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islature from Frederick County. The absence of
probate records and an inability to accurately
document family background made it difficult to
distinguish between the two men. Either man might
have served in both the Lower House and Con-
ventions, or the service might have been split
between them.
One James Smith is spoken of in the records
as being of Antietam. This certainly must be the
man who is later a surveyor in Washington County,
and who moved to either Georgia or the Caro-
linas by the 1790s. He was a large landholder,
being charged with 2,532 acres in the debt books
in 1766. We may surmise that this is the man who
was a member of the Committee of Correspond-
ence for Frederick County and who was elected
to the Committee of Observation for the Upper
District of Frederick County in September 1775.
He was not reelected to the committee when the
next election was held on November 25, 1776. A
secondary source shows a brother, Joseph, who
also served on the Committee of Observation and
who appears as colonel of the 36th Battalion on
March 4, 1776. This James Smith may have had
sons named John, Thomas, and Robert, the latter
of whom was a possible Maryland legislator in
the period 1800-1803 and 1805. His daughters
may have been Margaret, who married Capt. John
Reynolds, and Sarah, who married on April 5,
1774, Joseph Reynolds.
The second James Smith appears to have lived
in Frederick County all of his life. He died in-
testate on April 2, 1804, and is buried at Mt.
Olivet Cemetery in Frederick County, his age
stated to be 67 years. He left one child, a daugh-
ter, who married John McPherson. This may well
be the James Smith who appears in the 1782 tax
list as living in Frederick Town. A 1798 tax list
for Frederick County shows a James Smith being
assessed in three different tax districts. According
to the 1800 census he was still living in Frederick
Town at that date, the owner of 12 slaves. This
James Smith was a Federalist, who served as a
petit jury member in 1795 and as a grand jury
member in 1798. One record calls him a merchant
in 1796. Officeholding was difficult to distinguish
for either man, as was religious affiliation. A James
Smith appears as a vestryman for All Saint's Par-
ish in Frederick County in 1769, and in 1772 a
man of the same name purchased a lot in Jeru-
salem Town for the Presbyterian Society.
SMITH, JAMES (ca. 1683-1760). BORN: ca. 1683.
NATIVE: second generation. RESIDED: in Ches-
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tertown, Kent County, after 1737. FAMILY BACK-
GROUND. FATHER: possibly Thomas Smith (1656-
1719). MOTHER: possibly Elinor, widow of Na-
thaniel Evett. STEPMOTHER: possibly Martha
Thomas (ca. 1680-1739). HALF BROTHER, pos-
sibly Thomas Smith (ca. 1710-ca. 1741/42). HALF
SISTER: possibly Martha (1712-?), who married
Richard Gresham (?-ca. 1773). MARRIED on Jan-
uary 21, 1705/6, Sarah, daughter of John Hynson
(?-1705). Sarah was the stepdaughter by 1693 of
Ann, who was the widow of Jonathan Grafton.
Sarah was the granddaughter of Thomas Hynson
(1620-ca. 1667/68). She was the niece of both
Charles Hynson (1663-1711), and Ann Hynson,
who married second, Joseph Wickes (ca. 1620-
1692), and third, St. Leger Codd (ca. 1634-ca.
1707/8). Her brothers were John Hynson(ca. 1670-
1708); Nathaniel Hynson (?-ca. 1721/22). Her sis-
ters were Mary; Elizabeth; Anne; and Jane. CHIL-
DREN. SONS: John (1706-1732); James (1714-?);
and William. DAUGHTERS: Hannah (1708/9-?),
who married first, on October 7, 1725, Edward
Scott (?-1729), son of Edward Scott (?-1725),
and second, Col. Joseph Nicholson (1709-ca. 1787)
of Chestertown, a merchant; Sarah (1711-?), who
married on August 11, 1730, Josias Ringgold;
Mary, who married first, on October 29, 1735,
her cousin Nathaniel Hynson, Jr. (?-1752), and
second, Samuel Wickes (?-1767); and Ann (1720-
1807), who married on January 22, 1740, Dr. Wil-
liam Murray. PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: lit-
erate. RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Anglican, St. Paul's
Parish, Kent County. SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIV-
ITIES: Gent., by 1719. OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE.
planter; officeholder. PUBLIC CAREER. LEGISLA-
TIVE SERVICE: Lower House, Kent County, 1719-
1721/22 (Laws 1-4). LOCAL OFFICES: clerk, Kent
County, 1707-1760; possibly deputy surveyor,
Kent County, by 1743; churchwarden and ves-
tryman, St. Paul's Parish, Kent County, 1711; St.
Paul's Parish Vestry, Kent County, 1716, 1724-
1726. MILITARY SERVICE: called captain, date un-
known. WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. LAND AT FIRST
ELECTION: 946 acres in Kent County (all by pur-
chase). SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN LAND BETWEEN
FIRST ELECTION AND DEATH: purchased 950 acres
in Kent County between 1722 and 1733, plus 1
lot in Chestertown in 1737 and a half lot in Ches-
tertown in 1759; patented 160 acres in 1722; sold
1,025 acres between 1724 and 1736, and lost 250
acres through a patent resurvey in 1743. WEALTH
AT DEATH. DIED: in March 1760 in Chestertown,
Kent County. PERSONAL PROPERTY: TEV, £306.0.0
sterling, £2,500.17.4 current money, 56,032 pounds
744
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