First American Secretary at The Court of St James - William Stephens Smith
Yesterday, while publishing an article on Nabby Adams, I realized I have never covered her husband William Stephens Smith.
William Stephens Smith had an extremely interesting place in the American Founding, including serving as an aide-de-camp to Washington and an attempted invasion of Venezuela.
William Stephens Smith
William Stephens Smith was a law student in New York City when the Revolutionary War began.
The young man was quickly appointed as an aide-de-camp to General John Sullivan and fought throughout the war.
Stephens was injured once, recovered, received a promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, and moved to the staff of General Lafayette for several years.
Eventually, Smith was selected to serve as an aide-de-camp to General Washington himself.
The Court of St James
When the Revolutionary War concluded, William was sent to serve as Secretary to the Ambassador to Great Britain...John Adams.
During his four year stay in Europe, Smith met and married one of Adams’ daughters, Nabby.
William also took on a special mission to Portugal before traveling Europe with the soon-to-be Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda.
Taxman
Upon returning to the United States, Smith was chosen by President Washington as the first US Marshall in the District of New York.
Two years later Washington gave him the position of Supervisor of Revenue (AKA tax collector) for New York.
Later in life, William moved with his family to Central New York, but poor investments in land left him deeply in debt.
Invading South American?
In early 1806, Smith’s old friend Miranda came to New York to outfit a ship and recruit soldiers to fight in a revolution against the Spanish Government in South America.
William was quickly replaced by President Jefferson for his association with the invasion, though Smith vehemently denied this in letters to his brother-in-law John Quincy Adams.
Although one of his sons, William Steuben Smith joined the invasion (and was imprisoned for a time), the father was found not guilty when put on trial.
Though his reputation was hurt, Smith recovered from his association with Miranda in time to spend one term in the US House of Representatives before his death.
If you’d like to read about some of the Adams’ actual children, check out these articles.
The Death of a President’s Son - Charles Adams’ Alcoholism
John Quincy Adams’ Role in the American Founding
The Pain of First Daughter Nabby Adams
Want to learn more about the Adams Family?
‘Abigail and John’ focuses on the relationship of Nabby’s parents but of course includes information on the whole family.
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