Background

John Smith's family originally came from Dumbarton Scotland, via a period of time in Boston, then to Nova Scotia. Thankfully in 1884, a Smith family member produced a genealogical chart on the family . John was born in Boston on 20 Aug 1775; he had another brother who did not survive birth.  John's father was Duncan Smith and his mother was Margaret.

According to the Ward Chipman Papers MG 23 D 1, Series 1, Volume 24 ¹, the Smith family arrived in Nova Scotia during 1776. According to the Smith family records, the family first went to Halifax where Duncan applied his blacksmith trade.

In 1784 the Smith family is part of five family memorial (grant request) for land, then are approved and included in a 31,500 acre general grant at Chester, this is when they arrive in the area. As part of Duncan's grant, he was permitted to draw for an Oak Island lot. The Island Shares document covering the post Loyalists period and dating to 1784 indicates Duncan to own lot 24 . Duncan sold this lot to Ambrose Allen on 24 Feb 1785 for 10 pounds Halifax money. 

Duncan dies at some point between the sale of this property and 1788. His passing is not recorded in the Chester records, nor is it recorded at the Lunenburg County level, no grave marker exists, no Will, and even the family records do not give an exact date. I can only conclude that he did not die in the Chester area. We know from the family papers that Duncan received threats while living in Halifax, perhaps this was the location for his demise? 

John Smith's mother Margaret was not long in seeking a new husband. She and Neil McMullen were legal published at some point between 27 Apr 1788 and 26 Oct 1788 ². The Smith family papers tell us that after Neil and Margaret were married, they moved to Oak Island. Neil purchased lot 11 on 6 Oct 1789 from Daniel Vaughn , then lots 9 and 10 on 17 Jun 1793 from Martin Marshall . Considering John was only 13 years of age when his mother married, it stands to reason that he too moved to Oak Island.

The 1791 Poll Tax returns for Chester records Neil McMullen as a farmer on Oak Island. Unfortunately the Poll Tax was not a census and was not required to list family members; however, it is a likely conclusion for Oak Island to also be the family’s residence and no other mainland lots are in Neil's name. The family records, deeds, and poll tax, when all combined indicate the family was living on lot 11.

On 26 Jun 1795, John Smith of Chester, Yeoman ³ purchased lot 18 from Casper Wollenhaupt  for seven pounds ten shillings currency. The deed itself, or rather the deed registration process, falls outside of the established process for Chester township properties. This deed appears to be the only deed from Chester Township which was not processed through the Chester's Justice of the Peace. Chester's J.P was required to maintain the proprietor papers and island shares document, thus all deeds would pass through him for recording. He would then forward an administrative note to Lunenburg to have the deed filed in the county book of deeds. John Smith's deed totally circumvents this process.

The Smith family papers say John and Anne Floyd married on 2 May 1799.  Their first child, Neal McMullen Smith, was born on 11 Nov 1800. John and Anne would go on to have eleven more children, with the last being Elizabeth born in 1829. The family papers record all of these children being born on Oak Island with seven also dying on Oak Island. 


There is not much additional information at this time, except for a letter dated 1854 from John Smith Jr.  in which he speaks of the diggers, and a letter from Mr. George Cooke of the Oak Island Association dated 27 Jan 1864 . In this letter Mr. Cooke tells of the inscribed stone and John Smith's second house where he placed the stone in his fireplace.   

Analysis

The facts tell of a much different story to John Smith and illuminates a much different history of the island than was supposedly passed by Anthony Vaughan Jr. to Robert Creelman in 1849, from that information the legend took form. While points of discovery may have elements of truth, it clearly could not have occurred in 1795 as the way it was supposedly described. One must wonder what, if any, participation Smith may had in discovery. Considering the testimony of Judge DesBrisay, this would exclude Smith and Anthony Vaughan Jr. from discovery; however, they are the folks who are alive in 1849 with Ball dying in 1846 and McGinnis in 1826.

First residing on lot 11, then after Neil McMullen purchased lots 9 and 10 from Martin Marshall, Neil would now  own two houses on Oak Island. Did John Smith take residence in Martin Marshall's previous dwelling? Either way, John was residing on either lot 9, 10, or 11 until he built his second house in about 1810 on lot 18. This can be important as we know from a few descriptions of discovery that smaller carved rocks were found shallow in the pit.  As with the inscribed stone, these smaller stones were most likely taken away, but to where? McGinnis's and Ball's foundations are clear of any such small carved beach stones, but until now, we didn't know the aforementioned information of John Smith; thus those stones might be located in or around an old foundation on lot 9, 10, or 11.

Additional

A note for all those R.V. Harris readers, he identified the wrong John Smith as there were two John Smiths in Chester with the other marrying Sarah Floyd, thus R.V. also got the wrong marriage date.

An additional note is for Mary Smith to have lived in the house of Judge DesBrisay while he was a boy. He claims to have visited Oak Island as a boy and obviously gained his knowledge from her.  In his 1870 History of Lunenburg County , the Judge does not include John Smith in discovery.