Shakespeare was a friend of the family. Maybe.

My 12th great grandfather was John Smythe.  I think he must have been friends with William Shakespeare.  :)  Just sayin.

Family member name: John Smythe
Tree branch: Smith
Lifetime: 1580ish - unknown death date
Relation: My 12x great grandfather (my dad's mom's dad's dad's dad's dad's dad's dad's dad's dad's dad's dad's dad)

John Smythe lived in Stratford-Upon-Avon in England. He was born around 1580.

You know what that means? Grandpa Smythe lived there during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He lived in the same town as William Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway and he lived there at the same time that they lived there.  William was about 20 years older than Grandpa John. 

The population of Stratford-Upon-Avon in 1600 was 2,000.  It was still a small market town where everybody knew everybody.  Even if they weren't close friends, they definitely knew each other.

John's son Ralph was my immigrant ancestor who arrived in Massachusetts in 1630.

PS: All credit for the genealogical findings of the Smith family goes to the helpful genealogist at the Chatham Public Library on Cape Cod.  She sent me a big fat juicy envelope full of photo copies of vital records in the mail.  Amazingly, I received the package only about a week before leaving on our long-awaited vacation to the English countryside.  Before then, I had no idea that I had ancestors who lived in Stratford-Upon-Avon, which was one of our scheduled stops on the trip.

It made me look at the town in a whole new way, through the eyes of my family.  Here we are.

Dru and me in 2017, outside my 12x great grandfather's friends's wife's home.

My 12x great-grandfather's friend's house still stands today in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England.

My 12x great-grandfather's buddy, William Shakespeare.  Photo credit: British Library.

Hingham

Hingham, Massachusetts holds a special place in my heart. It’s where I would visit my Grandma and Grandpa Webber and spend much time with my two cousins. My dad grew up in Hingham. I had no idea of our connection to Hingham other than knowing that my grandparents moved their young family there in 1952/53.

Family member name: Ralph Smith
Tree branch: Smith
Relation: My 10x great grandpa.  My dad's mom's dad's dad's dad’s dad’s dad's dad's dad's dad's dad

Why did my grandparents move to Hingham? They grew up in Needham and New Bedford. Maybe they just wanted to be commuting distance to Boston?  My Grandma Webber’s maiden name was Smith. Normally a difficult surname to research, but there have been mountains of information on this family with deep New England roots.

When reading a history of the Smith family in New England, many generations lived on Cape Cod, in the towns of Chatham and Eastham. But when going back further, a Ralph Smith lived in Hingham for almost 20 years, from1635 to 1653. He lived on Main Street and ran a store. When researching the history of the town of Hingham, it was founded in 1635. In fact, Ralph Smith, his three brothers and four other men originally arrived there in 1633 to begin clearing land and building huts in order to cultivate the land the following spring. Though it was called Bare Cove at that time, when they set up a town government, they renamed the area Hingham. Why? They had just arrived in the new world from their hometown - Hingham, England.

It’s so exciting that my dad grew up in the town that was founded by his direct ancestor, who was a pioneer of distinction.

Here is a plaque placed by the Association of the Descendants of Ralph Smith.  Disclaimer: I did not take this picture.  I copied it from another website. :)  But I hope to visit it someday.