Samuel Harrison Smith (printer)

Samuel Harrison Smith
Born (1772-01-27)January 27, 1772
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died November 1, 1845(1845-11-01) (aged 73)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Known for Founder of the National Intelligencer
Spouse(s)
Margaret Bayard Smith
(m. 1800; her death 1844)
Children 4

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]

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."[2]

In 1813, Smith was appointed Commissioner of the Revenue for the United States Treasury Department by President Madison, and on September 30, 1814, Secretary of the Treasury, ad interim.

During the period 1809-19, he was president of the Bank of Washington and then president of the Washington branch of the Bank of the United States until the position was abolished in 1835.[3]

Personal life

On September 29, 1800, Smith was married to Margaret Bayard Smith (1778–1844),[4] his second cousin[5][6] and the daughter of John Bubenheim Bayard and Margaret Hodge Bayard. His wife was also a first cousin of U.S. Senator James A. Bayard, who was highly influential in the 1800 presidential election where Jefferson was elected.[7][4] 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:[8]

  • Julia Harrison Smith (b. 1801)
  • Susan Harrison Smith (b. 1804)
  • Jonathan Bayard Harrison Smith (1810–1889), a Washington D.C. lawyer who married Henrietta Elizabeth Henley, daughter of Com. John Dandridge Henley in 1842.[9][10]
  • Anna Maria Harrison Smith (b. 1811)

Margaret died on June 7, 1844,[8] and Samuel died a little over a year later on November 1, 1845 in Washington.[8]

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. 9.
  2. "U.S. Senate: No Hissing". www.senate.gov. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  3. United States Congress House (1803). Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  4. 1 2 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Dictionary of American Biography: Including Men of the Time ... and a Supplement. Houghton; Osgood. 1879. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  7. Smith, Margaret Bayard (1906). The First Forty Years of Washington Society.
  8. 1 2 3 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "article name needed". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.