Smith, Josiah, 1731-1826

Merchant and public official of South Carolina.

From the description of Josiah Smith diary, 1780-1781. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70984401

Charleston, South Carolina merchant and financial agent born in Cainhoy, St. Thomas's Parish, South Carolina. Josiah Smith, Jr. married Mary Stevens (1741-1795). During the American Revolution Smith served in the South Carolina General Assembly and as agent for the United States lottery. A patriot, Smith was taken prisoner during the siege of Charleston. After the war Smith returned to the mercantile business, then later became cashier of the Branch Bank of the United States (1790-1810).

From the description of Diary of Josiah Smith, Jr. : one of the exiles from Charleston to St. Augustine during the British occupation, 1780-1781, 1780-before 1932. (The South Carolina Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 32141208

Josiah Smith Jr. was a Charleston, S.C., merchant, financial agent, and Revolutionary War patriot. He was born in Cainhoy, St. Thomas's Parish, S.C. A merchant for most of his life, he also acted as a debt collector for individuals owning property in South Carolina, but living elsewhere, and as resident manager and executor for several estates. During the Revolutionary period, Smith served in the S.C. General Assembly and as agent for the U.S. lottery. During the siege of Charleston he was taken as a prisoner-of-war. He returned briefly to his mercantile business after the war, but left it in 1790, when he became cashier of the Branch Bank of the United States, a position he held until 1810. He married Mary Stevens (1741-1795), with whom he had 12 children.

From the description of Josiah Smith letter book, 1771-1784 [manuscript]. WorldCat record id: 22758413

Josiah Smith, Jr., was born 15 September 1731, in Cainhoy, St. Thomas's Parish, South Carolina, the son of Rev. Josiah Smith (1704-1781) and Elizabeth Darrell (1710-1759). The Reverend Smith received his education at Harvard and served as Presbyterian pastor at Cainhoy until about 1749, when he suffered a paralyzing stroke. Sometime after that year the family moved to Charleston, where Josiah Smith, Jr., lived until his death in 1826. The only years the younger Smith spent away from Charleston were during the British occupation of the city from 1780 to 1783.

Josiah Smith, Jr., was a merchant in Charleston, carrying on several enterprises. Besides operating his own business, he ran an import company with his cousin, George Smith, of Goose Creek, and his brother-in-law, Edward Darrell, of Charleston. The three jointly owned a ship, the Carolina Society, which they sold in 1771, and were partners with Daniel DeSaussure and James Poyas (of London) in a retail drygoods store in Beaufort, managed by DeSaussure. Smith's other business activities included acting as an agent and debt collector for individuals living elsewhere but owning property in South Carolina and as an executor of several estates. One of his major activities was acting as resident manager of at least two plantations owned by English resident George Austin.

Smith was a member of the Independent Church of Charleston, which he called the Congregation Church, and which was actually Presbyterian. He involved himself heavily in local church affairs, and frequently served as the Southern agent for lotteries sponsored by Northern churches trying to raise funds to build schools.

From the outbreak of American-English hostilities, Smith supported the Revolution. Early in the Revolutionary period he served in the South Carolina General Assembly. He later acted as agent for the United States Lottery to raise money for the war effort, and loaned $100,000 of his own, as well as money of his clients, to the State. During the seige of Charleston, he served on garrison duty with the troops defending the city, and in common with other inhabitants, became a prisoner-of-war on parole at the capitulation. He was one of a group of thirty-seven Charlestonians who, in spite of the parole, were sent to St. Augustine, Florida, in 1780. Smith remained in St. Augustine for about a year, when the British exchanged him and sent him to Philadelphia. Joined there by his wife, father, and children, who had been ordered to leave Charleston for refusing to swear allegiance to the crown, Smith remained in Philadelphia until early 1783.

After the war Smith sought to rebuild his business and financial affairs. He, George Smith, and Daniel DeSaussure formed a new mercantile firm, importing merchandise and operating two drygoods stores, one at Beaufort and one at Georgetown. Smith left the merchant business in 1790 when he received an appointment as cashier of the Branch Bank of the United States, in which capacity he served until 1810.

In 1758 Smith married Mary Stevens (1741-1795). He wrote in 1780 that they had twelve children, six of whom (three boys and three girls) were then living. The names of his children that are known are Elizabeth (b. 1759), Samuel (b. 1761), Elizabeth (b. 1765), Mary (b. 1762), William Stevens (1774-837), Edward Darrell, Ann Martha (1780-1858), and Josiah Smith, III (1778-1780). Samuel married Caroline Tennent; Elizabeth (b. 1765) married her cousin George Smith, Jr.; Mary remained unmarried; William Stevens married Juliette Lee Waring in 1796; Edward Darrell married Sarah Tucker North in 1802; and Ann Martha married Charles Tennent in 1801.

*This information was taken from the letter book and from Mabel L. Webber, ed., Josiah Smith's Diary, 1780-1781, The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, XXXIII (January 1932), pp. 1-28; (April 1932), pp. 79-116; (July 1932), pp. 197-207; (October 1932), pp. 281-289; XXXIV (January 1933), pp. 31-39; (April 1933), pp. 67-84; (July 1933), pp. 138-148; (October 1933), pp. 194-210.

From the guide to the Josiah Smith Letter Book, 1771-1784, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)