University of Virginia Library

THE BOUTWELL AND SMITH FAMILIES

The name Boutwell is derived from Bouteilles, a village near
Doeppe in Normandy. The first of the name to come to America
were three brothers who arrived at Port Royal, on the Rappahannock,
at the very beginning of the eighteenth century. One
of them settled on a large tract of land here in the Rappahannock
valley, which is still owned by a descendant, John Boutwell
Smith and the other two moved on farther North, where they
became the progenitors of large and influential families and

among whose descendants are Senators and Governors and other
makers and moulders of the Republic.

Birkenhead Hawkins Boutwell, descendant of the original
Boutwell settler, married Catherine Harrison Smith, daughter of
William Smith, of Revolutionary fame, granddaughter of Capt.
Joseph Smith and great-granddaughter of Sir William Sidney
Smith of England. A daughter of Capt. Joseph Smith m. a
Mr. Keith. She was an aunt of Chief Justice Marshall (See
W. and M. Quarterly, Mead's Old Virginia Families, Buck's
Eminent Virginians, Hardesty's Historical Encyclopaedia, &c.)

Birkenhead Hawkins Boutwell and his wife had issue: Dr.
Wm. S. Boutwell, Birkenhead H. Boutwell, Apollos Boutwell,
Walter J. Boutwell, Martha Smith Boutwell, Catherine Anne,
Elizabeth and Doniphan Boutwell. The last named daughter

was born April 27, 1823 and was married to William Chowning,
of Middlesex. Martha Smith Boutwell married James Madison
Smith, brother of Governor William Smith "(Extra Billy)" and her
cousin. Only one son of Birkenhead Boutwell ever married.
He was the eldest son, John F., who married Mary Smith
Blackford. They had issue three daughters. The last member
of the Boutwell name in Caroline was Apollos Boutwell who was
born in 1828 and died in 1917. He was the son of Birkenhead
H. Boutwell, who was considered a very rich man in his day
and is said to have kept his money in shot bags in the locker room
of his residence. He is also said to have kept three or four barrels
of whiskey and brandy in his cellar "for family use" and for
his friends.

James Madison Smith was twice married: First, to Mary Bell
by whom he had four children; Second, to Martha Smith Boutwell
by whom he had five children, John Boutwell, Kate Harrison,
Ida Birkenhead, Wm. Apollos, Camille Pauline. He died in

New Mexico while serving as Government Agent to the Indians.
He was a prominent lawyer in Washington.

John F. Boutwell, brother of Birkenhead H. Boutwell, was
a captain in the Confederate Army.

Miss Ida Birkenhead Smith wrote the author of this work as
follows: "During the Civil War my grandmother, Mrs. Birkenhead
Boutwell, lived at "Shady Grove" between Supply and
Brandywine. She turned her house into a hospital for wounded
and disabled soldiers until the fall of Richmond. Dr. Urquhart,
of Port Royal gave them medical attention. There were seven
left with her at the fall of Richmond, all of whom soon left save
one, whose health was so bad that he was unable to travel. She
fitted up the family school house which stood in the yard and
placed him in it that she might be able to look after him. We
children liked to go to his door to talk with him and hear him
sing. One morning he decided to leave and, of course, we gathered
around him. He fastened his little pack on his back and said,
"Good bye, purty gals, I am sorry to left you, but I am 'bliged
to went." We ran after him a little way then went back and
told grandma of his going. She was sorry she did not see him
to say "goodbye" and to give him some money as she had given
the other six who had gone some weeks before."

The Smith family aforementioned claim several Spanish
ancestors, the first being Don Iphan (afterward corrupted into
Doniphan by running the title and name together) who was
knighted by Isabella, of Spain, for gallantry during the war with
the Moors. When the Inquisition was introduced he was exiled
from Spain to save his life and so came to America. He married
a wealthy lady, a Miss Mott, and by this marriage had a daughter,
who married a member of the Sidney Smith family. A son
married into the Anderson family, later renowned in Caroline.
A descendant of these families is said to have passed through the
British lines at Charleston and returned with her skirts filled with
powder for the use of the Colonial troops.