Possible descendant

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Attention family members!

I have been attempting to help Jett Smith with his family history in which he believes there is a chance he may be related to Soapy Smith. The branch of the Smith family tree pictured above shows George Edward Smith (1782-1844). This was Dr. Ira Ellis Smith's brother and Soapy's granduncle. Below that is a son, George Smith, born in 1851. This may be Jett's great grandfather. I have no information on this George Smith or the names given to me by Jett. I am in the hopes that another family member might have some information that may help Jett out.

Here is Jett's information he has thus far.

The story with my family is that we owned land where Fort Benning GA and when the civil war was over, the carpetbaggers raised taxes so high that the family couldn’t afford it. The Smith’s moved up here from Carroll Co. after that. My dad said that we actually had one part of the family that was trying to sue the Federal Government to get the land back. Not sure what became of that.

My great grandfather was George Smith. He would have been alive about the same time as Soapy I do believe. Not sure the dates he was born and died. My grandfather was Bud Berry Smith. He died in 1962 and was around 80 when he died, so that would have put him being born around 1880 or so. One of the stories with him is that he went to Texas for a while. Don’t know any dates on that. I also had a great uncle Jet. He told my grandmother to name their next boy after him. There came my dad around 1940 and that is how he got the name and I am actually a Jr. George (my great grandfather) also fought for the Confederates, although I am not sure how old he was when he fought. I am also intrigued that Soapy was born in Newnan and we do not have anything on who he was or even that he was born here.

Do you know where he was born in Newnan? I went and looked at the Newnan Historical Society and noticed you had been here a few years ago. Wished I could have seen your presentation. The only reason I knew about Soapy was that I did some kind of search on Wikipedia or Google and he came up as a Smith from Newnan Ga. Even if we aren’t related, I do admire that you have such an extensive history on Soapy Smith and I have enjoyed reading it.