SMITH
SMITH
tile business. He was married in 17C5 to Su-
sanna, daughter of Col. Peter Bayard of Phila-
delphia, granddaughter of Samuel Bayard of
Bohemia manor, Md., and a descendant of Samuel
of Amsterdam. She was the author of: "A Win-
ter in Wasliington " (2 vols., 1827), and " What is
Clentility?" (1S30). iMr. Smitli was secretary of
the Pliiladelpliia committee of safety, 1775-77; a
delegate to the Continental congress, 1777-78;
prothonotary of the court of common pleas,
1777-78, and on Dec. 1, 1776, presided at the meet-
ing of the " Real Whigs," held at Philadelphia,
that decided on the drafting of men for the Conti-
nental army. He was commissioned lieutenant-
colonel of a battalion of associators in 1777. and
commanded the battalion; was justice of the
court of common pleas. 1778-81; an auditor of the
accounts of the Philadelphia troops in 1781; pro-
tlionotary of the county of Pliiladelphia, 1784-88;
was an alderman of Philadelphia, 1792-94, and
was elected auditor-general of the state in 1794.
He was a secretary of the conference to consider
the subject of a new Constitution for Pennsyl-
v;i:iia, and was a member of the committee to
draft an address to the people, which resulted in
a convention and a new Constitution. He was a
trustee of the College of New Jersey, 1779-1807;
of the University of the State of Pennsylvania,
1779-91, and of the University of Pennsylvania,
1791-1812. He died in Philadelphia, June 16. 1812.
SMITH, Joseph, naval officer, was born in
Boston, Mass.. Marcli 30. 1790. He was warranted
midshipman. U.S.N. , July 16, 1809; was commis-
sioned lieutenant. July 24. 1813, and served as 1st
lieutenant of the brig Eagle, taking part in the
battle of Lake Champlain, Sept. 11, 1814, where he
was severely wounded, and for his services receiv-
ing the thanks of congress and a silver medal. He
was attached to the frigate Constellation , of the
Mediterranean squadron, 1819-22; was promoted
commander, March 3, 1827, and captain, Feb. 9,
18."n, and commanded the Mediterranean squad-
ron, 1843—45, having for his flagship the frigate
Cumberland. Ho was chief of the bureau of
yards and docks,
1845-69; was re-
tired Dec. 21,
I n \- " w >^ ^^^^ ' P^o 'looted
/ ^ K.\ 11 \ \\^^^\. rear-admiral on »<':f4fc^ 'A \ 'Nl.X^ the retired list, / ir> f^\ "\ \- -^^^ July 10, 1862, and was presi- dent of the board for the examina- tion and promo- tion of officers, 1869-71. At the time of his death, he was senior officer in the navy, on the retired list. Ills son, Lieut. Joseph B. Smitli, acting commander of the
0.3 3L00P CU«ei,MlA«0.
Congre.ts. at Hampton Roads, Va., March 8, 1862,
was killed while that vessel was being driven from
her anchorage by the Merriinac, and upon the
capture of the Congress the Confederate com-
mander sent Lieutenant Smith's sword to Admiral
Smith, in Washington, under a flag of truce.
Admiral Smith died in Washington, Jan. 17, 1877.
SMITH, Joseph, Jr., founder of Mormonism,
was born in Sliaron, Vt., Dec. 23, 1805; son of
Joseph and Lucy (Mack) Smith; grandson of
Asael and Mary (Duty) Smith, and of Solomon
and Lydia (Gates) Mack, and a descendant of
Robert and JIary Smith, who emigrated from
England, and whose son Samuel was born in
Topsfield, Mass., Jan. 26, 1G06, and married Re-
becca Curtis. His parents removed from Tun-
bridge, Vt., to Royalton and subsequently to
Sharon, where he received a most limited educa-
tion and worked at times on a farm. The only
notewoi-thy fact in his boyhood is his inherited
susceptibility to visions, which he was accus-
tomed to narrate to his family. This liabit
.strengthened his own credulity in the super-
natural and prepared the way for the reception
of his chief revelation of an angel who disclosed
the burial-place of plates of gold, containing
"the fulness of the everlasting Gospel" and a
history of the former inhabitants of America.
This vision was followed by others in which he
claimed to receive divine instruction relating to
the possession of the mysterious Record. He was
married, Jan. 18, 1827. to Emma, daughter of
Isaac and Elizabeth Hale of Harmony, Pa. On
Sept. 22, 1827, having discovered the gold plates
in a hill near Manchester, N.Y., these were de-
livered into his keeping. He removed to his
wife's home in Pennsylvania, where he com-
menced, with the aid of two silver bows, the Urim
and Thummim so-called, the translation of the
Book of Mormon; the latter word, according
to his subsetiuent interpretation, being derived
from the Egyptian Mo7i, signifying yo'xl, and the
contracti(m of the English 7ho?t, meaning literally
mo7-e good. By dictation to his wife, to one Oliver
Cowdery, a schoolmaster, and to Christian Whit-
mer, a farmer, the translation of the Record was
accomplished, the work being first copyrighted,
June 11, 1829, and printed early in 1830. The
tenets of the creed consisted in belief in the
Trinity, in the punishment for personal but not
for Adam's transgression, in salvation through
the atonement of Christ, by baptism, in the Lord's
supper, the calling of preachers by inspiration, in
prophecy, revelation, healing, etc., in the Bible
and Book of Mormon, the restoration of the ten
lost tribes, and the literal restoration of the body.
It recognized two orders of priesthood, " Aaronic
and Melchezideck," governed by a prophet or
president, and the organization of the primitive
