Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/622

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
588
SMITH
SMITH

Lee's queries, "political and military," which re- flected on Gen. Washington, and for which the editors were mobbed. By the advice of friends. Col. Smith declined the challenge. In 1783 he was appointed one of the port-wardens of Baltimore, and from 1790 to 1792 was a member of the house of delegates. In consequence of the threat- ened war with France and England in 179-t, he was appointed brigadier-general of the militia of Bal- timore, with the rank of major-general, and com- manded the quota of Maryland troops engaged in suppressing the whiskey insurrection in Pennsyl- vania. In 1793 he was elected a representative in congress, holding the place until 1803, and again from 1816 till 1822. He was a member of the TJ. S. senate from 1803 to 1815, and from 1822 to 1833. Under President Jefferson he served with- out compensation a short time in 1801, as secretary of the navy, though declining the appointment. He was a brigadier-general of militia, and served as major-general of the state troops in the defence of Baltimore in the war of 1812. He was one of the originators of the Bank of Maryland in 1790, and one of the incorporators of the Library com- pany of Baltimore in 1797, and of the Reisters- town turnpike company. He was among the pro- jectors of the Washington monument and the Bat- tle monument at Baltimore. In August, 1835, when he was in his eighty-third year, a committee of his fellow-citizens having called on him to put down a mob that had possession of the city, he at once consented to make the attempt, was successful, and elected mayor of the city, serving until 1838. His son, John Spear, b. in Baltimore, Md., about 1790; d. there, 17 Nov., 1866, acted as volunteer aide- de-camp to his father in the defence of Baltimore in 1812-'14. While a young man he prepared, under government auspices, some volumes of valu- able research on the commercial relations of the United States. He was appointed secretary of the U. S. legation at London, and in 1811 was left in charge as charge d'affaires by William Pinkney. He was a member of the Internal improvement convention of Maryland in 1825, and upon the formation of the Maryland historical society in 1844 was made its first president, which post he held until his death. He was at one time judge of the orphans' court, and in 1833 was a presiden- tial elector. Robert, statesman, brother of Gen. Samuel, b. in Lancaster, Pa., in November, 1757 ; d. in Baltimore, 26 Nov., 1842, was graduated at Prince- ton in 1781, and was present at the battle of Bran- dywine as a volunteer. Re then studied law and practised in Baltimore. In 1789 he was one of the presidential electors, and he was the last survivor of that electoral college. In 1793 he was state senator, from 1796 till 1800 served as a member of the house of delegates, and from 1798 till 1801 sat in the first branch of the city council ol' Baltimore. He was secretary of the navy from 26 Jan., 1802, till 1805, U. S. attorney-general from March till De- cember, 1805, and secretary of state from 6 March, 1809, till 25 Nov., 1811. On 23 Jan., 1806. he was appointed chancellor of Maryland, and chief judge of the district of Baltimore, but he declined. He resigned the office of secretary of state, 1 April, 1811, and was offered the embassy to Russia, which he declined. He was president of an auxiliary of the American Bible society in 1813, president of the Maryland agricultural society in 1818, and in 1813 succeeded Archbishop John Carroll as provost of the University of Maryland. He was the mil In >r of an "Address to the People of the United States" (1811). His son, Samuel William, b. in Baltimore, 14 Aug., 1800; d. there, 16 Dec., 1887. He served in the city council of Baltimore, was president of the Baltimore club and the Maryland club, a director in the Baltimore and Ohio rail- road, and a trustee of the Peabody institute and of Washington university.


SMITH. Samuel Emerson, jurist, b. in Hollis, X. 11.. 12 March. 1788; d. in Wiscassett, Me., 4 March, 1860. His father. Manasseh, was a chap- lain in the Revolution, and subsequently a lawyer in Wiscassett. Samuel was graduated at Harvard in 1808, studied law, was admitted to the Boston bar, settled in Wiscassett in 1812, and was in the legislature in 1819-'20. He was chief justice of the court of common pleas of Maine in 1821, a justice of the state court of common plea- in 1822-'30, governor in 1831-'4, again a judge of com- mon pleas in 1835-'7, and a commissioner to revise the statutes of Maine in the latter year.


SMITH, Samuel Francis, clergyman, b. in Boston, Mass., 21 Oct., 1808; d. there, 16 Nov., 1895. He attended the Boston Latin-school, and was graduated at Harvard and at Andover theo- logical seminary. He was ordained to the ministry of the Baptist church at, Waterville, Me., in 1834. occupied pastorates at Waterville in 1834-'42, and Newton, Mass., in 1842-'54. and was professor of modern languages in Waterville college (now Colby university) while residing in that city. He was editor of " The Christian Review " in Boston in 1842-'8, and editor of the various publications of the Baptist missionary union in 1854-'69. In 1875-'6 and 1880-'2 he visited the chief missionary stations in Europe and Asia. He received the de- ree of D. D. from Waterville college in 1854. Dr. mith had done a large amount of literary work, mainly in the line of hymnology, his most noted composition being the national hymn, " My Coun- try, Tis of Thee. which was written while he was a theological student and first sung at a children's celebration in the Park street church, Boston, 4 July, 1832. The missionary hymn, " The Morning Light is Breaking," was written at the same place and time. He translated from the German most of the pieces in the "Juvenile Lyre" (Boston, is:;-,'i. and from the " Conversations - Lexicon " nearly enough articles to fill an entire volume of the "" Encyclopaedia Americana" (1828-'32). His collections" of original hymns and poetry and poeti- cal translations have been published under the ti- tles of " Lyric Gems " (Boston. 1843) : ' The Psalm- ist," a in >ted Baptist hymn-book (1843) ; and " Rock of Ages " (1866 ; new ed., 1877). He had also pub- lished a " Life of Rev. Joseph Grafton " (1848) ; "Missionary Sketches "(1879; 2d ed.. 1883) : "His- tory of Newton. Mass." (1880) : " Rambles in Mis- sion-Fields " (1884) ; and contributions to numer- ous periodicals. His classmate, Oliver Wendell Holmes, in his reunion poem entitled " The Boys," thus refers to him :

" And there's a nice youngster of excellent pith :
Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith !
But he chanted a song for the brave and the free
Just read on his medal, ' My country, of thee ! '


SMITH, Sarah Louisa Hickman, poet, b. in Detroit, Mich.. 30 June. 1811 ; d. in New York city. 12 Feb., 1832. She wrote verses at an early MI;,-. was liberally educated at her home in Newton, Mass., and in 1829 married Samuel Jenks Smith, of Providence, R. I. They removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, in the same year, where she was a contributor to the " Gazette." Her verses evince a graceful fancy and poetic feeling, and her stanzas on " White Roses" are included in many collections. She publish,..! " Poems" (Providence, K. 1.. I Mill).