Background
John Smith was baptized on 6 January 1580 at Willoughby near Alford, Lincolnshire, where his parents rented a farm from Lord Willoughby. He claimed descent from the ancient Smith family of Cuerdley, Lancashire.
John Smith was baptized on 6 January 1580 at Willoughby near Alford, Lincolnshire, where his parents rented a farm from Lord Willoughby. He claimed descent from the ancient Smith family of Cuerdley, Lancashire.
He received a grammar school education, was apprenticed to a local merchant, and then served in the army for four years on the European continent.
He returned and visited briefly in Scotland, then went back to the Continent where he fought with the Austrians against the Turks in Transylvania. According to Smith, he was taken prisoner and sent to Constantinople as a present to the wife of a Turkish pasha. Fearing for his safety she sent him to what is now the Republic of Georgia. There he was enslaved, but killed his master, escaped to western Europe, and returned to England about 1604. In 1606, when the Virginia Company of London received its land patent, Smith claimed to have taken an active part in the formation and organization of the enterprise, and sailed for Virginia on December 19. The three ships entered Chesapeake Bay, April 26, 1607, and the surviving 105 of the original 144 colonists disembarked at Jamestown. Smith engaged in exploration, and was a member of the governing council. His chief contribution during this period was securing corn and other food from the native Americans. Taken prisoner, according to his account in the Generall Historie of Virginia (1624), he was saved from execution by the intervention of Pocahontas, Chief Powhatan's daughter. On his return to Jamestown in January 1608 he found his enemies in control. Arrested and tried for the loss of two men in his scouting party, Smith was sentenced to hang, but was saved by the intervention of Capt. Christopher Newport, who had just arrived from England with fresh supplies for the starving and quarreling colonists. Smith subsequently explored the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers, as well as Chesapeake Bay, and in 1608 sent to England for publication A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Noate as Hath Hapned in Virginia Since the First Planting of that Collony. He governed the colony during 1608 and 1609, and divided it into three parts to facilitate the search for food. A new charter and new colonists arrived in 1609, and Smith found his authority questioned. After being wounded accidentally in an explosion, he sailed for England in October. There he faced complaints made against him, and himself criticized the Virginia Company and its methods. In 1612 he published A Map of Virginia, with a Description of the Country, the Commodities, People, Government, and Religion. In 1614 he was sent to New England by London merchants and brought back a valuable cargo of fish and furs although his sponsors expected gold. His A Description of New England, published in 1616, contains an excellent map of the area. Departing for America again in 1615, Smith was captured by pirates and then by French Huguenots, who landed him at La Rochelle. He managed to return to Plymouth, England, where the Pilgrims used his maps and books but did not accept his services. He died in London on June 21, 1631.
Quotations: "Here every man may be master and owner of his owne labour and land. .. If he have nothing but his hands, he may. .. by industries quickly grow rich. "
