Asa Bowen Smith

Asa Bowen Smith, also known as A.B. Smith (July 16, 1809 – February 10, 1886), was a Congregational missionary posted in Oregon Country and Hawaii with his wife Sarah Gilbert White Smith. In 1840, Smith wrote the manuscript for the book Grammar of the Language of the Nez Perces Indians Formerly of Oregon, U.S.. He conducted the first census of the Nez Perce. After eight years as a missionary, he returned to the Northeastern United States where he was a pastor of the Buckland Congregational Church in Massachusetts and of the Congregational Church in Southbury, Connecticut.

He attended Middlebury College, Andover Theological Seminary, and Yale Theological Seminary and was ordained in 1837.

Early life and education Asa Bowen Smith was born in Williamstown, Vermont, on July 16, 1809. His parents were Asa and Polly Waller Smith and four of his twelve siblings were Laura, Marcia, Lucia, and John Curtis Bowen Smith. Believing that it would be helpful as a missionary to have medical training, he studied medicine as well at three medical schools. While away at college and the seminaries, he began livelong correspondence with his brother and sisters, which are archived at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library of the Yale University Library. In the spring of 1837, he preached at the Congregationalist Church in Woodbridge, Connecticut, five miles northwest of New Haven. had been missionaries. Their parents were Edwin Locke (1813–1843) and Martha Laurens Rowell Locke (1812–1842) of the Eight company of missionaries. Lucy Maria Locke Smith married Rev. Elijah Harmon. She died in June 1871, and Smith continued to have a relationship with his son-in-law. He was named in Smith's will, along with Martha. Mary Sabin Locke was adopted by her uncle Dr. Samuel Newell Bowell of Malta, New York. She married a man named Wilson, lived in San Francisco, and had a son who was a missionary in Hawaii.

Whitman Mission, Waiilatpu Whitman Mission Station along the Oregon Trail at Waiilatpu, from How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon by O. W. Nixon They were initially at Waiilatpu in present day Washington. After a falling out with Marcus Whitman, Smith stated that if he was to be stationed with Whitman, he would leave the mission. The missionaries had a difficult time establishing themselves with the local Native Americans, due to language barriers and vast differences in religious concepts. Among the missionaries, there were philosophical differences in approach. Smith thought that the missionaries should learn their language and work amongst them to develop relationships.

Nez Perce grammar Smith learned the Nez Perce language from Hol-lol-sote-toot. Mountain men called him "Lawyer" because of his astuteness. Lawyer knew two native languages, that of his father Chief Twisted Hair and his mother a Flathead woman—as well as some English. Lawyer, from Kamiah, was their guide and assistant.

Smith developed a Nez Perce grammar by adapting the missionary alphabet used in Hawaiian missions.

Leaving the Whitman mission Insinmalakin and Inmtamlaiakin, subchiefs of the Nez Perce at Kamiah, ordered Smith to leave the village on October 14, 1840. The natives resented that the whites were encroaching on their land and lives without their permission. They wanted Smith to pay for the land where his house and farm were established. The Smiths left the mission on April 19, 1841. She had been a teacher in Ohio and other places. She was also described as a scholar.

Later years and death Smith lived in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, until 1884 when he moved to Sherwood, Tennessee. (An obituary printed in the Vermont Watchman and State Journal stated that he died on February 10, 1886.) It was published on February 24, 1886.

Papers regarding his position with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions are among the collection of the Research Library of the Oregon Historical Society.