John Spear Smith
(1785-1866)
BIRTH
November 27, 1785
PLACE
DEATH
November 17, 1866
PLACE
FAMILY
FATHER
Samuel Smith
(1752-1839)
MOTHER
Margaret Spear Smith
(1758-1842)
SISTER
Laura Sophia Smith Hughes
(1795–1832)
HOMES
RELIGIOUS VIEWS
RELIGION NOT DOCUMENTED
DENOMINATION NOT DOCUMENTED
MEMBERSHIPS
MARYLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOUNDING PRESIDENT
AWARDS
John Spear Smith was a Baltimore lawyer, merchant and diplomat, and General Samuel Smith’s son. He served as an attaché in London in 1809–1810 and as his father’s aide during Baltimore’s defense in 1814. Later he became a longtime president of the Maryland Historical Society. Portrait catalogues anchor this independent career, but give 1786–1866, differing from the master’s 1785 birth and exact death day. Those dates conflict; his father’s offices are not his.
EARLY LIFE
John Spear Smith was born on Nov 27, 1785. The surviving biographical summary provides only limited evidence about childhood, schooling, and the daily circumstances of the household, so those details are not reconstructed here without documentation. What can be stated securely is that this person belonged to the interconnected family world from which HistoryGPS traces participants, relatives, and later descendants of the Revolutionary generation.
No distinct public profession or office for John Spear Smith is established by the source summary used for this entry. The surviving record is primarily genealogical and documents family identity rather than an independent public career. John Spear Smith died on Nov 17, 1866. Additional claims about employment, public service, or accomplishments have been omitted where the consulted source did not support them.
CAREER
DEATH
John Spear Smith died on Nov 17, 1866. John Spear Smith was a Baltimore lawyer, merchant and diplomat, and General Samuel Smith’s son. He served as an attaché in London in 1809–1810 and as his father’s aide during Baltimore’s defense in 1814. Later he became a longtime president of the Maryland Historical Society. Portrait catalogues anchor this independent career, but give 1786–1866, differing from the master’s 1785 birth and exact death day. Those dates conflict; his father’s offices are not his. The available account does not establish a medical cause or a dependable sequence of final symptoms and care.
POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
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