Smith, Meriwether, 1730-1790

<ul><b>RACES</b>
<li>09/01/1790 VA District 7 Lost 39.26% (-0.23%)</li>
<li>02/02/1789 VA District 07 - Initial Election Lost 17.05% (-46.90%)</li>
<li>01/07/1789 VA Presidential Elector Lost 13.53% (-56.52%)</li>
<li>06/01/1788 Virginia Ratifying Convention Won 39.63% (+10.37%)</li>
<li>12/31/1780 VA Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1779 VA Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1778 VA Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1777 VA Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
</ul>

<p>Meriwether Smith (1730 – January 25, 1790) was an American planter from Essex County, Virginia.</p>

<p>Smith 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. He 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 he was a member of the Virginia convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution; an Anti-Federalist, he voted against ratification.</p>

<p>Smith was married twice, first to Alice Lee in 1760 and after her death to Elizabeth Daingerfield in 1769. His son by Alice was George William Smith who was Governor of Virginia from part of 1811. Meriwether died in Essex County, and was buried in a family plot on his plantation, "Bathurst."</p>

SMITH, Meriwether, a Delegate from Virginia; born at ``Bathurst,'' near Dunnsville, Essex County, Va., in 1730; completed preparatory studies; was a signer of the Westmoreland Association in 1766; member of Essex Committee on Safety in 1774; member of the House of Burgesses in 1774 and 1775; delegate to the Revolutionary conventions of 1775 and 1776; member of the state house of delegates 1776-1778; member of the Continental Congress 1778-1779 and 1781; again a member of the state house of delegates in 1781, 1782, 1785, and 1788; delegate to the state ratification convention in 1788; died at ``Marigold,'' near Ozeana, Essex County, Va., January 25, 1790; interment on his estate at ``Bathurst,'' near Dunnsville, Essex County, Va.