Alexander Augustus Smets (October 12, 1795 – May 9, 1862) was a French-born co-founder of the

Georgia Historical Society The Georgia Historical Society (GHS) is a statewide historical society in Georgia. Headquartered in Savannah, Georgia, GHS is one of the oldest historical organizations in the United States. Since 1839, the society has collected, examined, and ta ...

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

, United States. A banker and philanthropist, he was also a large landowner in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and one of the state's wealthiest people.

Life and career

Smets was born on October 12, 1795, in

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

, France, the son of Barthelemy Martin Smets, a native of

Mechelen Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...

, Belgium, and Jean Marie Antoinette. At the age of eighteen, he was enlisted in the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...

and was stationed at

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With ...

. He was promoted to lieutenant, such was his dedication to the role he was initially given, but the war ended before he could serve in the role. Smets' friend, Charles Maurel, a merchant in Savannah, Georgia, persuaded him to return to the United States with him during a visit to France. Smets arrived in Savannah on November 20, 1816. His early career was not entirely notable; a partnership formed shortly after his arrival in Savannah was dissolved, after which he moved into the lumber trade on his own. He was successful, and in 1849 he retired "with a fortune ample enough to satisfy his desires." On March 29, 1820, he married 22-year-old Annie Watt, with whom he had nine children, including: Hortensia (born 1824), Eliza Jane Laura (1833), Uranie Cornelia (1836), Lucy Ellen (1839) and Pauline Hortense (1842). In 1839, Smets co-founded the Georgia Historical Society. He became a close friend of co-founder Israel Keech Tefft. Between the mid-1840s and mid-1850s, Smets had built what is now known as the Alexander Smets Range of properties stands between 102 and 108 West

Broughton Street Broughton Street is a prominent street in Savannah, Georgia, United States. Located between Congress Street to the north and State Street to the south, it runs for about from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in the west to East Broad Stre ...

in downtown Savannah. He lived with his family at today's Alexander A. Smets House at 2–4 East Jones Street which was built in 1853. It is now named Morris Hall, part of the

Savannah College of Art and Design Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is a private nonprofit art school with locations in Savannah, Georgia; Atlanta, Georgia; and Lacoste, France. Founded in 1978 to provide degrees in programs not yet offered in the southeast of the Unit ...

. He also became a large land owner, including a

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

on Hutchinson Island in the

Savannah River The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the norther ...

. He was also a

slave owner The following is a list of slave owners, for which there is a consensus of historical evidence of slave ownership, in alphabetical order by last name. A * Adelicia Acklen (1817–1887), at one time the wealthiest woman in Tennessee, she inh ...

. On November 2, 1859, Smets was elected a member of the

New England Historic Genealogical Society The New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) is the oldest and largest genealogical society in the United States, founded in 1845. NEHGS provides family history services through its staff, original scholarship, website,

Death

Smets died on May 9, 1862, in

Indian Springs, Georgia Indian Springs is a census-designated place (CDP) in Catoosa County, Georgia, United States. The population was 2,336 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Chattanooga, TN–GA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Indian Springs is loc ...

, after a short illness. He was 66. He was initially buried, on May 11, in Savannah's

Laurel Grove Cemetery Laurel Grove Cemetery is a cemetery located in midtown Savannah, Georgia. It includes the original cemetery for whites (now known as Laurel Grove North) and a companion burial ground (called Laurel Grove South) that was reserved for slaves and fr ...

, where he was joined the following month by Israel Tefft, but on March 6, 1919, his (and the rest of his family's) remains were removed from the Smets Vault to

Bonaventure Cemetery Bonaventure Cemetery is a rural cemetery located on a scenic bluff of the Wilmington River, east of Savannah, Georgia. The cemetery became famous when it was featured in the 1994 novel ''Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil'' by John Berendt, ...

, where he is now interred alongside his wife, who predeceased him by eight years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smets, Alexander 1795 births 1862 deaths 19th-century American historians Historical preservationists Historians of the Southern United States French emigrants to the United States Military personnel from Nantes People from Savannah, Georgia French slave owners French philanthropists French bankers French Army soldiers New England Historic Genealogical Society