Today one can only speculate on what happened to Deborah Smith. It is known that she lived long enough to be named on March 8, 1654, and that her mother (who is said to be Elizabeth Hobart Smith) died the same year. It is also known that she was born in Eastham. The record is of a birth, not a death, meaning she lived beyond her birth and is therefore missing from further record. Many graves today exist from that period of time without a marker or stone, and there are many that are unreadable so it is not impossible that she will be found someday. DNA studies are making this possible today, and the future will see vast data bases and quick marker identification to the point that every individual will know who they are related to both living and dead. Even if we never find Deborah it is possible today that we could find her descendents assuming she had any. It is therefore best to say she is lost, but not forgotten.

There is no death. The stars go down

To rise upon some fairer shore,

And bright in Heaven's jeweled crown

They shine forevermore.

And ever near us, though unseen,

The dear immortal spirits tread:

For all the boundless universe

is Life; there are no dead.

 

(John Luckey McCreery)

 

1939 report of the descendents of Ralph Smith of Hingham and Eastham Mass.