Hezekiah B. Smith

Hezekiah Bradley Smith
Hezekiah Bradley Smith
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives; fromNew Jersey's2nddistrict
	In office; March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1881
Preceded by	John H. Pugh
Succeeded by	J. Hart Brewer
Member of theNew Jersey Senate; fromBurlington County
	In office; 1883–1886
Preceded by	William Budd Deacon
Succeeded by	William H. Carter
Personal details
Born	July 24, 1816; Windsor County, Vermont
Died	November 3, 1887(aged 71); Burlington County, New Jersey
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Eveline Verona English; Agnes Mitilda Gilkerson
Profession	Inventor,politician

Hezekiah Bradley Smith(July 24, 1816 – November 3, 1887) was an American inventor and aDemocratic Partypolitician who representedNew Jersey's2nd congressional districtin theUnited States House of Representativesfor one term from 1879 to 1881.^[1]

Birth, early career, and marriage[edit]

Smith was born inBridgewater, Vermont,on July 24, 1816.^[1]After completing an eighth grade education, he was trained as acabinet makerand set up shop in a formertannerybuilding. Smith left the Woodstock District in 1846, taking with him Eveline Verona English, whom he married in a civil ceremony in May 1846, in their Boston hotel room. Smith and his wife moved first toManchester, New Hampshire,where Smith made a living carving wooden patterns while learning the machine business. In July 1846, their first child, Ella, was born. In the spring of 1847 in Manchester there was ascarlet feverepidemic known as 'ship fever', and Eveline took the child Ella and returned to Woodstock. They would never again live together as husband and wife.

Separation[edit]

Smith moved on toLebanon, New Hampshire,where he began to manufacture items to other people's specifications, including such items as theHowe sewing machine.Smith took the first sewing machine ever to be found in Woodstock and gave it to Eveline, herself a renownedtailor,ensuring her own independence. Smith later moved on from Lebanon toBoston, Massachusetts,where he began manufacturingwoodworkingmachinery of his own design. He subsequently moved his business toLowell, Massachusetts.However, he continued to visit his wife in Woodstock, fathering three sons with her: Elton (born in 1848), Eugene V. (born 1851) and Edward A. (born 1853).

In Lowell, in the summer of 1854, Smith was introduced to Agnes Mitilda Gilkerson (1838–1881). Gilkerson was a mill girl working in a textile factory and living in aboarding house.Smith hired her as his confidentialsecretary,then sent her to Mrs. Rodgers' finishing school. By 1859, Gilkerson would convince Smith that she should go further with her education. Smith sent her to live with the family of the manager of hisPhiladelphiasales office. There Gilkerson attendedPenn Medical University,graduating in the spring of 1861 with a degree in medicine, with a major in chemistry.

Wife abandoned and expunged[edit]

In 1865, Smith visited with Benjamin Shreve inMedford, New Jersey.Shreve had a$100,000 investment in his deceased brother's business. Smith managed to acquire from Shreve basically the entire town of Shreveville, inEastampton Township,Burlington County,for only $20,000. Before moving to his new acquisition (soon to be renamedSmithville), Smith made a final journey to Woodstock to the home he had purchased in 1861 for his wife, Eveline Smith. There he demanded adivorce,but his wife refused to agree to one. Smith then demanded everything he had written her since 1847, which he then burnt in her stove. He then went to thetown clerk's office, where he transferred ownership of the house to his wife's maiden name, then to the bank where he established an account, again in her maiden name, and deposited a few hundred dollars. Finally, he went to his sister's house, where he demanded the familyBible.Upon being given the Bible by his sister, he used his pocketknife to excise all record of his marriage and children from the family tree recorded within, burning the paper scraps in his sister's stove. Having completed what he felt to be a divorce, he left Woodstock, never to return.

Smith and Gilkerson were married in a civil ceremony in Lowell that same year, and the two of them made their home in Smithville. There, he continued his business of manufacturing woodworking machinery, while she practiced medicine and made and soldherbal remedies.Smith also published theNew Jersey Mechanictrade journal,which his second wife also edited; she also advertised her medical wares in it. In January 1881, Gilkerson died of cancer, without producing any children for Smith. After her death, Smith commissioned anItalian marblestatue in her likeness and stood it on a brick pedestal under an iron canopy in the formal garden of the mansion at Smithville.

Inventions[edit]

Smith had over forty patents for his inventions with theUnited States Patent Office.TheSmithsonian Institutiondescribes Smith as having taken the woodworking business from hand tools to mechanized^{[citation needed]}.His business (which heincorporatedin 1878 under the name "H.B. Smith Machine Company" ) In addition to the woodworking tools which were the staple of his business, he also manufactured theAmerican Star Bicycle.Thisbicyclediffered from others of its time by having a larger back wheel, where the rider sat, and a smaller front wheel for steering. The Star was driven byratchet drive,had a hand brake and a sprung leather seat. The Star sold for $150 at a time when the average person earned $500 a year. Not the greatest of commercial successes, it was however fast, and a great stunt bike, winning many track races, endurance rides, and stunt exhibitions, as well as being a great advertising tool for the Smith Machine Co. He also manufactured the firststeam-driven vehicleoperated inNew Jersey,although only one was ever manufactured as he died before it could go into regular production. On his desk at the time of his death was a prototype of anautogiro.

Political career and bigamy[edit]

He was elected as aDemocratto the46th United States Congress,serving one term from March 4, 1879, to March 3, 1881. During the election it was discovered that he was a bigamist.^[2]He was not re-elected to the47th United States Congress;however, it is likely that his defeat was a result of the changing winds of American politics and not a reflection on the electorate's opinion of his bigamy, as that yearJames A. Garfield'sRepublican Partydominated the election.^{[citation needed]}Smith also later served as a member of theNew Jersey Senate,from 1883 to 1885.

Death, burial and aftermath[edit]

Smith died in Smithville,Burlington County, New Jersey,on November 3, 1887.^[1]He was buried next to his second wife, in the Saint Andrews section of the Pine Street Cemetery inMount Holly, New Jersey.Upon the death of his mother, in 1897, Elton Smith, Hezekiah's oldest son, went to Mount Holly in an attempt to remove his father's remains. He wanted them transported to Woodstock to be buried next to his mother. Hezekiah had anticipated any attempts to move his body, and had been interred in an iron coffin encased in an iron cage that had been set in concrete. Elton then had the statue of his father's second wife toppled, broken into pieces, ground to dust and scattered along Rancocas Creek, using workers from the family business.^[3]

Legacy[edit]

Smith's papers are archived atRutgers University,in Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries,New Brunswick, New Jersey.Smith's great-great-great-grandson is CongressmanJim Marshallof Georgia's 3rd District.^{[citation needed]}

Patents[edit]

U.S. patent 6,343April 17, 1849; H.B. Smith; Mortiser for window-blind stiles
U.S. patent 10,422January 10, 1854; H.B. Smith; Mortising-machine
U.S. patent 13,663October 9, 1855; H.B. Smith; Mortising machine
U.S. patent 17,701June 30, 1857; H.B. Smith; Mortising machine mortising machines
U.S. patent 20,824July 6, 1858; H.B. Smith; Balanced head for molding machine
U.S. patent 25,221August 23, 1859; H.B. Smith; Mortising machine
U.S. patent 50,178September 26, 1865; H.B. Smith; Improvement in planing-machines
U.S. patent 50,637October 24, 1865; H.B. Smith; Improvement in planing-machines
U.S. patent 52,219January 23, 1866; H.B. Smith; Improvement in tenoning-machines
U.S. patent 138,103April 22, 1873; H.B. Smith; Improvement in scroll-saws
U.S. patent 398,548February 26, 1889; H.B. Smith; Steam-powered Tricycle

References[edit]

^^a ^b ^c"Hezekiah B. Smith Dead. The End Of A Long And Active Business Career"(PDF).The New York Times.November 4, 1887.Retrieved2007-08-21.Trenton, New Jersey,November 3, 1887. Hezekiah B. Smith died at Smithville, Burlington County, today. Mr. Smith was born atBridgewater, Vermont,in 1816. He learned the trade of a worker in wood and at 19 went into business for himself.
^"Hezekiah's two wives. A Congressman's predicament. One wife in Vermont and another in New Jersey".The New York Times.November 22, 1878.The greenback congressman elect in trouble. The friends here of Hon. H.B. Smith, of Smithville, New Jersey, will be glad to learn that be has been elected to Congress by the Democrats of the Second District of that State. He will be an honest and faithful member.
^"Fateful Statue Broken. Marble Effigy of Agnes Gilkerson Demolished by Orders of the Son of Hezekiah B. Smith. A Family Deserted for Her. Her Advice Made Her Lover a Millionaire. The Last Relic of a Historic Domestic Tragedy Swept Away as Dirt".The New York Times.May 28, 1897.Mount Holly, New Jersey,May 27, 1897. The statue of Agnes Gilkerson was destroyed today. The work was done by the men employed in the mills at Smithville under the direction of Capt. Elton J. Smith, son of Hezekiah B. Smith, who erected the statue in memory of the woman who was his companion for many years. "

External links[edit]

NJ History Mysteries: Hezekiah Smith

United States Congress."Hezekiah B. Smith (id: S000549)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Hezekiah Bradley SmithatThe Political Graveyard
Hezekiah Bradley SmithatFind a Grave

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by John H. Pugh	Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew Jersey's 2nd congressional district March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1881	Succeeded by J. Hart Brewer

[obit-1] "Hezekiah B. Smith Dead. The End Of A Long And Active Business Career"(PDF).The New York Times.November 4, 1887.Retrieved2007-08-21.Trenton, New Jersey,November 3, 1887. Hezekiah B. Smith died at Smithville, Burlington County, today. Mr. Smith was born atBridgewater, Vermont,in 1816. He learned the trade of a worker in wood and at 19 went into business for himself.

[2] "Hezekiah's two wives. A Congressman's predicament. One wife in Vermont and another in New Jersey".The New York Times.November 22, 1878.The greenback congressman elect in trouble. The friends here of Hon. H.B. Smith, of Smithville, New Jersey, will be glad to learn that be has been elected to Congress by the Democrats of the Second District of that State. He will be an honest and faithful member.

[3] "Fateful Statue Broken. Marble Effigy of Agnes Gilkerson Demolished by Orders of the Son of Hezekiah B. Smith. A Family Deserted for Her. Her Advice Made Her Lover a Millionaire. The Last Relic of a Historic Domestic Tragedy Swept Away as Dirt".The New York Times.May 28, 1897.Mount Holly, New Jersey,May 27, 1897. The statue of Agnes Gilkerson was destroyed today. The work was done by the men employed in the mills at Smithville under the direction of Capt. Elton J. Smith, son of Hezekiah B. Smith, who erected the statue in memory of the woman who was his companion for many years. "

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