| Buckingham Smith by Gil Wilson |
(Thomas) Buckingham Smith was born on Cumberland Island, Georgia, in October 31, 1810, but was a resident of Florida (1820) when it passed into the hands of the United States. He was educated at the Cambridge law school (Harvard) (1836) and began the practice of his profession in Maine and was a member of the assembly. 1839-40 he was secretary to Florida Governor Raymond Reid. He was a member of the St. Augustine City Council. He was a member of the Florida Assembly (1841) The Secretary of the Treasury, in 1848, appointed Buckingham Smith to make a general inspection of the Everglade area (with Lieut Francis Marion) and to report his findings. "Aquatic flowers of every hue and variety are to beseen on every side of this place of profound and wild solitude ... pervaded by silence." Smith reported to the United States Senate in June 1848 that he believed the Everglades could be reclaimed by a sensible system of canaling and by deepening the various streams that flowed both east and west to the coasts. He believed that drainage would insure the growth of a new agricultural empire in south Florida. He became the Secretary of Legation to Spain (1855-1858) where he sought in libraries, public and private archives, in maps, globes, monuments, and family history, whatever bore any relation to the State to which he so entirely belonged. He was also the Charge d'Affaires in Mexico (1850-1852) where he acquired an immense mass of documents, books, portraits, and monuments of every kind. He settled in Florida in 1859, became a judge and served several terms in the state senate. In 1864 he was a candidate to the Democratic convention. In 1868 he was a tax collector for Florida. A part of his library was bought by the New York Historical Society after his death. He is buried in St. Augustine in the Protestant Cemetery next to his mother Hannah Smith and his sister Hannah Anita Amelia Porter. His will was administered by Dr. Bronson and became in part --- The Buckingham-Smith Association which continues to serve low-income individuals today in St. Augustine In 1860 the St. Augustine Examiner welcomed Buckingham Smith back to St. Augustine: "It affords us great pleasure to announce the arrival at his home of Buckingham Smith, the late secretary of legation at Madrid. After an absence of several years in the service of his country in Mexico and in Spain, he ocmes to enjoy the otium cum dignitate in the midst of his own orange and evergreen bowers. During his absence in the public service, it is understood, he has gathered from the time honored records of Madrid, and other cities of Spain, much to enrich the marvelious and copious history of our ancient city and State. We trust he may not again be allured from the pleasing labor of arranging and preparing these materials for publication, that the world may be benefitted by his many years of research among the musty documents relating to the early settlement and possession of our country. We are happy to learn that a more accurate history of De Soto and his expedition may soon be expected from his pen." Letter to Seward, Secretary of State (War of the Rebellion Naval Records) 341 W. FIFTEENTH STREET New York, February 26, 1862. Mr. SECRETARY: I have several times been menaced with the seizure of my property in the South, and yesterday I was warned from a friendly source that my presence there had become necessary for its safety, all that I have being in the hands of sequestrators for the Government of Davis. In this last stage of affairs (common, no doubt, to many others), and as it is not my pleasure to go South at this time, I address myself to you, asking the protection of the United States under the treaty with Spain, holding property as I do in east Florida by descent from a Spanish subject of the country, and having myself at the time of the cession been a resident in the province. I beg to state these facts with emphasis. Since the time that the conspirators took up arms there has in no wise any attempt been made by the Government to pacify the interior of the Peninsula of Florida or the eastern shore by even the looking in of a gunboat as high up the St. Johns River as Jacksonville, or in passing the harbor of St. Augustine. On the average of once a week for a period of nearly four months the Jeff Davis hovered in the Gulf of Florida within a degree or two of latitude of that town, watching for prey, and finally it only disappeared by the commander, Coxetter, attempting to enter the port, supposing himself to be pursued by a United States vessel of war, when he wrecked his vessel. That town is the undisturbed residence of that privateersman, where he has his family, and has property, as also have Hardee, Kirby Smith, and Loring, all late of the U. S. Army, now active generals in the cause of the conspiracy. Through these ports have been received from neutral countries necessaries, particularly salt, coffee, quinine, opium, in exchange for pitch and cotton. Some passengers are passing (or have passed until very lately) by these means, and also correspondence The Garibaldi, schooner, I am inclined to think, still continued to make her trips from Jacksonville. The commerce of St. Johns River has, in no instance, as I have said, been disturbed, and, in a word, the entire Peninsula of Florida by sufferance only is in rebellion, and while incapable of self-defense, sends troops to Richmond and attempts at last, by confiscating the property of contumacious citizens, to supply means for carrying on the war to the Confederate Government. With great respect, I am, sir, your obedient servant, BUCKINGHAM SMITH Republican Unionist Convention 1864 On May 18, 1864 Buckingham Smith was in Jacksonville organizing with John S. Sammis a former Direct Tax Commissioner, Philip Fraser and others met to call a convention for the appointment of delegates to the Baltimore Republican Unioni National Convention. When their convention met on May 24, they appointed a five-man delegation This group had opposition from the Chase camp through Tax Comissioner Stickley. Calvin Robinson from Buckingham Smith's group became the Florida representative. Buckingham Smith In the December 26, 1868 edition of the St. Augustine Examiner it was reported that the "Hon. Buckingham Smith" was back in town after an absence of several months, and that he had visited the former residence of Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles, while he was in Spain. Smith returned to his home on 42nd Street in New York in 1870. On January 4, 1871, he suffered a heart attack and was found unconscious on the street by a policeman who thought he was intoxicated and locked him in a cell in the police station. The next day he was transferred to Bellevu Hospital, where he died, still unknown, without regaining consciousness. His body was removed to the morgue and was about to be buried in potter's field, when it was identified by an acquaintance and sent to St. Augustine for interment in the Protestant cemetery near his mother and sister. Buckingham Smith's will, made in St. Augustine in 1869, was not immediately found, but was later located, it is said, in the safe of a local merchant. there were no banks or safety deposit boxes in St. Augustine at that time. Although he and his mother had both been slave owners, Buckingham Smith sympathized with the North during the Civil War. He left a life interest to lands in St. Augustine to a Negro named Jack, once his slave, and $100 each to three other former servants. After disposing of personal effects to friends and relatives, he left the rest and residue of his property for the use of the black people of St. Augustine and their successors in all time to come..."providing first for the aged and invalid of those blacks which have been mine." Dr. Oliver Bronson of St. Augustine was his executor. As soon as it was practicable, in order to make a more permanent provision for accomplishing the purposes of the testator, Dr. Bronson determined to create a corporate institution, which was named The Buckingham Smith Benevolent Association. In order to carry out the intentions of Mr. Smith, and to put the institution on a permanent basis, Dr. Bronson purchased at his own expense, had erected a commodious building completely furnished with everything necessary to make it comfortable, which he deeded to the Directors. There were ample piazzas on the north and south sides, a large dining room and sitting room, and an apartment for the matron; an outbuilding for a commodious kitchen and rooms for the domestics. This was connected to the main building by a room open on the south designed as a sitting room in pleasant weather. Dr. Bronson donated this without cost to the Association, so that the income from Mr. Smith's estate could be devoted to the maintenance of the inmated of the home. A "Board of Lady Managers" was formed to aid in this benevolent work, with a membership composed of some of the most prominent ladies in town. Miss Margaret Worth was the Secretary, her sister, Mrs. John Sprague, and the Misses Humphreys and Benet were Vice Presidents, Miss Rebecca Perit was Treasurer, and Miss Sarah Mather, the President. These ladies immediately began making articles of clothing and other necessities for the home, and on December 8, 1873, six aged colored women and two colored men took their first meal in the newly erected Home. Others were admitted from time to time. The institution was in charge of a matron, assisted by a cook and a house girl. The first officers of the Association were Oliver Bronson, M.D., President, General John T. Sprague and Oliver Bronson, Jr., Vice Presidents, Dr. Andrew Anderson, M.D., Physician and Secretary, and Mr. James W. Allen, Treasurer. He published: The Narrative of Alvar Nufiez Cabeza de Vaca (1851) Letter of Hernando de Soto and Menoir de Hernandado de Esccalante Fontaneda (1854) Collection de Verios Documentos para la Historia de la Florida y tierras adjacentes (1857) Rudo Ensayo, Tentativa de una Precencionate Descripcion Geografica de la Procincia de Sonora, sus Termines y Comfinca...San Austia de la Florida, (1863) An Inquiry into the Authenticity of Docuemnts concerning a Discovery in North America, claimed to have been made by Verrazzano (1864) Grammar of the Pima or Nevome, a Language of Sonora from a Manuscript of the XVII Century (1862) gudo Ensayo, tentativo de una Prevencional Description Geographica de la Provincia de Sonora (1863) Grammatical Sketch Of The Heve Language (1861) Doctrina Christiana y Confesionario en Lenqua Nezome o sea la Pima (1862) He prepared in New York the Narratives of the Career of Hernando De Soto in Florida (1866) He died in New York City January 5, 1871 |
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| Buckingham Smith Florida Memory Project |