Person:Preserved Smith (4)

Preserved Smith was ordained in 1814 in Warwick, MA and became pastor there. At the 50th anniversary of his ordination, he spoke about the spiritual wife-ism controversy that took place in the late 1770s.

An excerpt from the 1854 [sic; should be 1864] 50th anniversary speech as recorded in Charles A. Morse's 1973 _Warwick, Massachusetts: Biography of a Town_ (p. 88): "In the early part of Mr. Reed's ministry [his predecessor] there were several persons of both sexes some of whom I believe were members of his church who became new-lights and adopted what in modern times (1854) is called the 'free-love doctrine.' They had reached so great perfection in their own estimation that they were deluded with the idea that it was lawful to have spiritual husbands and wives, which of course led to the exchange of partners. If their religion began in the spirit it ended in the flesh."

Was Rev. Preserved Smith aware that his first cousin, twice removed-- Jerusha Smith-- was one of those affected by the controversy? (His great-grandfather, Chileab Smith, was brother to Jerusha's father, Samuel Smith.)

1. ↑ Joel N. Fowler
   Email of 24 June 2007, citing Packard, p. 319-320.

   Packard (p.319-20) tells us that Rev Preserved, the son, was born in Rowe in 1789, graduated Brown 1812, studied theology with his father and Packard's father, a Congregationalist. He was adm into Franklin Assn (of Congregationalists) in 1813, but ordained pastor of the Units in Warwick 1814, serving to 1844. Then preached several years at Pembroke, before removing to Deerfield.

2. ↑ Joel N. Fowler
   Email of 24 June 2007, citing Greenfield, MA vital records.

   Checking vital records reported to Mass, I see from Greenfield that he died Greenfield, 30 Jul 1881, age 92, of old age, as a Unitarian minister, born Ashfield, son of Rev Preserved, b Ashfield, and Eunice W, b Colchester, Conn.

3. ↑ Rowe (Massachusetts). Town Clerk. Records of births, marriages, intentions of marriage, and deaths, 1774- 1848. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1973)
   p. 4.

   Births in Rev'd Preserved &
   Eunice Smith's Family
   Preserved Smith Jun'r born
   August 1st 1789.

4. ↑ Massachusetts, United States. Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915
   Vol. 328, p. 321.

   Deaths Registered in the town of Greenfield for the Year eighteen hundred and eighty one.
   No.: 44
   Date of Death: July 30 [1881]
   Name: Preserved Smith
   Sex: M.
   Condition: M.
   Age: 92 [birth about 1789]
   Cause: Old Age
   Place of Death: Greenfield
   Occupation: Unitarian Minister
   Place of Birth: Rowe
   Parents: Rev. Preserved Smith / Eunice W. Smith
   Birthplaces of Parents: Ashfield / Colchester Conn.

5. ↑ Find A Grave: Warwick Cemetery, in Find A Grave
   Rev Preserved Smith.

   REV. PRESERVED SMITH
   Born in Rowe
   Aug. 1, 1789
   Died in Greenfield
   July 30, 1881.

6.   Franklin, Massachusetts, United States. 1850 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration Publication M432)
   line 17.
7.   Franklin, Massachusetts, United States. 1855 Massachusetts State Census
   right side, line 27.
8.   Franklin, Massachusetts, United States. 1860 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration Publication M693)
   line 36.
9.   Franklin, Massachusetts, United States. 1865 Massachusetts State Census
   right side, line 15.
10.   Franklin, Massachusetts, United States. 1870 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration Publication M593)
    line 21.
11.   Franklin, Massachusetts, United States. 1880 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration Publication T9)
    line 42.