Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/621

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SMITH
SMITH

a commissioner to try piratrs. M:iny are told of him. On one occasion, his health being impaired, he was disturbed in his morning slumbers by a bellman going about the stivrts shouting that Gov. William Franklin's park and a hundred deer were to be sold that day. Mr. Smith put his head out of the window and said to the bellman : " Put up your bell and go home: 1 will buy the property at the owner's price." He then closed the win- dow and resumed his interrupted sleep. Another brother, Richard, member of the Continental con- gress, b. in Burlington, N. J., 22 March, 1735; d. near Natchez, Miss., in 1803, was carefully edu- cated, and devoted much time to literary pursuits. Part of his correspondence with Dr. Tobias Smol- lett at the beginning of the Revolution was pub- lished in the " Atlantic Monthly." He was chosen to the Continental congress in 1774, and served till 1776, when he resigned on account of the fail- ure of his health, and a probable reluctance to take further part against Great Britain. He died while on a journey through the southern states. John's grandson. John Jay, librarian, b. in Bur- lington county, N.J., 16 June' 1798 ; d. in Philadel- phia. Pa., 23 Sept., 1881, was educated at home, and from 1829 till 1851 was librarian of the Philadel- phia and Loganian libraries. He edited the " Sat- urday Bulletin" in 1830-'2, the " Daily Express " in 1832, " Littell's Museum " for one year, Walsh's " National Gazette," and Andrew J. Dpwning's " Horticulturist " in 1855-'60. He superintended more than 100 volumes that do not bear his name edited Walter Scott's " Life of Napoleon " (1827) " Celebrated Trials " (1835) ; " Animal Magnetism Report of Dr. Franklin with Additions" (1837) " Guide to Workers in Metals and Stones," with Thomas U. Walter (1846) ; " Designs for Monuments and Mural Tablets" (New York. 1846); "Letters of Dr. Richard Hill " (1854) ; and " North American Sylva"(3 vols., Philadelphia, 1857); and was the author of " Notes for a History of the Library Com- pany of Philadelphia " (1831).; " A Summer's Jaunt Across the Water " (1842) : and, with John P. Wat- son, "Historical and Literary Curiosities" (1846). John Jay's son, Lloyd Pearsall, librarian, b. in Philadelphia, 6 Feb., 1822 ; d. in Germantown, Pa., 2 July, 1886, was graduated at Haverford college, Pa., in 1836, became hereditary assistant and treas- urer in the Philadelphia and Loganian library, and in 1851 succeeded his father as librarian. He ed- ited " Lippincott's Magazine " in 1868-'70, compiled vol. iii. of the catalogue of books belonging to the Library company of Philadelphia, including the. index to the first three volumes, and, besides numerous magazine articles and pamphlets, was the author of " Report to the Contributors of the Pennsylvania Relief Association for East Tennes- see of a Commission of the Executive Committee sent to examine that Region " (Philadelphia, 1864) ; " Remarks on the Existing Materials for forming a Just Estimate of Napoleon I." (New York. 1865) ; " Remarks on the Apology for Imperial Usurpation contained in Napoleon's ' Life of Cassar ' " (1865) ; " Address delivered at Haverford College before the Alumni" (Philadelphia, 1869); "Symbolism and Science" (1885); and was the bibliographer of the order of the Cincinnati. Samuel's grandson, Sam- uel Joseph, poet, b. in Moorestown, N. J., in 1771; d. near Burlington, N. J., 14 Nov., 1835, was liberally educated, and, having inherited large wealth, lived on his estate, dividing his time be- tween his farm, literature, and public benefactions. Two of his lyrics are in " Lyra Sacra Americana," and his " Miscellanies," with a memoir, were pub- lished (Philadelphia, 1836).


SMITH, Samuel. soldier, b. in Lancaster, Pa., 27 July. 1 7.12 ; d. in Baltimore, Md., 22 April, 1839. His father. John, a native of Strabane, Ireland, removed about 1759 to Baltimore, where he was for many years a well-known merchant. In 1763 he was one of the commissioners to raise money by lottery to erect a market-house in Baltimore, and in 1706 was une of the commissioners to lay off an addi- tion to the town. On 14 Nov., 1769, he was chair- man of a meeting of the merchants to prohibit the importation of European goods, and on 31 May. 1774, was appointed a member of the Haiti- more committee of correspondence. In 1774 he was also appointed one of the justices of the peace, and in November became one of a committee of observation whose powers extended to the general police and local government of Baltimore town and county, and to the raising of forty companies of " minute-men." The Continental congress hav- ing recommended measures for procuring arms and ammunition from abroad, he was appointed on the committee for that purpose from Baltimore. On 5 Aug., 1776, he was elected a delegate to the con- vention that was called to frame the first state constitution. In 1781 he was elected to the state senate, and in 1786 was re-elected. Samuel, son of John, spent five years in his father's count- ing-room in acquiring a commercial education, and sailed for Havre, France, in 1772, as super- cargo of one of his father's vessels. He travelled extensively in Europe, and returned home after the battle of Lexington. He offered his services t" Maryland and was appointed in 1776 captain of the 6th company of Col. William Smallwood's regi- ment of the Maryland line. In April, 1776, Capt. James Barren intercepted on the Chesapeake bay a treasonable correspondence between Gov. Robert Eden (q. v.) and Lord George Germaine, and Gen. Charles Lee, who commanded the department, or- dered Capt. Smith to proceed to Annapolis, seize the person and papers of Gov. Eden, and detain him until the will of congress was known. Upon his arrival at Annapolis the council of safety forbade the arrest, claiming that it was an undue assumption of authority. His regiment did eminent service at the battle of Long Island, where it lost one third of its men. He took a creditable part in the battles of Harlem and White Plains, where he was slightly wounded, and in the harassing retreat through New Jersey. He was promoted to the rank of major, 10 Dec., 1776, and in 1777 to that of lieutenant-colonel of the 4th Maryland regiment, under Col. James Carvill Hall. He served with credit at the attack on Staten island and at the Brandywine. and, upon the ascent of the British fleet lip the Delaware, was detached by Washington to the command of Fort Mifflin. In this naked and exposed work he maintained himself under a continued cannonade from 26 Sept. till 11 Nov., when he was so severely wounded as to make it necessary to remove him to the Jersey shore. For this gallant defence congress voted him thanks and a sword. When he was not entirely recovered from the effects of his wound, he yet took part in the hardships of Valley Forge. He took an active part in the battle of Monmouth. Being reduced, after a service of three years and a half, from affluence to poverty, he was compelled to resign his commission, but continued to do duty as colonel of the Baltimore militia until the end of the war. In July, 1779, he was challenged to fight a duel with pistols by Col. Eleazer Oswald, one of the editors of the Maryland "Journal," published at Baltimore. The trouble grew out of the publication in the ' Journal " of Gen. Charles