Thomas Smith Jr.
Thomas Smith | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Virginia House of Delegates for Mathews County | |
| In office October 1, 1792 – December 3, 1797 Serving with Holder Hudgins | |
| Preceded by | position created |
| Succeeded by | William Buckner |
| Member of the Virginia House of Delegates for Gloucester County | |
| In office Oct 18, 1790 – , 1791 Serving with John Billups | |
| Preceded by | Mordecai Cooke |
| Succeeded by | James Baytop |
| In office May1, 1780 – Oct 18, 1789 Serving with Thomas Peyton, John Page, James Hubbard, Mann Page Jr. | |
| Preceded by | John Whiting |
| Succeeded by | Mann Page |
| Personal details | |
| Born | |
| Died | |
| Parents |
|
| Relatives | Rev. Armistead Smith (brother) Thomas Smith (Gloucester politician)(nephew) |
| Alma mater | College of William & Mary |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | .svg.png){kind=small} United States |
| Branch/service | Virginia Militia |
| Rank | major |
Thomas Smith (circa 1755 – circa 1800) was an American lawyer, militia officer and politician in Virginia who represented Gloucester then newly created Mathews County in the Virginia House of Delegates for most of the years between 1780 and 1796, as well as Gloucester County in the Virginia Ratifying Convention in 1788.[1] The first of six men of the same name to serve in the Virginia General Assembly, his relationship to Sir Thomas Smith, Treasurer of the Virginia Company in the 17th century is unclear.
Early life and education
The eldest son born to twice-married Capt. Thomas Smith was born before the American Revolutionary War, in which his father served in the 1st Virginia Regiment. He and his brother Armistead studied at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg during the conflict (1776-1778); both brothers were among the founders of Phi Beta Kappa society, with this man as its first secretary.[1] His brother was ordained as a minister in the Episcopal Church in 1793 and became rector of Kingston Parish, then historic Ware and Abington parishes.[2]
Career
This Thomas Smith would inherit the family home (built around 1730), once known as "Centerville" but renamed at some time after his death as "Woodstock."[3] Like his father, Smith farmed (or operated maritime businesses) using enslaved labor. The 1787 tax census for Gloucester County included two men of the same name, one of whom owned one enslaved adult and one enslaved child, as well as two horses and ten cattle, and the other of whom owned 28 adult slaves, 30 enslaved children, 12 horses, 49 cattle and a 4-wheeled phaeton.[4]
This Thomas Smith began his public career on the Kingston parish vestry by 1782, and was re-elected many times, as well as served as the parish's delegate to the convention that founded the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1787. His father had served on the Kingston parish vestry since at least 1757, and both men served jointly several times, including in 1785 and 1792.[5] According to surviving parish records, both men had enslaved people baptised in the parish beginning in 1760 through 1777.
Gloucester County voters first elected this Thomas Smith as one of their representatives to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1780, and repeatedly re-elected him alongside other men (Thomas Peyton, John Page five times, James Hubbard, Mann Page Jr.) until 1789 (when Mordecai Cooke served alongside Mann Page).[6] This man also represented Gloucester County in the Virginia Ratifying Convention in 1788, when alongside Warner Lewis, he voted to ratify the federal constitution.[7]
In the 1790 legislative session, this man and Mordecai Cooke represented Gloucester County when fellow legislators at the urging of speaker (and Brigadier General) Thomas Mathews split off Kingston parish (and part of Mathews Parish) to form Mathews County.[8] Both this man and his father (the County's first sheriff in 1792) accepted the new county's seal (signifying its shipbuilding history) from Governor Mathews on February 11, 1793.[9] While his father became the new county's first sheriff (a lucrative position in this era when such could earn a commission for collecting taxes), this man and founding shipbuilder (and fellow planter) Houlder Hudgins then represented the new county in the Virginia House of Delegates.[10]
Death and legacy
Neither this man nor his father appear in the 1800 federal census (perhaps because those records for Mathews County),[11] though the historic Ware Parish Church in Gloucester has a gravestone commemorating his brother Rev. Armistead Smith. His nephew (Armistead's son) Thomas Smith would represent Gloucester County early in the 19th century.
References
- ^ a b Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, ed. (1915). Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography. Vol. II. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p. 360.
- ^ History And Progress: Mathews County, Virginia (reprints from 1949 and 1979 Special Editions Gloucester-Mathews Gazette Journal (Mathews County Historical Society 1988) p. 81
- ^ Mathews County Historical Society (1988) p. 81
- ^ Netti Schreinter Yantis and Florene Speakman Love, The 1787 Census of Virginia (Springfield VA: Genealogical Books in Print, 1987) pp. 1012, 1022
- ^ The Vestry Book of Kingston Parish 1679-1796 (Richmond: Old Dominion Press 1929) pp. 62, 71, 118-130
- ^ Cynthia Miller Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library) pp. 137, 142, 145, 149, 153, 156, 160. 164, 169
- ^ Leonard p. 172
- ^ Leonard p. 179
- ^ Mathews County Historical Society (1988) p. 5
- ^ Leonard pp. 188, 192, 196, 200, 204
- ^ https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Mathews_County,_Virginia_Genealogy