Samuel Harrison Smith (printer)

Samuel Harrison Smith (January 27, 1772 – November 1, 1845) was an American journalist and newspaper publisher. He founded the National Intelligencer at Washington in 1800.[1] He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1797.[2]

This article is about the American printer. For the religious leader, see Samuel H. Smith (Latter Day Saints).
Samuel Harrison Smith
Born(1772-01-27)January 27, 1772
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedNovember 1, 1845(1845-11-01) (aged 73)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Known forFounder of the National Intelligencer
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1800; died 1844)​
Children4

Career

In 1800, Smith founded National intelligencer, and Washington advertiser, which became the dominant newspaper of the capital. Joseph Gales joined the newspaper becoming his assistant in 1807, and took over the paper as its sole proprietor in 1810.

Smith was a friend, confidant and counselor to the third U.S. President Thomas Jefferson. In February 1801, Smith published Jefferson's Manual, "A Manual of Parliamentary Practice for the Use of the Senate of the United States."[3]

In 1813, Smith was appointed Commissioner of the Revenue for the United States Treasury Department by President Madison. On September 30, 1814, he was appointed as Secretary of the Treasury, ad interim, until a new cabinet officer was chosen.

During the period 1809–19, Smith served as president of the Bank of Washington. He served as president of the Washington branch of the Bank of the United States from 1819 until the position was abolished in 1835.[4]

Personal life

Smith was the son of Jonathan Bayard Smith, signatory to the Articles of Confederation.[5] On September 29, 1800, Smith married Margaret Bayard (1778–1844),[6] his second cousin[7][8] and a daughter of John Bubenheim Bayard and Margaret (Hodge) Bayard. His wife was a first cousin of U.S. Senator James A. Bayard, who was highly influential in the 1800 presidential election where Jefferson was elected.[9][6]

They moved to Washington, DC, the new seat of government. Soon after the birth of their first child was born in 1801, the family bought a farm, Turkey Thicket, three miles from town (now part of Catholic University). They renamed the farm Sidney. Together, they were the parents of:[10]

  • Julia Harrison Smith (b. 1801)
  • Susan Harrison Smith (b. 1804)
  • Jonathan Bayard Harrison Smith (1810–1889), became a lawyer in the capital and married Henrietta Elizabeth Henley, daughter of Com. John Dandridge Henley in 1842.[11][12]
  • Anna Maria Harrison Smith (b. 1811)

Margaret died on June 7, 1844.[10] Samuel died a little more than a year later on November 1, 1845 in Washington.[10]

References
Notes
  1. Hughes, Thomas Patrick. American ancestry: giving the name and descent, in the male line, of Americans whose ancestors settled in the United States previous to the Declaration of Independence, A.D. 1776. Vol. 9.
  2. "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  3. "U.S. Senate: No Hissing". www.senate.gov. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  4. United States Congress House (1803). Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  5. Mclachlan, James (1976). Princetonians, 1748-1768 A Biographical Dictionary. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 326. ISBN 9781400870776. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  6. Smith, Margaret Bayard; Hunt, Gaillard (1906). The First Forty Years of Washington Society, Portrayed by the Family Letters of Mrs. Samuel Harrison Smith (Margaret Bayard) from the Collection of her Grandson, J. Henley Smith. New York: C. Scribner's sons. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  7. Newell, Aimee E. (March 15, 2014). A Stitch in Time: The Needlework of Aging Women in Antebellum America. Ohio University Press. ISBN 9780821444757. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  8. Dictionary of American Biography: Including Men of the Time ... and a Supplement. Houghton; Osgood. 1879. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  9. Smith, Margaret Bayard (1906). The First Forty Years of Washington Society. New York, Scribner.
  10. Bulloch, Joseph Gaston Baillie (1919). A History and Genealogy of the Families of Bayard, Houstoun of Georgia: And the Descent of the Bolton Family from Assheton, Byron and Hulton of Hulton Park, by Joseph Gaston Baillie Bulloch ... J. H. Dony, Printer. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  11. Meigs, John Rodgers (2006). A Civil War Soldier of Christ and Country: The Selected Correspondence of John Rodgers Meigs, 1859-64. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252030765. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  12. American Ancestry: Giving the Name and Descent, In The Male Line, of, Americans Whose Ancestors Settled in the United States Previous to the Declaration of Independence A.D. 1776., Vol. IX. Albany, New York: Joel Munsell's Sons, Publishers. 1894. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
Sources
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