Photo from 1907.
Photo with family (1907).

[Biographical notes by son Lewis Miller Smithson]:
"My father was a jack of all trades, and it would be hard to name the most important [one.] He chose dentistry as his profeshion, and practiced for some time before he married my mother, she was a school teacher. They like young people today wanted to do something different, so they pooled their resorces, and bought 53 acres of land out in the wilderness of Greenbrier Co., West Va. This was nearly a mile from any road and also other houses. They built a log cabin, and began clearing the land and planting something to eat on it. There was no school or church within miles. So it was decided to have T.H. Smithson ordained as a minister so he could perform weddings and funeral services. He kept his forceps when he sold his other dental tools, so he pulled their teeth, married them and burried them. L. M. Smithson"

From David and Nancy Smithson (smithson7@sunlitsurf.com), email Dec 2002: "On the second Sunday in August for the last 52 years the descendants of Thomas and Nan have a family reunion as Watoga State Park. It's a modest affair, actually just a picnic and get together. Nancy and I have recently taken over arranging the "Shindig" as Uncle Buck is getting on and asked us to do so. Besides, we live within 5 miles of the Park.
At any rate, you are offically invited to come and mingle. Both Elizabeth [Elson] and Carole [Collins] have been trying to come for the past couple years but haven't been able to make. Elizabeth did come down at the end of September and visited. Uncle Buck took her to the ancestral home and cemetery to let her meet our relatives. That might interest you some day."

[Source: email from Elizabeth Bransford Elson relaying comments of Cousin Buck, grandson of T.H. Smithson]
Reported to be travelling dentist and Baptist minister.
Reported to be intimidating and authoritarian.
Daughter Margaret Rucker learned to shoot against his advice (girls weren't supposed to), shot off the tip of her finger, and with her brother [Lewis, Cousin Buck's father], bandaged here finger in secret.

According to Elizabeth Elson (12-2002 email), there is a Smithson family cemetery: " I also saw some of their gravestones at the Baber-Smithson cemetery on Greenbrier Road. The cemetery itself is practically vertical -- the graves are wedged into the mountainside. Cousin Buck drove us up this steep road to get there with a steep drop off on one side. He's 85." The Cemetery is described at http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvnichol/cemetery/baber.html, with a listing of tombstone names and dates, including the following nine Smithsons:
Smithson, Charles D. 1882-1911
Smithson, Elizabeth 1884-1905
Smithson, Emory 1878-1913
Smithson, H. W. 1881-1943
Smithson, Kay 1924-1924
Smithson, Nannie 1854-1911
Smithson, Tane C. 1895-1911
Smithson, Thomas H. 1852-1914
These are Thomas Smithson, his wife, five of their children, and, apparently, a grandchild who died in infancy.

A cemetery in Monroe Co. reported by http://searches.rootsweb.com/usgenweb/archives/wv/monroe/cemetery/cem1.txt:
Listing of Cemetery Locations - Monroe County, WV
Location of Cemeteries in Monroe County--copied at the Union Public Library, Union West Virginia:
Smithson Cemetery-farm on Brown's Mountain. This may or may not be different from the Baber-Smithson Cemetery described above.

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~garyscottcollins/ebransfordletter1975.pdf
1975 letter by Earle Bransford about ancestry: Unless otherwise noted, data for Thomas, wife, children and their spouses is mostly corroborated by http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~garyscottcollins/ebransfordletter1975.pdf
Also mostly corroborated by genealogical tables of Phyllis Anne Bransford, received July 2003.

1880 US census, Williamsburg, Greenbrier Co., WV (familysearch.com_
Thomas SMITSON Self M Male W 28 WV Farmer WV WV
Nannie SMITSON Wife M Female W 26 VA Keeping House VA VA
Mary W. SMITSON Dau S Female W 5M WV VA VA

1900 US census, West Virginia, Greenbrier Co., Williamsburg Twp.:
Thomas H. Smithson, head, b Jun 1852, 47, m 24 yr, Farmer [surname "Smithson" very difficult to read due to overwriting]
Nannie W. --, wife, b July 1854, 45, m 24 yr, 10/10 children
Mary K. --, daughter, b Dec 1879, 20, s, School Teacher
Henry W. --, son, b May 1881, 19, s, Farm Laborer
Vin??? L. --, son, b Dec 1882, 17, s, Farm Laborer
Elizabeth J?A?C? --, daughter, b Jun 1884, 15, s,
Maggie R. --, daughter, b Dec 1887, 12, s,
Lewis M. --, son, b Jul 1890, 9, s,
Charles Q?O?A? --, son, b Aug 1892, 7, s,
Taney G. --, son, b Oct 1895, 4, s,
[All: b:WV, fb:WV, mb:WV]
(Notes in census report: home was owned, owned free of mortgage, was a farm, was farm #294).

1910 US census, Williamsburg, Greenbrier Co., West Virginia (Heritage Quest series T624, roll 1681, page 287):
Thomas H. Smithson, 57, farmer, own farm, married 34 years
Nannie W. Smithson, 56, (unlisted),(unlisted), married 34 years, 10 children, 9 living
Emery K. Smithson, 31, laborer, wood chopper,
Lewis M. Smithson, 19, laborer, camp foreman,
Margaret R. Smithson, 21, teacher, public school,
Charles O. Smithson, 17, farmer, home farm,
Taney G. Smithson, 14, none
[All b:WV, fb:WV, mb:WV].

Gedcom file: Addie Rickey, 235 15th St., NE, Salen, OR 97301
Thomas Henry Smithson was born at Blue Sulphur Springs, Monroe County, West Virginia, where he spent his boyhood days on a farm. Later he was employed as a clerk in a store. He studied dentistry but practiced only a short time. He married Nannie Woodson Carnifix and had ten children. In 1877 they moved to Cold Knob section of Greenbrier County near Richwood. On Sep. 12, 1886, Thomas Henry Smithson was ordained to the ministry at the Cherry Grove Baptist Church and did active evangelistic work for several years. About 1898, he was compelled to give up all active service because of ill health. In April of 1911 they moved to Richwood where he lived until his death 19th Feb. 1914. Rev. Smithson wrote many helpful articles for different newspapers.
Thomas H. Smithson was age 8 in 1860 and age 16 in 1870 and age 22 in 1880. Thomas H. Smithson was age 42 in 1900 and listed as a farmer. He and Nannie had been married 24 years.

Title: Reverend (http://www.rootsweb.com/~mdannear/firstfam/scott/d48877.htm#P48877)

Notes by Margaret Rucker Smithson: "The Smithsons all lived at or near Alderson, W.Va. which was named for the family of Margaret Alderson."

Richwood is in Nicholas County (since 1818), according to West Virginia Genweb project (http://www.wvgenweb.org/).

• Married: 8 Mar 1876

1. Lucy Blanche SMITHSON b: 10 Feb 1877 in Alderson, WV
2. Emory Keyser SMITHSON b: 9 Sep 1878 in Sugar Hill or View, WV
3. Mary Willie SMITHSON b: 14 Dec 1879 in Sugar Hill or View, Greenbrier Co., West Virginia
4. Henry Woodson SMITHSON b: 18 May 1881 in View or Sugar Hill, West Virginia
5. Verner Leile SMITHSON b: 16 Dec 1882 in Sugar Hill, View, WV
6. Elizabeth Clendenning SMITHSON b: 27 Jun 1884 in Sugar Hill, View, WV
7. Margaret Rucker SMITHSON b: 17 Dec 1887 in View (near Richwood), WV
8. Lewis Miller SMITHSON b: 2 Jul 1890 in View or Sugar Hill, WV (in/near Richwood, West Virginia)
9. Charles Osborne SMITHSON b: 31 Aug 1892 in Sugar Hill or View, WV
10. Taney Given SMITHSON b: 22 Oct 1895 in Sugar Hill or View, WV