Smith, Charles Jeffery, 1740-1770

Charles Jeffery Smith was born near the village of Setauket, New York, on October 9, 1740. After graduating from Yale College in 1757, Smith became a Presbyterian minister. He spent 1760 and 1761 traveling in New Jersey, and by 1762 he had decided to become a missionary to the Native Americans. Soon after his ordination in 1763, Smith set off on a mission to the Indians of the Six Nations in upstate New York; but with the outbreak of Pontiac's Rebellion, he had to alter his plans. He then preached in small towns along the Hudson and in western Connecticut. In 1763, he embarked on another mission, spending six months in southern New Jersey, especially the Newark Mountains. In 1764, Smith returned to itinerant preaching in Connecticut. He then traveled to Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. Returning to Long Island in the summer of 1765, Smith married his first cousin Elizabeth Platt, and had a son, Elihu Platt Smith. On August 10, 1770, probably suffering from one of his recurrent bouts of severe headaches and depression, Smith shot and killed himself.

From the description of Charles Jeffery Smith papers, 1758-1908 (inclusive), 1758-1765 (bulk). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702168189

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