John Kilby Smith

John Kilby Smith (born Boston, Massachusetts, December 17, 1752; died Portland, Maine, August 9, 1842) was a public servant from New England, who served in the American Revolution.[1] Smith was an original Member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati,[2] and his descendants have continued this membership to the current day.

During the Revolutionary War Smith was aide-de-camp to General Lafayette[3] During the war he was at Ticonderoga and in the Burgoyne and New Jersey campaigns,[4] as well as at Valley Forge, Monmouth with Lafayette, and in Rhode Island 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[clarification needed] 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. In January 1791 John wrote a letter to President Washington requesting the position of Inspector General of the district of Main in the state of Massachusetts. By 1792 Smith was an innholder in Newglouster. By 1809 Smith was working at the War Department.[5]

In 1810 Smith was in the New Orleans area scouting for land for the Marquis de Lafayette.[6] In August 1810 he was still active in the War Department.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9]

  1. ^ Sketch of his life and war record by the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ New England Historic Genealogical Society
  3. ^ Per the Death notice posted in the Independent Treasury of Ohio date 9/14/1842. This is collaborated in the Maine Historical Society published in 1892.
  4. ^ Daughters of the American Revolution lineage book published 1896
  5. ^ March 6th 1809 letter to President James Madison recommending agents of fortification of various territories while serving as acting Secretary of War.
  6. ^ Letters from John K. Smith to President Madison dated March 1810, May 1810, and July 10, 1810
  7. ^ August 7, 1810 letter to James Madison.
  8. ^ William Goold, Portland in the Past with Historical Notes of Old Falmouth (1886). Page 492…"A company of 'exempts', numbering sixty, was organized in the town under Brigadier-General John K Smith, who was a captain in the Revolution."
  9. ^ http://morrisonspensions.org/jksmith.pdf[permanent dead link]