March 01, 2024
Our 2024 Scholarship Campaign got underway on March 1st. It is our intention to award a minimum of two $500.00 scholarships this year. In addition we will be awarding a Steven R. Smith Memorial $1,000.00 scholarship. If you are interested or know of a descendant who would be interested they can contact Brent via highlandpondman@gmail.com.
January 12, 2024
Our 2024 Family Reunion is fast approaching. The dates are April 26 and 27 and the reunion will be held in Farmington, Utah. Check your email for updates on the agenda and activities associated with the reunion. To RSVP to the reunion contact Brent Smith at highlandpondman@gmail.com.
January 20, 2023
I am saddened to announce the passing of one of our dear family members. Catherine Barton Pedersen passed away on August 30, 2022 at her home. She was a dear friend personally as well as to our family organization. She was able to present a wonderful tribute to her grandmother, Ellen Wright Smith Grant during our 2022 reunion last April. She will be dearly missed.
January 20, 2023
Our 2022 Scholarship initiative came to a close on June 15, 2022 and we are happy to announce we awarded five of our deserving family members with a $500.00 scholarship and one with a $1,000 scholarship. Their names, photos and a short bio were added to our family face book page. You can check them out by clicking on our face book link shown here THomasXSmithAndGeorgeWSmithFamilyOrganization .
We will begin to accept applications for our 2023 scholarship the first week of March. A notification email will be sent out to all registered family members. If you are not yet a member sign up from our home page.
Our postponed 2021 reunion was held April 8-9 of 2022 in Holliday, Utah and it was a great success. It was well attended and the weather cooperated with us. We have already begun planned for our April 2024 reunion in Farmington, Utah. Stayed tuned to this space as well as our face book page for timely updates on our next reunion.
March 01, 2022
The 2022 scholarship application period is now open. We will be accepting scholarship applications from family members now until the deadline at midnight on June 15, 2022. The criteria and process for this year’s scholarships can be found in the “Proceedings” section of this website.
December 31, 2021
Just a final News update for 2021. It has been a difficult year for most of us with the COVID-19 virus staying with us throughout the year and with the new variants it appears it will be with us well into the new year as well. We postponed our 2021 reunion in hopes that we could put COVID behind us. We are proceeding with our plans for the rescheduled reunion on April 8-9 in Holladay, Utah as stated in our entry below. Check in on our Facebook page for timely updates as we enter the new year. Here is the link: THomasXSmithAndGeorgeWSmithFamilyOrganization
June 6, 2021 (updated)
The Board made the difficult decision to reschedule our planned Fall 2021 reunion to April of 2022. The dates for the reunion are Friday, April 8 and Saturday, April 9, 2022. We have chosen Holladay, Utah for the reunion. We will be meeting on Saturday in the Cottonwood 2nd and 14th Ward building located at 2080 East 5165 South. That meeting will start with registration and photographs beginning at 8:00am and the formal session beginning at 9:00am. We are planning a new activity which will require your participation. Bring a item of significance to your Smith family heritage to “Show and Tell” the rest of us. We also plan to recognize all of scholarship awardees for 2020 and 2021. A few of those recipients will make short presentations. We also plan to honor those family members who have passed away in the last few years. Lunch will be provided by the organization and will be followed by a fund raising auction for our Scholarship Initiative. Plan on bring an item to donate to our auction.
We will begin our reunion on Friday, April 8, with a family sealing session in the Draper Temple where we will meet at the 1:00pm. That activity will be followed by an early family dinner at 3:45pm at a Chuck-A-Rama in Draper at 14065 Minuteman Drive. We will be visiting Murray Cemetery where many of the George W. Smith and Catherine Wootton and many of their descendants are buried. The Cemetery address is 5490 South Vine Street in Murray. Mark your calendars and plan to join us next April. We will be accepting RSVPs after the first of the new year.
November 1, 2020
Our Organization has officially been granted tax exempt status by the IRS. We are now the Thomas X and George W. Smith Family Foundation. While our name has changed this web page and our Facebook page will continue to use Organization for the present.
August 19, 2019
Our 2019 Thomas X and George W. Smith Family Reunion was held August 9 – 10 in Logan, Utah at the Logan 4th Ward Building. On Friday, the ninth, we started our reunion at the Logan Tabernacle where we got a private tour of the building and their wonderful pipe Organ. After that tour 21 family members went to the Logan temple where they performed sealings in behalf of several of our family including many descendants of the siblings of Thomas X and George W. At 5:00 pm 36 members of our family met at the Bluebird Cafe where we had a wonderful dinner and wonderful conversation as some family members met for the first time while others renewed friendships of years past.
On Saturday, the tenth, we started the day with registration at the Logan 4th ward between 8-9 am. Our formal presentations started in the Chapel at 9 am. Kathy Orme presented first on the life of her Grandmother, Olena Wright Smith Harris. She was the mother of Quinton Harris and a daughter of Orson Gurney Smith. Gary Hansen then presented in four of the daughters of Thomas X and Margaret Gurney Smith. This four daughters did not marry and thus had no posterity to write their history. We are grateful to Gary for his research and presentation. We were privileged to have one of our 2019 scholarship recipients present to us next. Tyler Davis presented the essay he wrote on Ida Smith, the daughter of George W. Smith and Catherine Wootton.
After a 30 minute refreshment break our next presentation came from our first $1000 scholarship recipient, Catherine Claire Boyden. She presented her essay on Margaret Gurney Smith, wife of Thomas X. I had the opportunity to present next on the “other” children of George Smith and Patience Timson. These are the siblings of Thomas and George who remained in England. I also spend some time talking about the living conditions and work available to these siblings. Our final presenter of the day was David Barkdull who researched the life of Thomas X’s third wife, ELizabeth Fullerton Sweet. Very little has been written of her so we are grateful to David for all of his research and for giving us a wonderful insight into her life.
Lunch was provided for about 50 family members who stayed with us into the afternoon. After our lunch (actually during our lunch) we held our auction to raise funds for our organization and scholarship funding. Thanks to all those who donated items and thanks to those who purchased those items. We raised enough money to offer at least two $500.00 scholarships in 2020 and 2021.
June 2019
Our organization is pleased to announce that we have award 11 $500 scholarships to deserving young family members this year. In addition, as the result of a very generous donation we awarded our first $1000 scholarship in the name of Ellen Smith Grant, a daughter of Orson Gurney Smith. All of our winners have been posted on our Facebook page. The address for that page is as follows: http://facebook.com/THomasXSmithAndGeorgeWSmithFamilyOrganization
December 2017
Our 2017 reunion is in the books and the Board wants to thank all those who contributed in any way to the success of our bi-annual event. Several of our family members attended the Bountiful Temple sealing session on Friday afternoon. We needed to use two sealing rooms to give more family members an opportunity to participate. Many family members joined together for an early dinner at the Chuck -A- Rama in Bountiful and then we were on to the Farmington Pioneer Museum where we were hosted by Annette Tidwell for a private viewing. We ended Friday evening with a visit to the Farmington Cemetery where we visited the grave site of Sobrina Smith Lamb and some of her family members.
On Saturday morning we had around sixty family members join us at the Old Rock Chapel in Farmington for formal presentations, lunch and auction. Thanks to the wonderful items that were contributed to the auction by our family and to those family members who bid on those items we raised enough money to provide two $500.00 scholarships next year and in 2019.
Planning has already begun on our 2019 Family Reunion so stay tuned for more information early next year.
Have a Happy Christmas Season and a wonderful new year!
July 1, 2017
The Executive Board has awarded two $500.00 scholarships to two of our young family members. Both essays were excellent and these two applicants are deserving winners.
Karlynn Hardy wrote her essay on Ida Smith Wilkins and Caleb Leming wrote his on Thomas X Smith.
Please go to our Facebook page to learn a little more about each one. http://facebook.com/THomasXSmithAndGeorgeWSmithFamilyOrganization
March 1, 2017
The Executive Board of directors is happy to announce that the “Organization” will once again offer a minimum of two $500.00 scholarships to deserving members of our family. If you are interested in one of these scholarships sign into the “Proceedings” section of this website to see if you or a family member qualifies and follow the process as outlined there. You will need to use your username and password to get into this protected section of our website. If you do not have a username or password or cannot remember them please contact me at highlandpondman@gmail.com. The deadline for completed applications in May 31, 2017. Scholarships will be award by June 15, 2017.
If we get additional funds from our auction at our August reunion we will award additional scholarships. If you have an item or service you can donate to our reunion auction please contact me. We are always looking for donations from family members to help support these scholarships and the Family Organization. If you are interested in helping out please contact me using the email address highlandpondman@gmail.com.
November 13, 2016
The dates and location for the 2017 Smith Family Organization reunion has been set. Please mark you calendars for Friday, August 25 and Saturday, August 26. We are excited to announce that the reunion will be held at the Old Rock Chapel in Farmington, Utah. Interested family members are invited to attend a private Family Sealing session in the Bountiful temple in the early afternoon of Friday. We again plan to have a family dinner for all those interested. The place and time have not been finalized. We are also planning a trip the the small Farmington Pioneer museum and the Farmington Cemetery. Times are pending. The Saturday session will be at the Rock Chapel with registration between 8:00 and 9:00 am. The general session will begin at 9:00 am in the Primary Memorial Chapel. A family lunch will be provided in the Cultural Hall following the general session. We are again planning on holding an auction and raffle as well as other fun activities for all who attend. If you have anything you would like to donate please let me know at highlandpondman@gmail.com. More info to follow.
June 26, 2016
The Executive Board of Directors is happy to announce we have awarded eight $500.00 scholarships to deserving young men and women in our family organization. Check our our Facebook page to see who get to know this year’s winners. We will be posting their essays to this website in the near future.
May 02, 2016
We have just posted the 2015 Reunion Proceedings to the site. Go to the “Proceedings” menu and click to open. You will be asked to enter your Username and Password. You must be a member of the Smith Family Organization to view these proceedings. Contact Brent Smith at highlandpondman@gmail.com to join or click on the “Join Us” tab.
These files are large .pdf files and may take some time to open depending on the speed of your internet. Be patient. Published hard copy versions of these proceedings are available for $60.00 per copy. The hard copy version is 197 pages in length and contain numerous full color photographs. If interested please contact me at the above email address. Enjoy!
March 2016
Two new histories have been added to our website. Check out the history of Jane Smith and one of her daughters, Josephine May Livsey. You will find these new accounts near the end of our histories after the George W Smith histories.
January 12, 2016
The Executive Board of directors is happy to announce that the Organization will once again offer a minimum of two $500.00 scholarships to deserving members of our family. If you are interested in one of these scholarships sign into the “Proceedings” section of this website to see if you or a family member qualifies and follow the process as outlined there. You will need to use your username and password to get into this protected section of our website. If you do not have a username or password or cannot remember them please contact highlandpondman@gmail.com. The deadline for completed applications in May 31, 2016. Scholarships will be award by June 15, 2016.
We are always looking for donations from family members to help support these scholarships and the Family Organization. This is particularly true during the year we do not have a reunion! If you are interested in helping out please make contact using the email address highlandpondman@gmail.com.
August 2, 2015
A new document has been added to the “History” section of this website. This a a copy of the paper prepared for the Murray City Cemetery field trip. There is a good history of the cemetery as well as photographs of several grave-markers and brief account of who those grave-markers represent. You will find this new addition at the very bottom of all our history stored in that section. Check it out.
August 2, 2015
The Thomas X and George W. Smith 2015 Family reunion is in the books.
On Friday, July 31 seventeen family members met at the Draper Temple for a 3:00 pm sealing session. By 4:15 we had sealing over 70 family members to their parents and spouses. We them met at the Golden Coral Restaurant in Midvale were we enjoy some good food and conversation for an hour or so. At 7:00 pm 15 family members met at the Murray City Cemetery where we visited the Family Grave site of the Wootton’s and the Smith’s. Brent Smith gave a brief history of the Murray City Cemetery itself and then talked about many of the Wootton and George W. Smith family members buried in this historic pioneer cemetery.
On Saturday morning we started registration at 8:00 am and formal presentation at 9:00 am at the Cottonwood 1st Ward chapel. The theme for this year’s reunion was, “Who Inspires You?” and most all of our formal presentations were focused around that theme. Four of our 2014 and 2015 scholarship winners presented to us in person and another four winners presented via digital media.
Family members had lunch that was provided by the Organization while review our new family tree charts. The Thomas X family chart is about 48 feet long and the George W. and all others chart was over 65 feet long. Over 4000 descendants of George Smith and Patience Timson were displayed on these charts.
We held an auction of items donated by family members and we were able to raise additional funds for your scholarship fund.
Thanks go to all who attended and especially to all those who worked so hard to make this reunion a success.
June 9, 2015
The Family Organization announced four winners of our 2015 scholarship $500.00 scholarships. Each winner wrote an excellent essay. Plan on attending our August 1, 2015 Family Reunion to listen to them present their essay. The winners are:
Erica Elizabeth Smith
Jake C. Hansen
Wes William Bowie
Edward Bennion Reid
Please go to our Facebook page to learn a little more about each one. http://facebook.com/THomasXSmithAndGeorgeWSmithFamilyOrganization
March 16, 2015
The theme for our August 1st reunion is, “Who Inspires You?” Our formal presentations will include several short presentations by the winners of our 2013 an 2015 Scholarships. They were asked to write about an ancestor who had inspired them. Our theme evolved from there. We feel that we have some fun and informative presentations and activities and we hope you will be able to join us. Please RSVP to Brent Smith at highlandpondman@gmail.com.
January 17, 2015
The Executive Board of directors is happy to announce that the Organization will once again offer a minimum of two $500.00 scholarships to deserving members of our family. If you are interested in one of these scholarships sign into the “Proceedings” section of this website to see if you or a family member qualifies and follow the process as outlined there. You will need to use your username and password to get into this protected section of our website. If you do not have a username or password or cannot remember them please contact highlandpondman@gmail.com. The deadline for completed applications in May 30, 2015. Scholarships will be award by June 15, 2015.
We are always looking for donations from family members to help support these scholarships and the Family Organization. If you are interested in helping out please make contact using the email address above.
January 17, 2015
The date for the 2015 Thomas X. and George W. Smith family reunion has been set for Saturday, August 1, 2015 in Cottonwood, Utah. It will be held at the site of the 2013 George W. Smith family reunion. This Chapel in the current home of the Cottonwood fifth Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. 5913 South Highland Drive. The original portion of this Chapel was completed in 1914 for the members of the newly-formed Brinton Ward. George Fred Smith, son of George W. Smith used his team of horses to break the ground for the chapel on this historic site.
We are always looking for volunteers to help with the reunion as well as the Organization itself. If you would like to get involved please contact Brent Smith at highlandpondman@gmail.com.
August 30, 2014
The Executive Board of the family Organization met on August 26th to determine the winners of the $500.00 scholarships the Organization was offering to qualifying family members. We are pleased to announce that we awarded a total of five $500.00 scholarships. We had promised a minimum of two scholarships but we only had five qualified applicants and they were all excellent so we dug deep into the treasury and awarded a total of $2500.00 in scholarships. With that said, we are looking for donations to the Organization. If you can give any amount it would be welcome.
We plan to offer scholarships for 2015 as well. Stay tuned for announcements regarding the 2015 scholarships in the early Spring of 2015.
April 20, 2014
The Smith Family Organization Scholarship Application and Process has been finalized for 2014. If you are interested in one of our scholarships sign into the “Proceedings” section of this website to see if you or a family member qualifies and follow the process as outlined there.
April 1, 2014
The Organization voted to provide two $500 scholarships for two deserving members of our family to assist them with their higher education. We hope to be able to do this on an annual basis. We are grateful to the many members of our family who have donated money toward this worthy initiative. The Board is in the process of finalizing the criteria and application process. Check back in the weeks to come. We will email our entire family database once we are ready to accept applications.
January 22, 2014
The Organizations Executive Board met yesterday to begin planning our reunions for 2015. We have decided to combine the Thomas X. and George W. Smith lines for a single reunion in the fall of 2015. The reunion location has yet to be decided but will likely be held in the Cottonwood, Utah area. Check back often for updated information.
August 24, 2013
We held a very successful Thomas X. Smith family reunion in Logan earlier this month. While not attended by as many family members as we had hoped those that did attend were well rewarded for being there. We had a family sealing session at the Logan Temple on Friday morning followed by a hike to see the location where the lumber mill up Logan Canyon once stood. This saw mill was used to cut lumber for the Logan Temple and many other buildings. Thomas X. Smith was instrumental in establishing this site. We had an informal gathering and dinner at the Blue Bird Cafe in the early evening followed by a visit to the Logan City Cemetery where we visited a number of family grave sites.
On Saturday we met in the beautiful Logan 4th Ward where Thomas X. was Bishop for so many years. The presentations were excellent and lunch was equally as good. We raised several hundred dollars for our scholarship fund as well as our general fund with a fun auction. We are looking forward to the George W. Smith Family reunion in Cottonwood on September 7th.
June 27, 2013
We recently added two histories of Sarah Ann Obray Smith (Wife of Orson Gurney Smith) and photographs of Lucy Gurney Smith Cardon and her husband Thomas B. Cardon. Check them out.
May 28, 2013
We now have a face book page. Check out this page and give us your comments, suggestions and “Likes”. Click on the following link:
https://www.facebook.com/THomasXSmithAndGeorgeWSmithFamilyOrganization?ref=stream&hc_location=stream
March 18, 2013
We have inventoried all of our existing published books and CD’s. You can view what is available for sale by clicking on the Books/CS’s tab on the bottom menu bar. If you are interested in any of these items please contact me. We will have all available items available for sale at the Fall reunions.
February 25, 2013
We have just added several photographs from our 2009 and 2011 Family Reunions. You can find these photographs under the “Trees, FGS, and Photos” tab in the lower right hand corner of our site. You must sign in as a member to enjoy these photographs.
We also just added a photograph of a letter written to Orson Gurney Smith by Church President Joseph F. Smith dated 1899. President Smith offered his friendship and support during a difficult period for Orson. You will find this letter in the “Media” section as well as the “Histories” section of the site. KEEP YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS, ETC COMING.
February 22, 2013
We have added another useful link for your immediate access. The site is thecardonfamilies.org. This is an extensive collection of genealogical information on Philippe and Marthe Tourn Cardon and his posterity. Thomas X’s oldest daughter, Lucy, married Thomas B. Cardon on November 13, 1871. If you are a descendant of Lucy you will want to check out this site. They are planning a Cardon family Reunion just a week after our own Thomas X. Smith family reunion. Check out this site for the specifics as they are made known.
February 12, 2013
Today we sent out an email message to our database of family members giving them the user name and password to explore this web site. We are adding more photographs and histories as they become available to us. If you have something of interest to the family please contact me at brent@smithfamily.instawp.xyz or highlandpondman@comcast.net.
February 12, 2013
Check out the “forums” to find more information on the upcoming fall family reunions.
If you would like to assist with our 2013 reunions please contact brent@smithfamily.instawp.xyz and we will explore opportunities to help.
Please leave your comments and suggestions on how we might be able to improve our site by posting to the “Comments” link below or sending me an email to the above address. Thanks
January 6, 2013
We have added several photos but many more are needed. About 15 histories have been added and more will soon be added. We are looking for more histories of interest to our family. Please consider submitting your histories through this site.
December 18, 2012
The Thomas X. and George W. Smith website has only been up and running since December 2012. Much more content will be added over the next several months. If you have any photographs, news clips, histories, journal entries and the like that is of interest to our Family please consider submitting them to the site.
We encourage direct descendants of Thomas X. or George W. to register as a user on our site. By registering you will be able to visit the “For Family Members only” sections of the site. We will add your information to our “secure” family database and we will push information to you regarding upcoming reunions and other activities. Please encourage others in your family line to register as well. Just click on the “JOIN US” link at the top right to register.
We are planning reunions in the fall of 2013 starting with all of the Thomas X. Smith lines in August in Logan, Utah followed with a reunion for the George W. Smith lines in September in the Cottonwood, Utah area. Please check back often to get updated information.
If you would like to assist with our 2013 reunions please contact brent@smithfamily.instawp.xyz and we will explore opportunities to help.
Please leave your comments and suggestions on how we might be able to improve our site by posting to the “Comments” link below or sending me an email to the above address. Thanks