John Hyatt SMITH, Congress, NY (1824-1886)

SMITH, John Hyatt, a Representative from New York; born in Saratoga, N.Y., April 10, 1824; taught by his father; employed for a time as a clerk in Detroit, Mich., and later as a bank clerk in Albany, N.Y., and while in the latter position studied theology; after ordination his first pastorate was in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 1848; officiated in Cleveland, Ohio, for three years, in Buffalo, N.Y., 1855-1860, and in Philadelphia, Pa., 1860-1866; during the Civil War served in Virginia with the United States Christian Commission in 1862; chaplain of the Forty-seventh Regiment, National Guard of New York, in 1869; continued his ministerial duties in Brooklyn, N.Y., 1866-1880; elected as an Independent candidate to the Forty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1881-March 3, 1883); appointed by President Arthur a commissioner to inspect the Pacific Railroad, after which he resumed a pastorate in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he died December 7, 1886; interment in Greenwood Cemetery.

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