Two centuries of Smartts:Family celebrates 200 years in county
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But some families can trace their heritage in the area prior to 1807. According to County Commissioner George Smartt, his family first made their presence known around here in 1804, so this year the Smartt family celebrated its own bicentennial.
The 200th consecutive Smartt family reunion was held this past weekend on the farm that has been in the family since the early 1800s.
“This is the 200th time on the last Sunday in July that this family has come together in one form or fashion to celebrate the fact they’re here and enjoy bringing all the family back together,” said George.
The special 200th celebration began with a general get-together Friday night, continued Saturday night with a big bash featuring live music, lots of food and fun, and resumed Sunday at 1 p.m. with some delicious local barbecue from Prater’s.
Like most American families, George said the Smartts migrated here from Europe.
“We came from England and we settled in Virginia,” George said. “Most recently we came from Mecklenberg County, which is Charlotte, North Carolina to East Tennessee.”
The move into the Warren County area occurred in the early 1800s.
“At that time my great-great-grandfather, William Cheek Smartt, came over the mountains here into Warren County and built the cabin down on the creek at the mouth of the branch where Bill Smartt’s house and farm is right down the road from us now. He went back home to pick up his wife and child and came back in 1805.”
The return wasn’t without its problems, according to George, who related the first of a couple of interesting anecdotes about his family history.
“He had to remove a squatter,” George said, “who had decided that while William Cheek had left, the house was his. He did it very simply by telling him that he was going to count to 100, and then his squirrel gun was going to speak. He counted to 90 out loud and then there was an ominous silence. About five seconds later the squatter came out screaming, ‘It’s yours, it’s yours. Let me alone.’ And he left.”
The intrepid William Cheek Smartt went on to become the first sheriff of Warren County, serving for two terms, from 1808 to 1816. He went on to become a successful farmer, amassing a pretty large plantation. He also served as a representative in the Tennessee legislature and as a senator from Warren and a couple of surrounding counties. He was also a delegate in 1834 to the state constitutional convention.
“He helped draft the constitution which basically we still operate under today,” George said. “It’s really a testament to how hard they worked and what a good job they did, the fact the Tennessee constitution has rarely been amended, and it still works pretty good today.”
Another family anecdote generated an amusing reenactment to top off the Sunday afternoon. According to George, during the Civil War Warren County changed hands several times, and as a result of enemy looting there was very little food. One night Union soldiers came knocking on the first George Madison Smartt’s door demanding food. Being a known Southern sympathizer, the Civil War era George yelled back, “I have no food for Abe Lincoln’s men.”
“Well, the soldiers beat down the door,” today’s George said, “but he hid and they couldn’t find him.” But despite that, George decided it would be fun to do a reenactment, and he invited a group of Civil War reenactors to attend the reunion.
“Today when they beat on the door I’m going out the back door and they’re going to try to catch me,” George said. And indeed he was captured and summarily executed with Civil War era replica rifles, which brought on quite a reaction from some in the crowd, particularly his two youngest kids, daughter Madison and son Will.
“We didn’t know they were going to do that,” George said. “So they were concerned.”
Fortunately dad popped back up pretty quickly once he heard the soldiers discussing stealing his boots and pants.
But according to George, some thought the funniest part of all this was the reaction of the family dog who took off for the house when the shooting started, and, he reported with a grin, “never looked back.”
“A lot of the people got a bigger kick out of the dog running off than anything else,” George said.