Person:Roger Smith (15)

Family of Roger Smith

"He was a native of Maryland, born in Frederick County in 1790, and was of distinguished lineage. His father was Henry Smith, a cousin of Capt. John Smith of the American Revolution, and his mother, before marriage, was Catherine Queen, a granddaughter of Colonel Edward Pye. He was closely connected with such noted old Maryland families as the Brookes, Whartons, Doynes, Sewalls, Neales, Fenwicks, and Taneys." ¹¹

1809-1815: Religious Education

• "His preparatory studies for the priesthood were made in part at Mount St. Mary's College, Emmittsburg, but principally at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, where also he was ordained on October 2, 1815."¹¹
• Father Dubois was obliged from the beginning to employ one or more salaried teachers. His best assistants were, however, soon drawn from the number of his own pupils. Among these were the Rev. Roger Smith, afterwards attached to the Cathedral in Baltimore ...
• The log house or houses which Father Dubois had planned were not all built at once. The school, with Messrs. Smith and Monahan for assistant teachers, was conducted in the first one, containing six rooms, and this " White House," as it was called, remained standing and in use till April 11th,1901, when the last traces of it were removed.⁶

1815-1820: St. Ignatius, Hickory, Harford County, Maryland

• In 1815, St. Ignatius Church in Harford County became an established parish "with the appointment of the Rev. Roger Smith as pastor." ¹ Construction of St. Ignatius began in 1786 and was funded largely by Col. Ignatius Wheeler Jr., for whose patron saint the church is named. The first Mass was celebrated on Sept. 27, 1792.
• Being a remote parish, St. Ignatius had no parish residence, so Rev. Smith was obliged to reside at St. Mary's in Baltimore and commute to Harford county, a task he considered onerous.
• In 1816, Smith writes letters asking for a residence that was promised to him and threatens to "let everything go to rack, before I meddle or interfere," if not conveniently lodged.^2,3 He is denied his request and in the spring of 1817, "... he came to live near St. Ignatius, and made his home with his brother, Mr. Samuel Smith, a resident of the county, and who dwelt on his farm, located but a short distance from the chapel. Here Father Smith resided for the remainder of his term, which lasted until 1820, at which time he was called to Baltimore ..."³
• A note on church life at that time: County historian Clarence Joerndt wrote that the pew holders as of Jan. 1, 1819 numbered 36. Pew rents started at $12 per year but could be paid in commodities -- five bushels of rye or 15 cords of wood.¹

abt 1818: Smith and The Imprisonment of Morris Foley

• "The particulars of the transaction were nearly as follows. Roger Smith, late Rector of the cathedral before appointed to that station was priest at the Hickory, a few miles N.E. from Belle Air. During the time that he was the priest of Harford, M. Foley, (a tailor,) became careless in his attendance at the chapel. And when going through the country tailoring, he neglected to observe the fast days, and considering meat as good on Friday as any other day, did not refuse to eat it. Among his other offences is supposed, his having attended places of worship of protestants. Be this the whole or part of his offence, -Smith, is said to have sent by him to Baltimore to the then Archbishop a letter, the purport of which is supposed to have been, to confine Foley in the cathedral until he would positively swear off from ever going to hear Protestants, or having to do with them. Whether this was the substance of Smith's letter, it does not matter. Suffice it, that Foley was put in one of the cells, and was there kept for some length of time, during which he was not very well treated by the most reverend Archbishop, saving that he had as much intoxicating liquor as banished all ideas of religion from his mind, and entailed upon him an excess in intemperance from which he never recovered, but lived the remainder of his days a drunkard, and died as he lived. During his imprisonment, Foley was called upon in the most absolute manner and under punishment to declare off from even attending protestant churches."⁸

1819: Smith builds St. Patrick's parish in Conowingo

• In 1819 the Rev. Roger Smith purchased a half acre from Daniel Glacken for a church and a burial ground. ⁴ Located in Conowingo, Cecil county, Maryland, this became St. Patrick's parish.
• Daniel Glacken, brother of John Glacken sold the land to Father Smith for the sum of ten dollars.^1,7
• Father Smith served St. Patrick's in Cecil county and St. Ignatius in Harford County at the same time.

Smith returns to Baltimore where he is eventually appointed rector of the Cathedral

• ... Here [at the home of his brother Samuel] Father Smith resided for the remainder of his term, which lasted until 1820, at which time he was called to Baltimore, and some years after was appointed rector of the Cathedral.³
• 1822: St. Ignatius builds a 2nd mission church, St. John the Evangelist in Hydes, Maryland - [Note: Many relatives of the Smith family attended St. John and are buried there]
• 1825: Rev. Roger Smith writes letters speaking of celebrating Mass at Williamson's house - [6 - p 104 - fix citation]
• 1828-33: Rev. Roger Smith appointed rector of the Cathedral in Baltimore - [6 - p 59 - fix citation]
• 1833: Rev. Roger Smith resides in the parsonage at Saint Peter's in Baltimore. "The buildings constituting the parsonage, are roomy and convenient. Rev. Roger Smith and Rev. Mr. Windwright live in them."⁹

1. ↑ Joerndt, Clarence V. St. Ignatius, Hickory, and its missions. (Baltimore, Maryland: Publication Press, c1972).

   On Sept. 13, 1779, the Rev. Charles Sewall purchased from Martin Preston of Harford County 2 acres that were part of Denis' Choice to be the site of St. Ignatius Church. The church in Hickory was founded as a Jesuit mission. Part of the present chapel structure dates from the original chapel built in 1792. The church was dedicated by Archbishop John Carroll on Sept. 27, 1792. It became an established parish in 1815 with the appointment of the Rev. Roger Smith as pastor.
   
   p 255 - "From the deed by which the property was conveyed is quoted: "Now this indenture witnesseth that Daniel Glacken for and in consideration of the Sum of Ten Dollars, money of the United States to him in hand well and truly paid by the said Reverend Roger Smith at and before the ..."
   
   p 384 - "... Sacred to the memory of The Revd Roger Smith Born in Fredericktown Maryland ..."

2.   Rev. Roger Smith, in Hughes, Thomas. History of the Society of Jesus in North America
   2:301.

   On Sept. 27 (1816?), the Rev. R. Smith, stationed at Deer Creek, sent a pressing letter to Francis Neale, asking for the residence, which had been projected at his mission, and threatening to let everything go to rack, before I meddle or interfere, if not conveniently lodged (No. 176, C). The Corporation, on Feb. 14, 1816.
   
   1816, February 14. - ...resolved that the Rev. Roger Smith, who at present attends a congregation in Harford County, shall be allowed Two Hundred Dollars, in lieu of One Hundred and Eighty allowed him heretofore, to be paid him in the manner following, viz. $180 in quarterly payments from funded stock and the Balance (20) from the rents of Arabia Petraea when received.
   
   The $3000 having been invested by Archbishop Carroll in 6 per cent. stock, the $180 thus allowed Roger Smith from that stock was evidently the entire income of the same. In August of the same year, the Corporation saw an opportunity of selling the remaining plantation, though at a low rate (1816, Aug. 20)
   -----
   [much info about a land transaction - nothing about family]

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Preston, Walter Wilkes. History of Harford County, Maryland: from 1608 (the year of Smith's expedition) to the close of the War of 1812. (Baltimore, Maryland: Press of Sun Book Office, 1901)
   164.

   In 1815 Rev. Roger Smith was appointed to St. Ignatius. There was at that time no parochial residence for the pastor, the former one having been sold the previous year, as just stated. This was a serious inconvenience for Father Smith, as he was obliged to reside at St. Mary's Seminary, in Baltimore, whence for nearly two years he attended his distant charge. In the spring, however, of 1817, he came to live near St. Ignatius, and made his home with his brother, Mr. Samuel Smith, a resident of the county, and who dwelt on his farm, located but a short distance from the chapel. Here Father Smith resided for the remainder of his term, which lasted until 1820, at which time he was called to Baltimore, and some years after was appointed rector of the Cathedral.

4.   St. Patrick's Chapel website - History and Background.

   In 1819 the Rev. Roger Smith purchased a half acre from Daniel Glacken for a church and a burial ground. The church was built and the first religious service was held in 1819. The congregation consisted mostly of Irish immigrants working in the lumbering operation bordering the Susquehanna River and the canals on both sides of the river. They built a new church. They called it St. Patrick’s Chapel.

5.   Rev Roger Smith, in The Catholic Church in the United States of America : Undertaken to Celebrate the Golden Jubilee of His Holiness, Pope Pious X. (The Catholic Editing Company: New York)
   3:97.

   In 1815, Rev. Roger Smith received his appointment as first pastor of St. Ignatius'. There was then no rectory at The Hickory, and for lack of one, and possibly also for want of some more manifest good-will among the parishioners, he was obliged to lodge for nearly two years in Baltimore at St. Mary's Seminary. We could wish that more had been done for this saintly man, who states in one of his letters to his bishop that, after nine months' attendance from Baltimore, and defraying his traveling expenses, he had as yet not received a dollar. But times were hard and the people poor, and similar experiences may not have been uncommon elsewhere at that period. In the spring of 1817, Father Smith made his home with Samuel Smith, Esq., a brother, who was living on a farm one mile from the church.

6. ↑ Emmitsburg Area Historical Society website.

   ... The log house or houses which Father Dubois had planned were not all built at once. The school, with Messrs. Smith and Monahan for assistant teachers, was conducted in the first one, containing six rooms, and this " White House," as it was called, remained standing and in use till April 11th,1901, when the last traces of it were removed. ...
   ... Father Dubois was obliged from the beginning to employ one or more salaried teachers. His best assistants were, however, soon drawn from the number of his own pupils. Among these were the Rev. Roger Smith, afterwards attached to the Cathedral in Baltimore; ...

7.   st pats.htm The Glackin Clan website.

   In 1819, the Rev Roger Smith, from St. Ignatius parish in Hickory, MD bought a small parcel of land in the north west corner of Cecil County in Conowingo at Pilottown. The site of the planned new church was just a mile or so south of the Mason-Dixon Line on Mt. Pleasant Road. Conowingo was the northern river crossing for Philadelphia-Baltimore travelers. General Lafayette, Compte de Rochambeau and their American troops crossed here on their way to Yorktown in 1781.
   Daniel Glacken, brother of John Glacken sold the land to Father Smith for the sum of ten dollars. In this area in 1819, there were active lumber mills, iron works and canals on both sides of the Susquehanna River. Irish immigrants were the primary labor force for all of these industries. The new church at Conowingo, not surprisingly was called St. Patrick's. Because of the difficulties in horse travel in the early 1800's Mass was celebrated at St. Patrick's every 5th Sunday. The first half of the nineteenth century was a busy time at St. Patrick's with weddings, funerals, and baptisms recorded in the church records. Daniel Glacken was the first parishioner buried in the cemetery there. Additionally, John Glacken, his wife Ann McCue Glacken and their son Patrick are also buried in this cemetery. When the railroads came in the 1850s, commerce shifted away from the canals and the local population dwindled. The Chapel at St. Patrick's for the first of several times in its 188 year history was abandoned. Most wood buildings from this era are lost to us but St. Patrick's still stands as a testament to the faith of the early nineteenth century residents of Cecil County.

8.   Roger Smith, in "Imprisonment under the Cathedral, of Morris Foley, of Belle Air, Harford County, Md.," The Baltimore Literary and Religious Magazine, February 1840; 6; 2; Pg. 74.

   [article originally published Feb. 1840]
   - The particulars of the transaction were nearly as follows. Roger Smith, late Rector of the cathedral* before appointed to that station was priest at the Hickory, a few miles N.E. from Belle Air. During the time that he was the priest of Harford, M. Foley, (a tailor,) became careless in his attendance at the chapel. And when going through the country tailoring, he neglected to observe the fast days, and considering meat as good on Friday as any other day, did not refuse to eat it. Among his other offences is supposed, his having attended places of worship of protestants. Be this the whole or part of his offence, -Smith, is said to have sent by him to Baltimore to the then Archbishop a letter, the purport of which is supposed to have been, to confine Foley in the cathedral until he would positively swear off from ever going to hear Protestants, or having to do with them. Whether this was the substance of Smith's letter, it does not matter. Suffice it, that Foley was put in one of the cells, and was there kept for some length of time, during which he was not very well treated by the most reverend Archbishop, saving that he had as much intoxicating liquor as banished all ideas of religion from his mind, and entailed upon him an excess in intemperance from which he never recovered, but lived the remainder of his days a drunkard, and died as he lived. During his imprisonment, Foley was called upon in the most absolute manner and under punishment to declare off from even attending protestant churches.
   
   * This Roger Smith is the priest who forged the will in the infirmary and had it attested by two sisters of charity and a popish physician, in which they robbed a widow and her children of the property which her husband had left. - (See March No. of this Mag: for 1835)

9.   Varle, Charles. A complete view of Baltimore, with a statistical sketch: of all the commercial, mercantile, manufacturing, literary, scientific, and religious institutions and establishments, in the same and in its vi cinity for fifteen miles around, derived from personal observation and r esearch into the most authentic sources of information ... (Baltimore [Maryland]: Samuel Young, 1833)
   47.

   [1st. The Cathedral] ... Rev. Roger Smith, rector. ... 2. St. Peter's - Is situate at the intersection of Saratoga and little Sharp streets. It was built in 1776, and is consequently the oldest Catholic church in Baltimore. It is attached to the Cathedral. The buildings constituting the parsonage, are roomy and convenient. Rev. Roger Smith and Rev. Mr. Windwright live in them.

10.   The Baltimore Literary and Religious Magazine
    1:89, 91, Mar 1835.

    ... We refer to the Rev. Roger Smith, late rector of the Cathedral; he was well known, and in high repute as a Priest. In his last will and testament, art. 2, we read as follows: After my burial, "my brother is to give one hundred dollars to the Rev. Dr. Deluol, to have two hundred masses said for my poor soul." This will and testament can be found in the office of the Register of Wills for Baltimore County. Liber D.M.P. No. 14, folio 317. To its genuineness, we have John Scott, Esq. making oath, that he was well acquainted with the said Roger Smith, and believes it was written and subscribed by him.

11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7} United States Catholic Historical Society. Historical Records and Studies. (New York: United States Catholic Historical Society)
    5:386, Nov 1907.

    ... Upon the elevation of Doctor Whitfield to the archieposcopal chair, his faithful assistant at St. Peter's, Rev. Roger Smith, was promoted to the rectorship, being the fifth in succession after Father Sewall. He was a native of Maryland, born in Frederick County in 1790, and was of distinguished lineage. His father was Henry Smith, a cousin of Capt. John Smith of the American Revolution, and his mother, before marriage, was Catherine Queen, a granddaughter of Colonel Edward Pye. He was closely connected with such noted old Maryland families as the Brookes, Whartons, Doynes, Sewalls, Neales, Fenwicks, and Taneys. His preparatory studies for the priesthood were made in part at Mount St. Mary's College, Emmittsburg, but principally at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, where also he was ordained on October 2, 1815.
    
    St. Ignatius' Church, now called "The Hickory," but in Father Smith's time, and for a quarter century after, better known under the name Bel Air, was his first appointment - an appointment still made by Archbishop Carroll. This charge was a specially arduous one at that period, because a number of outer missions or congregations, some of them widely sundered, were attached to the head church, and because for two years the reverend pastor was obliged to continued his residence in Baltimore at the seminary, for the reason that no home was provided for him in his parish. Those outer missions included Carroll's or Doughoregan Manor; Williamson's Chapel, near Pikesville; Hunter's or Jenkin's Chapel, Long Green Valley; Captain Macatee's, or the Barrens, now Pylesville; Priestford, Deer Creek; Havre de Grace; and Conewingo, in Cecil County.
    
    Late in the summer of 1820, he was transferred to St. Peter's, where, it appears, he continued his residence ever after. He died April 3, 1833, aged forty-three years.
    
    Father Roger Smith was earnest, zealous, and straightforward in all his doings, and though of slight frame and delicate constitution was very successful in his ministry, being indefatigable in the work of his sacred calling. He was distinguished for his strong Christian faith, his simplicity of life and his all-embracing charity. He was the founder of a benevolent organization, "The Charitable Relief Society," established in 1827, which had for its object to befriend the poor and the afflicted, regardless of all distinctions as to denomination, age, sex, or color. "Equally dear to him, as in the sight of God, the salvation of the slave and his master, he was everywhere ready with his word of encouragement or reproof. The wealthy did homage to his virtue and the poor had the Gospel preached to them."
    
    His remains rest in Bonnie Brae Cemetery, and on his tomb are engraven these appreciative words: "He died a Martyr of his Zeal and Charity." ...