John Smith

John Smith was a 19th-century industrialist in Andover, Massachusetts, whose Smith & Dove Co. mill employed up to 300 people spinning twine and thread from flax. Smith was also a philanthropist who inspired the building of the town's Memorial Hall Library and an abolitionist who co-founded the Free Christian Church on the principle of freedom for all people.

History

Smith was born in Brechin, Scotland in 1797. At age 8, following his father's death, he began to work on farms and in flax mills to support his family.

Smith emigrated to the United States via Halifax, Nova Scotia, arriving on Dec. 15, 1816. He worked as a machinist in Watertown and Medway before starting his own business, John Smith & Co., in Plymouth. He later asked his brother, Peter, to join him in America.

Smith purchased a farm and home on North Main Street formerly owned by Capt. Reuben Frye. The home dated to 1796. Smith remodeled, building a “fine mansion house” The business incorporated as Smith & Dove Co. in 1864. The company supplied linen thread for boots worn by Union soldiers during the Civil War.

John Smith and the other founders of Smith & Dove Co. were philanthropists. John Smith, in particular, contributed to Phillips Academy and Abbot Academy.

Abolitionism John Smith's abolitionism stemmed from his travels in Charleston, South Carolina, where he witnessed a slave auction. In a 1946 essay, Smith's granddaughter, Mary Byers Smith, described the young Scottish immigrant's decision in Fall 1819 to travel the country to learn “what was out here.” He traveled to Albany and Troy, New York, as well as New York City, where he found a berth on a ship bringing hay to Charleston, S.C. She quoted his account:

Smith's “strong belief that the end of slavery had to be opposed by the church” led him and others to withdraw from West Parish Church, where his brother, Peter, was a member. Smith and others founded the Free Christian Church on March 21, 1846, based on their abolitionist beliefs.