Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/432

 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

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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