Smith, Meriwether, 1730-1790

Variant names

Dates:

Birth 1730

Death 1794

Birth 1730

Death 1790-01-25

Gender:

Male

Nationality: Britons, Americans

Language: English

Biographical notes:

Meriwether Smith (1730 – January 25, 1790) was an American planter and statesman from Essex County, Virginia.

Born at Bathurst, his family's estate near Dunnsville in Essex County in the Colony of Virginia, Smith completed preparatory studies before undertaking planting. He was first elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1770. He was a vocal opponent of the 1765 Stamp Act and a representative in the revolutionary conventions that replaced the burgesses in 1775 and 1776. Smith was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1778, 1779, and 1780, although he did not serve the 1779 term. He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1776 to 1778 and again in 1781. In 1788, Smith was a member of the Virginia convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution; an Anti-Federalist, he voted against ratification.

Smith died at Marigold, near Ozeana in Essex County and was buried in a family plot on the grounds of Bathurst.