The Sharecropper's Son

Several decades ago, Sylvia Darden Smith and Clint Smith shared the birth of their fourth son of six children. Born in the dog days of August 1922, the chosen name that they gave their fourth child was that of Samuel (mostly known as Sam) Smith. As were their other children, Clint and Sylvia Smith’s son Samuel was born in the township of Kenansville, North Carolina. The area of Samuel’s birthplace (no longer under the ownership of the Smith family) was near Nahunga Swamp. This area of Duplin County, North Carolina, is further known as Goshen.

Four to six miles southeast of Goshen Swamp, Mary Foy Bryant and Richard Bryant had already realized the birth of their daughter Jessie M. Bryant one year and several months earlier—well before the birth of Samuel. The birthplace, and the homeplace where Jessie grew up, was near the edge of Goshen Swamp on the thoroughfare of number 11 Highway. Similar to Samuel, Jessie M. Bryant was the fourth child of Richard and Mary Bryant. Another interesting fact in the order of Samuel’s and Jessie’s births is as follows. Samuel, the son of Clint and Sylvia Smith, was the fourth son of five sons and one girl. Jessie, the daughter of Richard and Mary Bryant, was the third daughter of eleven daughters and one son.

In time, Samuel and Jessie grew up and reached the age of their majority. They then met each other and united in matrimony. Their lifelong marriage produced seven children. Howbeit, the intended purpose of Samuel’s eldest son is to set forth an account of what life was like growing up in rural eastern North Carolina.

Like my parents, I, too, was born on the perimeter of Goshen Swamp. The site where this exciting event unfolded—the birth of my parents’ firstborn—was in the house of my maternal grandparents (Richard and Mary Bryant). It was the same house in which Mother grew up and the same place where she experienced an enjoyable childhood. As the oldest, and later one of six sons and one daughter, my arrival and grand entrance within the family (Daddy and Mother’s family) occurred on a winter night in January 1943. Among the paternal and maternal relatives, my birth commenced the ancestral lineage of three generations of males whose birthplaces were in the township of Kenansville, North Carolina. Another welcoming accolade, adored with consideration, was that I inherited Daddy’s name—Samuel. Therefore, the embracing and honor of Daddy’s name (first and last) still lives well beyond his death.

As young children do, I began to grow and perceive the environment around me. Such growth and development caused me to observe a number of places where Mother and Daddy lived. Early memories of the places that we lived in are as follows. We (the nuclear family) lived in an area known as Smith Township. This area was, and still is, located between Beaulaville (in Duplin County) and Pink Hill (in Lenior County). I can still remember Daddy carrying me in his arms as we walked the pathway between the woods. The house was a short distance from the public dirt road.