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| Photo from The Southern Presbyterian Review |
The Charleston pastor from Ireland.
Reverend Thomas Smyth was born June 14, 1808 in Belfast, Ireland. He was the sixth child and graduated from Belfast College in 1829. His father was an English grocer and an elder in the local Presbyterian Church, his father changed the spelling of their last name to "Smith" and later in 1837 Thomas changed it back to the original spelling of "Smyth" due to confusion with another Thomas Smith.
At the age of 21 he decided to make his profession of faith in Christ, he moved to London where his education continued at Highbury College. He was unable to finish at Highbury College because his family moved to the United States in 1830. He enrolled in the senior class at Princeton Theological Seminary and finished his studied in 1831.
When he was ordained by the Presbytery, he was intended to go to Florida to be a missionary but was then requested to be the supply pastor at Second Presbyterian Church in Charleston, SC in 1832. His professors from Princeton encouraged him to go to Charleston.
He was offered the chance to be the pastor but was unsure about staying in Charleston, however, after much consideration, he was installed in December of 1834. He was unsure of staying due to his health problems, but the church made modifications by lowering the ceiling to decrease the volume in the room so Rev. Smyth did not have to have to project his voice as much. He remained the pastor at Second Presbyterian until he passed.Shortly after he moved to Charleston, Rev. Smyth married Margret Milligan Adger on July 9, 1832. Margret is the daughter of one of the most prosperous merchants, James Adger. They had nine children together, of which, only six survived.
In 1837 scarlet fever broke out in Charleston, this was an unfortunate event for the Smyths because two of their daughters died. Sarah Ann Magee was four when she passed from the fever and her younger sister, Susan Adger, passed less than a week after.
Once again tragedy struck the Smyths in 1841 when their eleven month old son, Augustine, passed.
Rev. Smyth would often preach for a lengthy amount of time, and there were several was to let him know it was long, however, he would ignore the signs and continued to preach.
Rev. Smyth had several illnesses throughout his educational years and while at Second Presbyterian. In 1848 he was struck with partial paralysis and suffered from sever pain. In 1853 he was hit with paralysis again, however, this time he had trouble walking and had to use crutches. The pulpit was modified so he could sit and preach. In 1870 his speech was paralyzed so he began doing exercises to help him, unfortunately about a year after his speech paralysis he retired from the pulpit but would often end worship with a prayer.
He was a lover of books and had three rooms to hold his growing collection of about 20,000 books, however, as his health declined he had to sell many of his books and in 1870 there was a fire that left about 3,000 books.
On August 20, 1873 Rev. Smyth passed due to his deteriorating health. He was the pastor for Second Presbyterian for over 40 years, he ministered through the antebellum years of slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction. The below picture is the death records showing Rev. Smyth, he is the second line. It states he lived on Meeting Street and died from anasarca, swelling of the body.
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| Photo from Ancestry.com |
He is buried at Second Presbyterian Church along with his wife and several other family members. The two grave markers are of Rev. Smyth (right) and his wife (left).
The information used to create this post were obtained from The Southern Presbyterian Review.
To read more history on Second Presbyterian Church click here.
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