John Kilby Smith (born Boston, Massachusetts, December 17, 1752; died

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...

, August 9, 1842) was a public servant from

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

, who served in the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

. Smith was an original Member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, and his descendants have continued this membership to the current day. During the Revolutionary War Smith was aide-de-camp to General Lafayette During the war he was at Ticonderoga and in the Burgoyne and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

campaigns, as well as at

Valley Forge Valley Forge functioned as the third of eight winter encampments for the Continental Army's main body, commanded by General George Washington, during the American Revolutionary War. In September 1777, Congress fled Philadelphia to escape the ...

, Monmouth with Lafayette, and in

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under General John Sullivan. Smith moved to Portland in the last year of the war and resided at the Zebulon Trickey House along with James Means and Josiah Cox. They bought the mast-yard triangle in 1786, and by 1796 Smith had sold his share. He was a general storekeeper with Means of the old George Tate warehouse. John voted yes in the Convention of the Delegates of the People of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1788 to approve adoption of the

Constitution of the United States The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...

. In January 1791 John wrote a letter to President

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

requesting the position of Inspector General of the district of Main in the state of

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. By 1792 Smith was an innholder in Newglouster. By 1809 Smith was working at the War Department. In 1810 Smith was in the

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

area scouting for land for the Marquis de Lafayette. In August 1810 he was still active in the War Department. Even though Smith never rose above the rank of brigadier major in the Continental Army, in the Maine Militia he was a general. He also participated in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

. In April 1818 and again in June 1820, Smith applied for and received a pension; he had served for the entire eight years of the Revolutionary War. After his death in 1842, his children (his wife had died before him) applied for and received his pension as heirs.

Family

Circa 1790 he married Sarah "Sally" Webb Smith, and they had seven children: *Eben- born in 1792 �
listed as the first storekeeper
in

Poland, Maine Poland is a town in Androscoggin County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,906 at the 2020 census. Set among rolling hills and numerous lakes, the town is home to Range Ponds State Park, which includes hiking trails and a pristine fresh ...

*Henry – born in Portland, Maine 9/12/1794 *John Kilby Jr- born in 1796 *Wiliam W- born in 1/7/1802 *Sally *Eliza Smith Davis Walker - Mr. Curtis Walker & Mrs. Eliza Davis, both of Thompson Pond Plantation, were m. November 30, 1828, by Eliphalet Dunn, J.P. *Nancy The lineage book states that as of 1896, "His diary is in the possession of the family and details of his eight years' service. John also has descendants listed in the

Sons of the American Revolution The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR or NSSAR) is an American congressionally chartered organization, founded in 1889 and headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. A non-profit corporation, it has described its purpose ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, John Kilby Continental Army officers from Massachusetts 1842 deaths 1752 births