Smith, Thomas, 1745-1809

Thomas Smith (1745 – March 31, 1809) was a politician and jurist from Pennsylvania. Smith was born near Cruden, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He attended the University of Edinburgh, and then migrated to the United States, where he settled in Bedford, Pennsylvania on February 9, 1769. He became a deputy surveyor that same year. Smith then studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began practicing as a lawyer in 1772. He became a deputy register of wills and prothonotary in 1773, and a justice of the peace in 1774.

When the Revolutionary War broke out, Smith served as a deputy colonel of militia. He was a delegate to Pennsylvania's constitutional convention in 1776, and elected as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1776 until 1780. Smith was then chosen to be a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1781 to 1782. He was later a judge of the court of common pleas in 1791, and finally on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania from 1794 until 1809. Smith died in Philadelphia and was buried in Christ Church Burial Ground.