SMITH, JOHN (?-1738).
RESIDED: at Hall's Creek, Calvert County.
FAMILY BACKGROUND.
BROTHER: possibly George (?-1704), of Baltimore 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 AFFILIATION: Anglican, All Saints' Parish, Calvert County.
SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIVITIES: requested permission of the Assembly to go home in May 1704, as his brother was very ill.
OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE: planter; merchant, in partnership with a "Mr. Hunt," probably William Hunt, merchant of London.
PUBLIC CAREER.
LEGISLATIVE SERVICE: Lower House, Calvert County, 1701-1704 (Accounts 1-3, 5).
OTHER PROVINCIAL 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, Calvert County, 1704-1710, 1713-1729; commissioner 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.
IDENTIFICATION 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 vestrymen in 1704. The legislator is almost certainly John Smith of Hall's Creek, who married into the prominent Hall family, which was also represented in the 1701-1704 Assembly by two brothers 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 generation of this John Smith's family continued to have extensive ties with legislators.
John Smith of Coxtown (?-1717/18) married ca. 1706 Dorothy, 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. ...
