Downey, Samuel Smith, d. 1851.

Irish immigrant and planter, of Granville Co., N.C.

From the description of Samuel Smith Downey papers, 1762-1965; (bulk 1800-1900). (Duke University Library). WorldCat record id: 19536457

Samuel Smith Downey was the son of James and Elizabeth (Smith) Downey. His grandfather, Samuel Smith, migrated from Essex County, Virginia, in the early 1760s to occupy a grant of land from the Earl of Granville County, N.C. James Downey, father of Samuel S., was born in Essex County, Va. S.S. Downey owned plantations in Mississippi and Granville County, N.C. He hired out slaves for the building of a Mississippi railroad, and also sold tobacco throughout the mid-Atlantic. Downey served as deputy sheriff in 1812, became justice of the peace, and was postmaster of Abram's Plains from 1841 until at least 1847. He died in 1851.

Samuel Smith Downey married Jane Harrison in 1812. She died in 1827, at the age of 36, after bearing him three children: John Alexander (A.B., University of North Carolina, 1836 and M.D. from University of Pennsylvania Medical School, 1839); James Webb (A.B., University of North Carolina, 1843), and Jane E.S (in school in Chapel Hill in 1843).

In 1829, Downey married his second wife, Sarah (Sally) Pomfret Smith, his first cousin and the daughter of Alexander Smith. Their only child was Anne (1830-1914). Ann attended Salem Female Academy.

In 1845, John was in the Wisconsin Territory. By 1862 he had moved to Hardeman County, Tenn., but he also owned property in Floyd County, Ga. which was supervised by Lewis D. Burwell. In February 1863, John Downey became disillusioned and wrote from Homer, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, to Burwell depicting the trials of Federal rule in Tennessee, his flight to Texas, and the sale there of his slaves who had not deserted to the Federals. In 1884 he was still in Galveston, Texas, supporting Cleveland in the presidential race.

Ann Downey married Isaac H. Davis, a tobacco and cotton farmer who sold his crops through commission merchants in Petersburg and Norfolk and through Cooper, Blackwell, and Co., and Reams's warehouse in Durham, N.C.

Jane Downey's history is harder to trace. There is no mention of her in the division of property following Samuel Smith Downey's death.

From the guide to the Samuel Smith Downey Papers, 1762-1965, (David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University)