Narratives of the Career of Hernando de Soto in the Conquest of Florida: As Told by a Knight of Elvas, and in a Relation by Luys Hernandez de Biedma Factor of the Expedition
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An Inquiry Into the Authenticity of Documents Concerning a Discovery in North America Claimed to Have Been Made by Verrazzano
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As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
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This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Buckingham Smith was an American lawyer, politician, and antiquarian.
Background
He was born on October 31, 1810 on Cumberland Island, Georgia, United States, the son of Josiah and Hannah Smith (cousins), of Watertown, Connecticut. He was christened Thomas Buckingham Smith.
His father had moved to East Florida during the British occupation, and after the cession of Florida to the United States, went to Mexico on business, leaving his wife, Buckingham, and a daughter, in St. Augustine. He visited his father in Mexico when he was about fourteen years of age after the latter had been appointed United States consul in Mexico.
Education
He received his early education in St. Augustine. In 1836 he was graduated from the Harvard Law School and then spent some time with Judge Fessenden of Portland, Maine.
Career
At the death of the elder Smith in 1825, Buckingham became the ward of his uncle, Robert Smith, and was placed in Washington (later Trinity) College in Hartford, Connecticut, where he remained three years.
On his return to St. Augustine, he practised law for a time and in 1839-40, acted as secretary to Gov. Raymond Reid. He was a member of the Florida territorial legislature in 1841, serving one term.
Through the influence of Senator Jackson Morton, he was appointed secretary of legation in Mexico on September 9, 1850, and served until February 1852. On June 5, 1855, through the influence of William Pitt Fessenden, he was appointed secretary of legation in Spain, where he formed a lasting friendship with the great Americanist, Pascual de Gayangos, and other influential men of letters. He was recalled in 1858 and returned to St. Augustine two years later.
Although a slave owner, he sided with the North during the Civil War, and in May 1864 was a delegate to the Democratic convention held in Baltimore, Md. Shortly afterwards he went again to Spain to make further investigations in the archives and to select improved stocks for his orange grove. He returned to Florida in 1868 and was appointed tax commissioner.
In 1852 he supplied extracts translated from three unpublished Spanish journals to the third volume of the monumental work on the American Indian by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft. He worked on The Narrative of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (1851).
In 1870-71, he resided in New York City, but the northern climate did not agree with him and it is said that he contracted tuberculosis. On January 4, he suffered a stroke near his home and never regained consciousness. A policeman, thinking him intoxicated, locked him in a cell at the police station. In the morning he was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he died.