Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/428

 SMITH

SMITH

extensive explorations and made maps of the Che.siii)eake Bav and the neigliboring country. He vvius chosen president of the council Sept. 10, IGOS. and set to work buiUiing up tiie colony. But the new colonists brought by Captain New- port became discontented, and jealousy arose between Smith and Newport and Rjitcliffe, who conspired to depose him, and their reports to the king of the administration of the colony induced the monarch to make a new charter. Lord Dela- ware was made governor and set sail in May, 1G09. with nine vessels and over five hundred emigrants. The ship Sea Venture carrying the king's commissions was wrecked on the Bermudas, and on the arrival of the other ships in August, Smith refused to relinquish his office. The new colonists were composed of the most dissolute characters in England, and it was only by strict enforcement of his authority' that Smith saved the whcde colony from anarchy. On his return to Jamestown from an exploring expedition he fi>und R^itcliffe and Archer in power, and he was compelled to flee to England, arriving in 1609. In 16 U he was sent out on a private venture to New England by some merchants of London, and ex- plored the coast from Penobscot to Cape Cod; named the country New England and returned to London in six months with a large cargo of codfish. He made several unsuccessful attempts to found a colony in New England; was captured by a French man-of-war, but escaped; was given the title of Admiral of New England, and devoted the last years of his life to recording his adven- tures. He is the author of A True Relation (1608, new edition, 1867); A Map of Virginia (1611i); A D'scription of New England (1616, reprinted, 1792; 1^36 and 1805); Neu- England's Trials (1620, new edition, 1622); Generall Historic of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles (1624); True TVaveh {\(j''jO); An Accidence for Young Seamen (1626). and Advertisements for the Inexperienced PlantPTS of New England (1631, new ed.. 1865). He died in London, Eng., June 21, 1631, and was buried in the clioir of St. Sepulchre church.

SMITH, John, senator, was born in Hamilton county, Oiiio, in 1735. He was mainly self-edu- cated, prejtared for the ministry and was the first pastor of the First Baptist church in Columbia, Ohio, in 1790. He was a member of the 1st and 2d territorial legislatures, 1799-1803; and was elected as a Democrat one of the first U.S. senators from the state of Ohio, drawing the long term and serving from April 21, 1803, until his resignation, Feb. 23, 1808. In 1804 he was sent by President Jefferson on a special mission to Louisiana, and was afterward charged with having been connected with the conspiracy of Burr, his personal friend, and Blennerliasset. Although the motion made to expel him from

the senate failed by one vote, he immediately resigned liis seat in that body and Return Jona- than Meigs completed his term. See '* Notes on Northwestern Terr i tor j-," by Jacob Burnet (1S47). He died in Hamilton county, Ohio, June 10, 1810.

SMITH, John, senator, was born in Mastic, L.I., N.Y., Feb. 12, 1752. He was educated in the best schools, served as a member of the state assembly, 1784-99, was a delegate to the state convention of 1788 whicii ratified the Federal constitution; a Democratic representative in the 6th, 7th and 8th congresses, 1799-1804; resigning in February, 1804. to take his seat in the U.S. senate, to wiiich he had been chosen to complete the term of DeWitt Clinton, who had resigned to become mayor of New York city in 1803, and John Armstrong served as his successor until a meet- ing of the legislature in January, 1804, when he resigned and Smith was elected to complete the term of Clinton. He took his seat Feb. 23, 1804, the term expiring March 3, 1807. and was re- elected in 1807 for a full term expiring March 3, 1813. He supported the administrations of Jefferson and Madison; was U.S. marshal for the district of New York, 1813-16, and major-general of the New Y'ork militia at the time of his death, wliich occurred at Mastic, N.Y''., Aug. 12, 1816.

SMITH, John, representative, was born in Barre, Mass., Aug. 12, 1789; son of Deacon Sam- uel Smith. The family removed to St. Albaus, Vt., in 1800, and after studying law with his brother- in-law, Roswell Hutcliins, John was admitted to the bar in 1810, and practised in partnership with Benjamin Swift. He was married Sept. 18, 1814, to Maria W. Curtis, of Troy, N.Y''., and they had two sons, John G. (q.v.)and Worthington C. (q.v.). He represented St. Albans in the general assem- bly, 1827-38, and wasspeaker of the house, 1832-33. He was state's attorney for Franklin county, 1827-33, and was a Democratic representative from Vermont in the 26th congress, 1839-41, being defeated for re-election in 1840. In 1845 he became interested in railroad enterprises, and to him is due, with Joseph Clark and Samuel Brainerd, the credit of the building of the Ver- mont and Canada railroad, for which they raised $350,000 on their personal credit. He died in St. Albans, Vt., Nov. 20, 1858.

SMITH, John Augustine, physician and edu- cator, was born in Westmoreland county, Va., Aug. 29, 1782; son of the Rev. Thomas and Mary (Smith) Smith; grandson of Gregory and Lucy (Cooke) Smith; and of John Smith and Mary (Jaquelin) Smith, and a descendant of John Smith, of Warwick, Va., speaker of the House of Burgesses of Virginia in 1658. He was grad- uated from the College of William and Mary in 1800, and began the practice of medicine in New Y'ork city in 1801). He was married in 1809, to