Ned and Nora were married in Newport, R.I., in 1903. They lived on Tew’s Court. Ned worked as a coachman for Colonel John Powel, whose large mansion was just around the corner on Greenough Place. Their first two children, Catherine and Francis (Bud), were born on Tew’s Court. Nora, Ned, and the two children moved sometime after 1907 to the farm known locally as the Halfway House in the Hillsdale section of Richmond, R.I. It was here that Ned combined farming his land with working for conservationist Theakston DeCoppet as a groom for his horses and trainer for his dogs.
Nora bore three more children in the next ten years: Mary Caroline “Carrie” in 1910, Edwin Jr. “Ted” in 1912, and Anne Mae in 1917. In December 1920, another son, David was born, but on July 18, 1921, he died. He was 7 months and 9 days old.
Edwin (Ned) Smith was born on January 3, 1874, in Keighley, Yorkshire, England. He most likely arrived in the United States with his family in 1882. It should be noted that in the 1910 and 1930 census he reports his immigration year as 1880; and in the 1920 census he reports his immigration year as 1882, the 1881 English census has him living with his mother, father, brothers and sisters in Keighley in England so it seems the correct immigration year would be 1882. In addition, his older brothers John William and David filed petitions for naturalization on November 10, 1890 in the Common Pleas Court in Providence, RI, and listed their date of arrival in the United States as April 11, 1882 in Boston MA.
The 1900 census lists Edwin Smith as a servant, occupation Coachman, in the household of Pemberton Powel on Greenough Place in Newport, RI. Pemberton Powel was the son of Col. John Powel, Civil War colonel and former Mayor of Newport.
On the 1900 census, Ned reports his place of birth as well as his parents’ places of birth as New York. I believe that we have the correct Edwin Smith, as my father had told me that his father, Ned, had been a coachman for Col Powel. The incorrect birthplaces could simply be an immigrant not being straight with an official, or misinformation passed on from someone else in the household who gave the census taker the information. As the listings in Newport Directories indicate, by 1905, Ned was operating a Stable and the family was living at Tews Court in Newport. By the 1906 Directory, the family and the stable had moved to Thames Street.
- Newport, Rhode Island, Directory, 1905
Edwin A Smith stable 7 Tew’s Court house do - Newport, Rhode Island, City Directory, 1905
Edwin A Smith Residence 7 Tew’s Court Newport, Rhode Island, - Newport, Rhode Island, City Directory, 1906
Edwin A Smith, Stable 24 Thames Street, Newport Rhode Island, House do - Newport Business Directory 1908, Stables (Livery, Hack and Boarding)
Smith, Edwin A, 24 Thomas
