Person:William Smith (944)

... William Henry [Smith] was born in 1816, he was a precocious child and youth. At 15 years he entered Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg. At 18 was a first graduate receiving the highest honors. At 21 was assistant pastor of the English Lutheran Church at Charleston, S.C. The congregation of this church was as educated and refined as any in the U.S. The Senior pastor was Rev. John Buchanan, D.D. the father in law of the celebrated ornithological John Audubon himself one of the first scientific men in the south.

William married when in his 23rd year Catherine Carrie Trescot, the orphan daughter of Dr. John Lew Trescot a wealthy planter of St Johns parish near Charleston, S.C. Two daughters were left by him wealth unbounded but when they reached maturity they found themselves penniless, the guardian having squandered their wealth. Through their grandmother they were descended from one of the survivors of the massacre of St. Domingo. After a happy union of some years, she died suddenly of heart disease at Germantown, Pa, leaving a son William Henry Trescot Smith. At the commencement of the Rebellion he Volunteered in one of the Maryland regiments, afterward enlisted in the 76 Penn Volunteers, was desperately wounded in the assault of Fort Fisher, and died at a hospital in New York, is buried at Greenwood Cemetery, New York City.

The death of William’s wife prostrated him so much that for six weeks he was confined to his bed with brain fever, and when he arose he was a complete wreck in body and mind. At the advice of his physician he went to Europe. This was in 1853 where he died in 1863. His was a mind of first order. He had paid especial attention to Electricity and galvanism and his researches and experiments place him at the head of his day on these subjects. In the transactions of the Royal Society of Great Britain for 1854 & 1855 honorable mention is made of his discoveries and researches. ...

The Pennsylvania College, Books 1832-1882, By Gettysburg College. Alumni Association
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WILLIAM H. SMITH, the son of Lewis Smith, was born in Georgetown, D.C., October 8, 1816. Entered the Gettysburg Gymnasium and pursued his studies till graduation ; Philomathaean ; orator, contest 1834 ; salutatory ; entered the Lutheran ministry, and served congregations at Charleston, S.C., as assistant to Rev. Dr. J. Bachman ; at Barren Hill, Penn'a ; St. Louis, Missouri ; and also at Baltimore. Received degree M.D., where and when not ascertained. Dr. Smith gave much attention to scientific studies, especially to chemistry and electricity, and in their useful application made a number of inventions ; among others was one for the utilization of iron furnace slag, particularly for paving purposes ; in pushing its introduction, he visited London, England, where he died. Married May 28, 1840, to Caroline C. Trescott, Charleston, S.C.

Reports of Cases in Equity: Argued and Determined in the Court of Appeals ... By South Carolina. Court of Appeals, James Sanders Guignard Richardson
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[cos1776 Abstract - Carrie's father (Dr. John Sen Trescot) died in intestate in 1820 leaving two young daughters. Carrie's mother (Caroline C. Trescot) married Charles Follin and moved to New Orleans where she died in 1833. Carrie and her husband William H Smith thought that Carrie would inherit a substantial amount after her mother died, but that did not happen. In Feb 1843, Carrie and her husband brought suit against Maynard E. Carrere, administrator of the mother's estate, demanding that he provide an accounting of what Carrie's mother had done with the proceeds from her father's estate and what he had done with what was left over when her mother died. It appears that the court decided that Carrere did not have to produce the accounts and was not found responsible for any loss of perceived value of the estate.]