William Smith. Origin: Old Inhabitant.

William Smith was born on Harbor Island, 22 August 1764. He was granted 80 acres of land in the modern-day settlement of Miley, on Long Island.

The Smith surname is an old Bahamian name, present as early as the Eleutheran Adventures in the 1600’s. The Smith surname is listed in the 1731 Census of Nassau and Eleuthera, and in Nassau in the 1740 Census, making Smith a name continuously and profusely present in records from Bermuda in the 17th century, into the Bahamas in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Thomas Smith was apparently a well-connected and well-respected individual, likely both in Nassau and on Long Island; he was signatory of dozens of legal instruments in the second half of the 1700s.



Reference: DM