Jeremiah SMITH, Congress, NH (1759-1842)

SMITH, Jeremiah, (brother of Samuel Smith, of New Hampshire, and uncle of Robert Smith), a Representative from New Hampshire; born in Peterboro, N.H., November 29, 1759; received instruction from a private tutor; attended Harvard College in 1777; during the Revolutionary War served under General Stark in the Battle of Bennington; entered Queen’s (now Rutgers) College, New Jersey, from which he was graduated in 1780; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1786 and commenced practice in Peterboro, N.H.; member of the state house of representatives 1788-1791; member of the constitutional convention in 1791 and 1792; elected as a Pro-Administration candidate to the Second and Third Congresses and elected as a Federalist to the Fourth and Fifth Congresses and served from March 4, 1791, until his resignation July 26, 1797; chairman, Committee on Revisal and Unfinished Business (Fifth Congress); moved to Exeter, N.H.; United States district attorney for New Hampshire from 1797 to 1800; judge of probate of Rockingham County 1800-1802; appointed, under authority of the act of February 13, 1801, by President Adams judge of the United States circuit court February 20, 1801, and served until March 8, 1802, when the court was abolished by the act of that date; chief justice of the Superior Court of Judicature of New Hampshire 1802-1809; governor of New Hampshire in 1809 and 1810; Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of New Hampshire 1813-1816; resumed the practice of law, from which he retired in 1820; president of a bank and treasurer of Phillips Exeter Academy; moved to Dover, and died there September 21, 1842; interment in Winter Street (also called Old) Cemetery, Exeter, N.H.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present