06/03/2025
Local heritage ... Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson
Benjamin Smith – Governor, Grand Master of Masons, and St. John’s Lodge No. 1 Member
Benjamin Smith, a prominent figure in our state’s history, served as both Governor of the state (1810-1811) and Grand Master of Masons in NC (1808-1810).
Benjamin Smith was the son of Thomas of South Carolina and Sarah Moore Smith (who was the daughter of Roger Moore who built the Orton Plantation House in 1735 after the first was destroyed by Native Americans 10 years earlier. Benjamin was a descendant of Thomas Smith, a planter, merchant, surgeon, and Governor of South Carolina,1693–1694. His wealth included property throughout NC, SC, KY, and TN. He had fine town residences in Wilmington and Smithville (now Southport) and several plantations in Brunswick County to include his beloved Belvedere and Orton.
Benjamin Smith served as aide-de-camp to General George Washington in the retreat from Long Island on 29-30 August 1776. On 3 February 1779 he served with William Moultrie in driving the British from Port Royal Island (Beaufort, SC). Smith was elected to the Continental Congress on 11 May 1784; however, he never attended any sessions. Between 1784 and 1816 he served terms in the NC House of Commons (14th to 17th General Assemblies); NC senate (17th to 35th and 41st General Assemblies); and was Speaker of the NC Senate for five terms (1795–99).
When The University of North Carolina was chartered in 1789, Smith granted the university 20,000 acres of land in Tennessee that he had received for service during the Revolution. He also served on the UNC board of trustees (1789–1824). In 1792 he granted land adjacent to Fort Johnston at the mouth of the Cape Fear River to establish the town of Smithville (now Southport). He championed the first lighthouse in the state at Bald Head Island in 1794.
By inheritance and grit, Benjamin Smith was a militia major general and a wealthy man. At the time the federal census was taken in 1790, he was listed as the enslaver of 221 people, the most in NC. The Smiths adopted two children, were generous with their wealth to the less fortunate, and promoted educational projects. Their generosity resulted in their ultimate impoverishment, however, when Smith became security for the bond of one Colonel Reed, collector of the Port of Wilmington, who defaulted. Smith's entire wealth and that of his wife was drained off to meet this heavy obligation with the result that both died in poverty.
In 1798 Benjamin Smith was initiated into St. John’s Lodge (No. 213 at the time) in Wilmington, NC. He quickly rose in the masonic hierarchy to become Grand Master in 1809. He visited local lodges in NC, finding some “deficient in symbolic masonry” but most were “expert”. He promoted charity and brotherly love exhibited by his Brothers in Masonry toward themselves and their communities.
Of his contributions as Governor, Smith wanted to reform the NC penal system to revise the code and establish a penitentiary as had been established in Virginia. He preferred that criminals be incarcerated instead of executed. Also, like Virginia, he saw that such an institution could utilize the labor of prisoners as a means of potential profit for the state if managed properly. He also was a proponent of education, not only higher, but that of elementary learning. He felt that education, based on the true principles of Christian religion, would improve morality and reduce criminal activity. He was a champion of domestic production and appeared in 1810 before the General Assembly “dressed in a suit of American cloth”. Finally, he was dedicated to building a strong militia as the threat of war with Great Britain was front and center as 1812 approached.
Though of a benevolent nature and well-educated, Smith had an irritable disposition, was quick to anger, and had a proclivity to settle disputes by duel. His more frequent opponents were relatives or political antagonists, and he was wounded twice in these encounters. Benjamin Smith died in his dilapidated home in Smithville. His beloved wife Sarah died in 1821 and he followed her five years later "during unprecedented torrential rains and gale winds". The attending physician was Dr. George Campbell Clitherall, surgeon of the garrison at Fort Johnston. Dr. Clitherall and two witnesses that were summoned found no Last Will among the Governors effects. Smith's creditors clamored for the proceeds of his few remaining possessions, which were auctioned at a sheriff's sale in Smithville in March 1826.
Governor and MWB Benjamin Smith is buried at the Saint Philips Church ruin and cemetery at Brunswick Town/Ft. Anderson.
Sources:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/bfd68c88-cb80-3c80-9b63-bca9f3bb5b4e?read-now=1&seq=1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orton_Plantation
https://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/nc_revolution_state_house_1778.html
https://www.carolana.com/NC/Governors/bsmith.html
https://historicsites.nc.gov/all-sites/brunswick-town-and-fort-anderson/history/st-philips-church
