Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/760

Smiths of "Shooters Hill" claim descent from John Smith, of early Virginia colonial history, and tradition says this John Smith was closely related to Captain John Smith, whom Pocahontas saved from death. While nothing can be proven on account of the destruction by fire of Gloucester county records, it is a fact that the coat-of-arms of Captain John Smith, "Three Turks' Heads," has been adopted by every branch of the family and facsimiles of the watch seal worn by Captain John Smith are found in possession of members of the family descended to them from long ago. The old "Shooters Hill Bible records the marriage of John Smith of Purton (his Gloucester county estate) to Mary Warner, of Warner Hall, in 1680. This John Smith was the grand-father of John Smith, of Shooters Hill, and great-grandfather of General John Smith, of "Hackwood Park," the great-grandfather of Dr. William Morgan Smith, of Alexandria. An original document containing a land survey for a Smith of the same name bears date of 1643.

Mary (Jaquelin) Smith, wife of John Smith and mother of General John Smith, was a daughter of Edward Jaquelin, of Jamestown, granddaughter of John and Elizabeth (Braddock) Jaquelin, the latter of Kent county, in England. The Jaquelins of Virginia were descendants of the noble family of La Roche Jaqueline of France, a Protestant family who fled with their wealth to England just before the massacre of St. Bartholomew. Mary, one of the three beautiful daughters of Edward Jaquelin, married, in 1737. John Smith, of "Shooters Hill," the ceremony being performed at Jamestown by Rev. William Dawson. Another of the Jaquelin sisters married John Ambler and one of her daughters married Chief Justice Marshall. Bishop Meade says: "The old church at Jamestown is no longer to be seen except the base of its ruined tower. A few tombstones with the names of Amblers and Jaquelins, the chief owners of the island for a long time, and the Lees of Green Spring. a few miles from Jamestown, still mark the spot where so many were interred during the earlier years of the colony. Some of the sacred vessels are yet to be seen, either in private hands or in public temples of religion. The third and last of the pieces of church furniture, which is now in use in one of our congregations, is a silver vase. a font for baptism presented to the James- town church in 1733 by Martha Jaquelin and her son Edward. In the year 1785, when the act of assembly ordered the sale of church property, it reserved that which was passed by right of private donation." Under this provision the font reverted to the family and through Mrs. Chief Justice Marshall was presented to the Episcopal Monumental Church, Richmond, Virginia, where it is used as a baptismal font.

General John Smith, born May 7, 1750, at "Shooters Hill," the family seat in Mid- dlesex county, Virginia, settled in Frederick county, Virginia. in 1772. The mansion, "Hackwood Hall," was ready for occupancy in 1777, and there General Smith lived his long and eventful life which terminated in 1842 at the great age of ninety-two years; "he and his wife were buried at the family burying ground at Hackwood Park." In 1890, their great-grandson, Edward Jaquelin Davison, of Kansas City, Missouri, had them with others who were buried there, removed to a lot in Mount Hebron Cemetery, Winchester, Virginia. The general is named as "Lieut." John Smith, a member of the house of delegates from Frederick county, 1779-1781, "Col." John Smith, state senator, 1792-1795, re-elected 1796; was member of Congress, 1801-1815. Prior to the revolution he was King's justice and county lieutenant, the latter office giving him supreme command over the militia of his district. In February, 1776, he resigned these positions to take active part in the war for in- dependence. He was given the same military authority by the Virginia "Council of Safety" and later was commissioned colonel, brigadier and major general. At the close of the war he sat in the state legislature and for many years represented the Winchester district in the United States house of representatives. He is described as being "tall and commanding" and of striking personal appearance, highly esteemed and very popular. General Smith married Anna, daughter of John Bull, of near Norristown, Pennsylvania, also a devoted patriot and man of landed wealth, deeds of conveyance showing valuable estates in the Harpers Ferry region. Anna (Bull) Smith was highly cultivated and intellectual, she and General Smith dispensing at "Hackwood Hall" a gracious hospitality. A younger brother of General Smith, Matthew Smith, was the