Larkin Smith (17571813) was a

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

officer, planter and politician who represented King and Queen County in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-number ...

, and served as that body's Speaker from 1799 until 1802.

Early and family life

Born at Richahock plantation in King and Queen County to Mary Chew and her planter husband, John Smith. A member of the

First Families of Virginia First Families of Virginia (FFV) were those families in Colonial Virginia who were socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers. They descended from English colonists who primarily settled at Jamestown, Williamsbur ...

, he could trace his ancestors in the colony several generations back to immigrants from England.

Military service

Smith enlisted in November 1775 as a private in a company of minutemen. He was promoted to cadet in the

6th Virginia Regiment The 6th Virginia Regiment was raised on December 28, 1775, at Williamsburg, Virginia, for service with the Continental Army. The regiment would see action at the Battle of Trenton, Battle of Princeton, Battle of Brandywine, Battle of Germantown, ...

on February 10, 1776, then cornet of the 4th Regiment Continental Light Dragoons on August 1, 1777. His first officer's commission was issued on September 4, 1778, when he became a lieutenant. He was promoted to captain on April 1, 1780, and received land in southern Virginia as partial compensation for his patriotic service. Following the conflict, Smith became a member of the Society of the Cincinnati and continued in the Virginia militia, retiring as Colonel of the Regiment of Dragoons in 1807.

Career

Following the war, on September 30, 1784, Smith became one of the Justices of the Peace which collectively ruled his native King and Queen County. King and Queen County voters elected Smith as their (part-time) representative in the

in 1784-1785 and both re-elected him and failed to re-elect him many times. In the period June 7, 1794 until 1797 he was ineligible for legislative service because fellow legislators elected him as a member of the Governor's Privy Council which governed the Commonwealth's small executive branch. During their joint Privy Council service, he and Edmund Harrison (who would succeed him as speaker) on October 7, 1794, issued a report to the Governor on the condition of the State Treasury. Smith again won election to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1797, and was re-elected several times. Fellow delegates elected and re-elected him as their Speaker beginning in 1799, and he served until 1802.Leonard, pp. xv, 215, 223 Smith moved to Norfolk, Virginia and accepted the office of tax Collector for the Port of Norfolk, serving from October 12, 1807, until his death on September 28, 1813.

Personal life

Smith married twice. On April 21, 1781, he married Mary Eleanor Hill. Following her death, on May 25, 1804, Smith married Sophia Ann Tazewell Taliaferro (widow of Benjamin Taliaferro) at the home of her brother,

Littleton Waller Tazewell Littleton Waller Tazewell (December 17, 1774May 6, 1860) was a Virginia lawyer, plantation owner and politician who served as U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator and the 26th Governor of Virginia, as well as a member of the Virginia House of Dele ...

, who would become Governor of Virginia in 1834–36. Her father was Judge Henry Tazewell of Williamsburg.

Death and legacy

Smith died in Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1813.

References

List of former Speakers of the House of Delegates, in the old House chamber in the Virginia State Capitol {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Larkin 1750s births 1813 deaths Members of the Virginia House of Delegates Speakers of the Virginia House of Delegates People from King and Queen County, Virginia Virginia colonial people