My Genealogy Hound

REVEREND CHARLES EDWARD SMITH, D.D., pastor of the First Baptist church of Fredonia, is of New England birth and parentage. He is a son of Philip and Roby (Simmons) Smith, and was born in Fall River, Bristol county, Massachusetts, January 22d, 1835. His grandfather, Edward Smith, was born at Newport, Newport county, Rhode Island, in 1770, and was a farmer by occupation. One of the beaches on the sea-coast near Newport is named Smith’s Beach in honor of his ancestors, who settled there when they came from England. He moved to Massachusetts in 1822, and settled in Fall River, and there lived a retired life, being of a theological turn of mind and an acute reasoner. He died in 1834, in his sixty-fourth year. Brown Simmons, the maternal grandfather of Rev. C. E. Smith, was born in Somerset, Bristol county, Massachusetts, where he spent his whole life in the occupation of a farmer. In religion he was a member of the Baptist church. His ancestors were English people, who reached Massachusetts not long after the “Mayflower.” Brown Simmons was married to Huldah Brown in 1770, and for that reason was excused from serving as a soldier in the Revolutionary war. By this marriage there were seven children, two sons and five daughters. The father of these children died in 1838, and the mother in 1848, in her ninety-third year. Philip Smith (father) was born in Newport, Newport county, Rhode Island, in 1804, and worked on the farm until he was eighteen years old. Being ingenious to an unusual degree, and to develop this gift, he went to Fall River, Massachusetts, served three years’ apprenticeship in a machine-shop, eventually became a contractor for building cotton-mill machinery, and continued in this business the remainder of his life. In religion he was a member and deacon of the First Baptist church of Fall River, of high moral character, and very highly respected. Politically he was a member of the so-called Liberty party. Philip Smith was married (1828) to Roby Simmons, and had three children, two sons and a daughter: Philip B., born in 1830, and died at the age of twenty-three years; Roby M., born in 1832, and died in 1834; and Charles Edward.

C. E. Smith graduated from the Fall River (Massachusetts) High school in 1856, then went to the university of Rochester, New York, where he graduated in 1860, and then entered the Rochester Theological Seminary, graduating therefrom in 1863. He was licensed to preach by the church the night after he left home for college, and that summer had been assistant editor of the Fall River News. His first pastoral charge was in Pawtucket, Providence county, Rhode Island, where he was ordained in August, 1863, as pastor of the first Baptist church. In 1868 he became pastor in Cincinnati, Ohio, which pastorate he was compelled to resign in 1870 on account of ill-health. He then spent a year at Fulton, Oswego county, this State, where he was assistant engineer on the Erie canal, at the same time being active pastor of the church there. From 1871 to 1875 he was pastor of Calvary Baptist church in New Haven, Connecticut, a large church with a seating capacity of twelve hundred. In the latter year he came to Syracuse, this State, where he was pastor of the First Baptist church for six years, when he was again forced to resign on account of ill health. While recuperating, he wrote and published the book known as “The Baptism in Fire.” In 1885 he came to Fredonia as pastor of the Baptist church, where he has since resided and occupied that pulpit. This church was organized October 8th, 1808, and is believed to be the second church organized in the county, and the present brick edifice was built in 1853. Rev. Mr. Smith has just published another book entitled, “The World Lighted,” a study of the Apocalypse.

On June 16, 1891, the University of Rochester, N. Y., conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity, a title which he is well qualified to sustain with dignity.

Rev. C. E. Smith was married February 17th, 1864, to Catherine A. Kimball, a daughter of Morris and Louisa C. Kimball, of Fulton, New York, her father being a civil engineer all his life on the Erie canal. By this marriage there is one daughter, who is married to Dr. Nelson G. Richmond, a prosperous physician of Fredonia.