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Heitman's guide, the source for Lt. Ballard Smith's Rev. War career, says he died before Rep. Ballard Smith was elected to Congress.
Family records for Rep. Ballard Smith, while unofficial, indicate he was born in about 1782. This also fits better with the age of his wife, Mary Gray Davis, whose mother Jane Clendenin Davis was a girl of 9 years in 1763 when she was kidnapped by Shawnee during a raid in which most of her family was killed in Greenbrier County.
Although some of the family information is anecdotal, there is in fact no reliable information to identify the Rev. War Ballard Smith with the future politician. Such an identification would also require that Lt. Smith served in the legislature into the late 1830s, when he would have been extremely old. Not impossible, but surprising enough to be questioned.
Unless someone has solid evidence that these are the same individual, I recommend this article be revised into two separate articles. It's also possible, even likely, that the two Ballard Smiths are related. Family accounts for the politician have a Smith grandmother nee Ballard, explaining the use of "Ballard" as a first name. The Rev. War Ballard may be an uncle or other relative to the 19th century politician. So evidence based on geography or location of residence is not conclusive proof that these are the same person, but only that they are from the same family, which is already likely.
Ftjrwrites (talk) 18:38, 1 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
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