William Smith (Virginia representative)
William Smith was an eighteenth- and nineteenth-century congressman from Virginia. Life and careerBorn in Chesterfield, Virginia, Smith graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1807. He studied law and relocated to Greenbrier County, Virginia.[1] During the War of 1812 Smith served as a captain of artillery, stationed in Norfolk, Virginia.[2] Smith was first elected to the House of Delegates for the session of 1819/20.[3] He was elected a Democratic-Republican, Crawford Republican and Jacksonian to the United States House of Representatives in 1820, serving from 1821 to 1827.[4] Smith served a second time in the House of Delegates for the session of 1828/29.[5] Smith was elected to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829-1830 from Greenbrier County, serving from a district made up of Monroe, Greenbriar, Bath, Botetourt, Alleghay, Pocahontas and Nicolas. He served there on the Committee on the Executive Department.[6] In the 1840s, Smith was an aide to Democratic Governor James McDowell 1843–46, and served as a presidential elector in 1844.[7] Smith was elected to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850 from Greenbrier County, serving from a district made up of Greenbrier County, from an Assembly district made up of the transmontane Greenbrier, Pocahontas, Fayette, Raleigh, Nicholas and Kanawha Counties.[8] In the 1850s, Smith served from Greenbriar in the Virginia Senate in the sessions of 1857/58 and 1859/60. On the eve of the American Civil War, he again served in January 1861.[9] Election of 1821Smith was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives with 53.17% of the vote, defeating fellow Democratic-Republican James Wilson. ReferencesBibliography
External links
This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Information related to William Smith (Virginia representative) |