Isaac Smith
Rev. Isaac M. Smith (1795-1853 or 1867) was a Methodist circuit rider who established the First Methodist Church of Oneida in the early 19th century.
Early Life
Born in Washington County, Va. in 1795, Smith was likely the son of Thomas Richard Smith (1765-1840) and Jean Caruthers (1765-1837).
Smith married Matilda Elliot on Jan. 8, 1818 at White Rock, Va., in his native Washington County.
Ministry
Described by historian H. Clay Smith — a direct descendant of Isaac Smith — as a “fiery old circuit rider,” Smith was the first Methodist circuit rider to preach in Scott County. His circuit, according to H. Clay Smith, was from White Rock in his native Virginia to Campbell County, Tenn. along the Burnside Trail. The trail passed through Hazel Valley and Verdun west of Oneida, to present-day Ponderosa Estates.
Smith fell in love with the area and in 1837 secured a land grant that included the territories of present-day Ponderosa Estates east to what is now Tunnel Hill.
It was at Tunnel Hill, in the home of his son-in-law, Jim Terry, that Smith held the first Methodist services between 1840 and 1845.
Later, the First Methodist Church was built where the Oneida Golf Course clubhouse is currently located at Ponderosa. Services are said to have continued there until Smith’s death in 1867.
Civil War allegiances
While Scott County was overwhelmingly pro-Union, Smith maintained a strong allegiance to the Confederacy during the Civil War. He was one of only 19 men in Scott County who voted to secede from the Union in 1861.
When Smith used the pulpit to preach his sympathy for the South, frictions grew within the church. Some of his own family members left the church to join the Baptist congregation. However, one of his sons enlisted in the Confederate army, and he also had two grandsons in the Confederate army.
Things came to a head when a group of Union loyalists showed up at Smith’s Ponderosa home. They arrived just before nightfall, according to H. Clay Smith, “appearing to be intending to attack him and some of his sons, especially Onvie, as the latter seemed to be the one they wanted.”
They called on Onvie to leave the home. He answered by firing on the Unionists. He struck one of them, Jeff Pemberton, in the leg. The raiders fled, but promised to return.
Onvie left home. Rev. Isaac Smith left, too, returning to Virginia. Services ceased at First Methodist Church.
Smith returned to Scott County once the hostilities ended.
Smith’s son, Leonidas Smith, appears to have fought and died for the Confederacy during the war.
It should be noted that Paul Roy’s Scott County in the Civil War notes that Smith’s will was probated in August 1853. Additionally, he does not appear with his wife, Matilda, in the 1860 census; she was living alone at that time with her children, Malinda (20) and Ewel (16). Based on these records, it seems possible — perhaps likely — that Isaac Smith actually died in 1853, which would nullify the Dusty Bits account of confrontation at his home during the Civil War, as well as his return to Virginia to escape the hostilities. There are no conclusive records to prove either death date.
Family
Smith married Matilda Elliot on Jan. 8, 1818 in White Rock, Va. They had 10 children: Richard Smith, Polly Smith Terry, Bart Smith, Leon Smith, Frankie Ellen Smith Carson, Lucinda Smith Rosser, Rebecca Smith Hatfield, Martha Smith Carson, Ewell Smith and John Lee Smith.
Most of their children remained in Scott County and were part of the large Smith family that influenced Oneida throughout the 20th century. Polly Smith married James “Jim” Terry, and it was at their home that Rev. Isaac Smith first held his church services in 1840. Frankie Smith married James Carson. Their grandson, Leland Carson, was the first mayor of the Town of Oneida in 1917. He was also the founder of Jellico Grocery Co.
Death
Smith died on April 13, 1867 and is buried at Carson Family Cemetery near his home, which adjoins Carson Memorial Gardens. His wife, who also died in 1867, may have been the first person buried at the cemetery. However, as noted above, it is possible or even likely that Smith actually died on April 13, 1853, based on probate records and the 1860 census. His stone at the cemetery reads that he died in 1867, but it is a more modern stone that was placed some years after his death.