Display Patriot - P-291383 - John SMILIE

John SMILIE

SAR Patriot #: P-291383

The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
 

State of Service: PA      Qualifying Service: Sergeant / Patriotic Service
DAR #: A105699

Birth: 1742 / County Down / Ireland
Death: 30 Dec 1812 Washington / / DC

Qualifying Service Description:
  1. FLYING CAMP, Colonel JAMES CUNNINGHAM
  2. MEMBER OF COMMITTEE OF OBSERVATION

Additional References:
  1. Burial data from Patriot Index. Draft manuscript. Florida Society SAR (FLSSAR). 1995-1996
  2. Published Pennsylvania Archives, Series 5, Volume 7, pg 17, 19
  3. Rupp's History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, pg 394, 396, 397

Spouse: Jane Porter
Children: Robert; Jane;
Members Who Share This Ancestor
Date Approved Society ACN SAR Member Info Lineage via Child View Application Detail
1990-01-09 GA 219075 Richard Smith Smilie (134060) Robert   
2005-09-27 FL 23709 Mark Thomas Smilie (165719) Robert   
2022-08-19 CA 103030 David Keith Smilie II (223479) Robert   
2022-08-19 CA 103031 Sean Michael Smilie (223480) Robert   
2022-08-19 CA 103032 Stephen Charles Smilie (223481) Robert   
Burial:
Congressional (aka Old Congressional, Washington Parish Burial Ground) Cemetery (C-0065055)
Location:
Washington / District of Columbia / DC / USA
Find A Grave Cemetery #:
104430
Grave Plot #:
Grave GPS Coordinates:
38.882610 / -76.977690
Find A Grave Memorial #:
6869575
Marker Type:

SAR Grave Dedication Date:

Comments:

Photo used with permission of Compatriot Mitchell Anderson, 229001, KYSSAR



Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:


Author: Bobb Edwards

The following biography of John Smilie was published anonymously at findagrave.com.  I am not the author.

 

US Congressman. Elected to represent Pennsylvania's 9th and 11th Districts in the United States House of Representatives, he served from 1793 to 1795 and from 1799 until his death.

Smilie was born in County Down, Ireland. At age 19 he arrived in Delaware after a hellish 15-week voyage aboard an overbooked ship, the "Sally," in which 64 passengers and crew died of thirst or starvation. Eventually settling in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, he was a Sergeant in the State Militia during the Revolutionary War and went on to serve in the State House of Representatives (1778 to 1779, 1784 to 1786) and the State Senate (1790 to 1793).

Described as a man of "fretful and unquiet temper." Smilie was an early abolitionist and something of a radical. His initial stint in the General Assembly was marked by his zealous support for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery (1780), the first such act passed in the US and a major influence on other Northern states regarding the issue. Later he would argue before Congress that slaves brought illegally to America should be set free, and that slave smugglers should face the death penalty. He was opposed to ratifying the US Constitution, calling it "a device of despotism." As a State Senator Smilie urged his constituents to resist the Federal excise tax on whiskey (passed in 1791) by all legal means, and he was subsequently accused of helping to instigate the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion. Not surprisingly, he was elected to the US House of Representatives as an Anti-Administration candidate, though over time he mellowed somewhat into a staunch Jeffersonian.

He died of typhus in Washington DC, one month after winning election to his ninth Congressional term.

 

 

Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 23 March 2020), memorial page for John Smilie (16 Sep 1742–30 Dec 1812), Find A Grave Memorial no. 6869575, citing Congressional Cemetery, Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave .

 


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Additional Information:

A middle name, Robert, was proposed by applicants Richard and Bruce Smile; however, there is no documentation available to support that claim



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