John Ambler Smith (September 23, 1847 – January 6, 1892) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Early and family life

Born at Village View plantation, near

Dinwiddie Court House, Virginia Dinwiddie is an unincorporated community, census-designated place, and the county seat of Dinwiddie County, Virginia, United States.” It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a population of 619. History The town was the site of t ...

, to Dr. John Harvie Smith and his wife, Smith was born to the First Families of Virginia. His grandfather

Larkin Smith Larkin Irvin Smith (June 26, 1944 – August 13, 1989) was an American Congressman from Mississippi serving for seven months until he was killed in a plane crash in Perry County, Mississippi in 1989. Smith was born in Poplarville, Mississipp ...

had served in the Virginia House of Delegates representing King and Queen County and even became its Speaker. John received an education appropriate for his class, then traveled to Richmond to attend David Turner's high school while his father was a surgeon for the Confederate States Army, and ran Chimborazo Hospital in that city. Following the American Civil War, he studied law at Richmond College and graduated.

Career

Admitted to the bar in 1867, Smith began a private legal practice in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. He was appointed commissioner in chancery of the courts of Richmond in 1868. He served as Commonwealth attorney of Charles City and New Kent Counties. He served as member of the State senate in 1869. Smith was elected as a Republican to the Forty-third Congress (March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875) with 51.11% of the vote, defeating Democrat George Douglas Wise. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1874. He resumed the practice of law in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

He served as member of the immigration commission to London.

Death and legacy

He died in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 1892. He was interred in Glenwood Cemetery.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, John Ambler 1847 births 1892 deaths People from Dinwiddie County, Virginia Virginia lawyers Burials at Glenwood Cemetery (Washington, D.C.) Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American lawyers