Josiah Smith (1704 - 1781)

Born 25 Dec 1704 in Charleston, Charleston County, Colony of South Carolina

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 19 Oct 1781 at age 76 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

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Biography

Rev. Josiah Smith performed Patriotic Service in the American Revolution.

Josiah Smith was born about 1704 in Charlestown, South Carolina. He was the son of George Smith (1674-1753) and Dorothy Elizabeth (Archar) Smith (1674-1732).

"1781 Major general Phillips of the British army died at Petersburg in Virginia in May. Josiah Smith minister in Charlestown South Carolina died at the age of 77 years.

He was born in Charlestown in 1704 and was graduated at Harvard College in 1725. He was the first native of Carolina who obtained a degree from a college and he, lieutenant governor William Bull Dr John Moultrie and Rev John Osgood of Dorchester were all the natives who obtained that honour for the first 90 years after the settlement of South Carolina . Mr Smith was a public preacher for 50 years and an author for 45. He was ordained in Boston as minister for Bermuda in 1726, and afterwards became pastor of the independent congregational church in Charlestown. He was a respectable preacher, a learned divine and a writer of considerable reputation. He published an octavo volume of sermons in 1752 and at different times several occasional discourses all of which were well received and are still highly esteemed. In 1781, he with the family of his son Josiah Smith, then a prisoner in St Augustine, were all ordered away from Charlestown and landed at Philadelphia, where shortly after he died. His venerable age, distinguished eminence in the church as a man of learning and piety, his steady patriotism and personal sufferings in the cause of liberty excited a general sympathy in his behalf. Though he died a stranger in a strange land he was particularly honoured. The presbyterians of Philadelphia directed that his body should be buried within the walls of their Arch street church and between the remains of his two friends the Rev Gilbert Tennent and Dr Samuel Finley, late president of Princeton College. "^[1][2]

Josiah Smith Biography

Josiah married his wife Elizabeth (Darrell) Smith (1710-1759) about 1730, in South Carolina. He died on 19 October 1781, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ^[3]

Source

1. ↑ Holmes, Abiel, The annals of America, from the discovery by Columbus in the year 1492, to the year 1826. Pub: 1819, Hilliard and Brown, Cambridge, Page 338 https://books.google.com/books?id=F7bFxUC4foYC&newbks=0&pg=PA338&source=bookclip&ci=224%2C851%2C689%2C427"
2. ↑ Dar: Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed 14 Jan 2021), "Record of Josiah Smith Sr", Ancestor # A106349.
3. ↑ Burial: Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 14 January 2021), memorial page for Rev Josiah Smith (25 Dec 1704–19 Oct 1781), Find A Grave: Memorial #92024217, citing Abington Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Abington, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, USA ; Maintained by ral (contributor 47814057) .