Minister and scholar.

Scion of Boston elite; son of a prominent merchant and civic leader, Smith corresponded regularly with his cousin Abigail Adams and her husband John. Traveled to Charleston, England, and continental Europe (1770-71). Tutor, Harvard College (1774). Loyalist sympathies led him to return to England (1775). Presbyterian minister at Sidmouth (1778-84). Returned to Boston (1784). Harvard College Librarian (1787-91). Head of Dummer Academy (1791-1809). Later chaplain of the Boston poor house and a fellow of the American Antiquarian Society.

Son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Storer) Smith of Boston. Educated at Harvard (B.A. 1767). Never married.