and his wife and young son continued west out of Missouri to Indian country, later known as the Oklahoma Territory. My challenge is to find evidence of this in public records.

By the way, this young son I speak of, Julian Alvin Smith, is my husbands great-great grandpa. Of course this makes Alvin Smith of Cork, Ireland his gr-gr-gr-grandpa.