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Martha Ellen Smith McDonald,
Grandaughter of Agnes Goad and Owen Adkins

Contributed by Jan Cunningham

From: 'History of Fentress County, Tennessee’
 by Albert Hogue 
1920
Part Two Personal Sketches

Mrs. Martha Ellen (Smith) McDonald

Parents:  Phillip Smith and Emily Adkins

Grandparents:  Owen Adkins and Agnes (Goad) Adkins, George Smith and Rebecca Bowen

Mrs. McDonald’s mother came to Kentucky from West Virginia at the age of twelve, her grandfather and grandmother Owen and Agnes Adkins, having been killed the year before by the Indians.   The famous preacher of Kentucky, ‘Raccoon’ John Smith was an Uncle of Mrs. McDonald

She was born in Kentucky and came to Tennessee with her parents when she was eight years old and settled on Wolf River. She married William B. McDonald in 1939.   He was a soldier in the Florida War in 1837.  He died in 1861 in the Battle of Spring Hill, Tennessee.
Picture

Mrs. McDonald had ten brothers and two sisters, all of whom are dead. She made four trips to the West to visit her sons in Nebraska. One of these trips was made at the age of 74, one at 86 and another at 90. She never attended a free school. There were none until long after she was married.  She has a wonderful memory and is well informed.  She saw the Indians as they were being removed to lands west of the Mississippi.  She remembers the Indian squaws as they passed by with their papooses strapped to their backs.  Mrs. McDonald attended the wedding of Sgt. Alvin York, a resident of Fentress Co. and friend, and she got to shake the hand of the Governor of Kentucky.

Martha McDonald lived to be 103 years old.  She is buried in the city cemetery, Jamestown, Tn.

(Note the error in her name in the phot caption.)

Goad Lineage

  1. Abraham Goad and Katherine Williams
  2. John Goad Sr. and Katherine
  3. John Goad Jr. b. 1 July 1729 Richmond Co. Va. d. ca 1793 Sullivan Co. Tn. m. Margaret ?  d. af. 1803 Sullivan Co. Tn.
  4. Agnes Goad b. ca 1749 Pittsylvania Co. Va. d. 1790 Hawkins Co. Tn. m. Owen Adkins, son of William Adkins Jr. and Lydia Owen, b. ca l750 Lunenberg Co. Va. d. 1790 Hawkins Co. Tn. Both killed by Indians, along with two children
  5. Emily Adkins b. 1779 Pittsylvania Co. Va. d. l868 Fentress Co. Tn. m. 11 Jan. 1798 Phillip Smith, son of George Smith and Rebecca Bowen, b. l769 Augusta Co. Va. d. l866 Fentress Co. Tn.
  6. Martha Ellen Smith b. 21 Dec 1818 Fentress Co. Tn.  d. 1922  Fentress Co. Tn.  m. 21 Mar 1839 William Barrett McDonald. He d. in the Civil War.  Martha and William had twelve children.
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