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A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 by Edward C. Papenfuse, et. al.
Volume 426, Page 745   View pdf image (33K)
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BIOGRAPHIES SMI

of tobacco (including 9 slaves, books). LAND: ca.
780 acres, plus one and a half lots in Chestertown.

SMITH, JOHN (?-1655). IMMIGRATED: by Oc-
tober 1654, as a free adult. RESIDED: in Patuxent
(later became Calvert County). MARRIED Mary.

CHILDREN. DAUGHTER: Mary. PRIVATE CAREER.

EDUCATION: probably literate. RELIGIOUS AFFIL-
IATION: Protestant. SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIVI-
TIES: called captain on first appearance in records.

OCCUPATION AL PROFILE: planter. PUBLIC CAREER.

LEGISLATIVE SERVICE: Parliamentary Commis-
sion, 1654-1655. OTHER PRO VINCI AL OFFICE. JUS-

tice, Provincial Court, 1654-1655. MILITARY
SERVICE: captain, 1654-1655; mustermaster gen-
eral, 1655; commander, Patuxent, 1655. WEALTH

DURING LIFETIME. LAND: at least 100 acres. WEALTH

AT DEATH. DIED: by December 25, 1655. Peter
Godson was charged on December 26, 1655, with
causing the death of Smith by taking too much
blood from him. LAND: at least 100 acres.

SMITH, JOHN (?-1738). RESIDED: at Hall's
Creek, Calvert County. FAMILY BACKGROUND.
BROTHER: possibly George (?-1704), of Balti-
more County. MARRIED first, by 1687, Lucia,
daughter of Richard Hall (?-1688). Her brothers
were Elisha Hall (1663-ca. 1716/17); Joseph (1665-
1705); Benjamin Hall (1667-1721); and Aaron
(1669-1705). Her sisters were Rachel (1671-1730),
who married Walter Smith (?-1711); Elizabeth
(1673-1743); and Sarah (1677-?), who married
Robert Bradley (?-1724). MARRIED second, after
April 1702, Sarah (?-1747), widow of Daniel
Sheredine (?-1700). CHILDREN. SON: John (ca.
1719-1759), Gent., of Calvert County, who was
a captain by 1743, a major at death, and who
married by 1743 Mary Hamilton, daughter of Dr.
John Hamilton. STEPSON: Thomas Sheredine (1699-
1752). DAUGHTERS: Sarah, who married first,
William Richardson, probably the son of William
Richardson (?-1698), and second, Joseph Hall (ca.
1701-?); Rachel, who married by 1734 Thomas
Gantt (ca. 1710-1785); and Jane (?-by 1737),
who married (first name unknown) Holland.
STEPDAUGHTER: Elizabeth Sheredine. PRIVATE

CAREER. EDUCATION: literate. RELIGIOUS AFFILI-
ATION: Anglican, All Saints' Parish, Calvert
County. SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIVITIES: re-
quested permission of the Assembly to go home
in May 1704, as his brother was very ill. OCCU-
PATIONAL PROFILE: planter; merchant, in part-
nership with a "Mr. Hunt," probably William
Hunt, merchant of London. PUBLIC CAREER. LEG-

ISLATIVE SERVICE: Lower House, Calvert County,
1701-1704 (Accounts 1-3, 5). OTHER PROVIN-
CIAL OFFICE: justice, Provincial Court, 1726-1735.
LOCAL OFFICES, justice, Calvert County, 1700-
probably 1712, by 1714/15-ca. 1726, sitting as
chief justice, 1724; All Saints' Parish Vestry, Cal-
vert County, 1704-1710, 1713-1729; commis-
sioner to lay out ports, Calvert County, 1706;
probably sheriff, Calvert County, 1712-1713.
MILITARY SERVICE: probably captain, by 1712;
colonel, by 1722. WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. LAND
AT FIRST ELECTION: at least 700 acres (acquired
through first wife). WEALTH AT DEATH. DIED: will
probated on April 25, 1738, in Calvert County.
PERSONAL PROPERTY: TEV, 393 barrels of corn,
99 bushels of wheat, 53,566 pounds of tobacco,
£219.17.8 sterling, £78.13.9 gold, and £2,765.14.1
current money (including 39 slaves, 1 servant, 91
oz. plate, and 34 books); FB, 364 barrels of corn,
92.5 bushels of wheat, 24,806 pounds of tobacco,
£128.13.2 sterling, £44.1.9 gold, and £1,685.17.7
current money before distribution to heirs. IDEN-
TIFICATION PROBLEMS. There were two prominent
John Smiths in All Saints' Parish, Calvert County,
in 1701: John Smith of Hall's Creek and John
Smith of Coxtown. Both were admitted as ves-
trymen in 1704. The legislator is almost certainly
John Smith of Hall's Creek, who married into the
prominent Hall family, which was also repre-
sented in the 1701-1704 Assembly by two broth-
ers and another brother-in-law. This John Smith
was a sitting justice in 1701 at a time when it was
very rare for a delegate not to have served, or be
currently serving, on the bench. The next gen-
eration of this John Smith's family continued to
have extensive ties with legislators. John Smith
of Coxtown (?-1717/18) married ca. 1706 Dor-
othy, widow of both Michael Taney (?-1702) and
Richard Blundell (?-1705), and daughter of Roger
Brooke (1637-1700). He became a justice by 1714/
15 when his name appears last on the list of men
officiating at a court session in Calvert County.
Although he controlled at least 1,000 acres of
Taney land after his marriage, he does not appear
to have been of comparable status to John Smith
of Hall's Creek in 1701.

SMITH, JOHN (1722-1794). BORN: in 1722, near
Strabone, County Tyrone, Ireland; probably only
son. IMMIGRATED in 1759 with his father, wife,
and at least four children from Lancaster, Cum-
berland County, Pennsylvania. RESIDED: in Ire-
land until 1728; Pennsylvania until 1759; Balti-
more Town, Baltimore County, in a house at the

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A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 by Edward C. Papenfuse, et. al.
Volume 426, Page 745   View pdf image (33K)
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