Smith, Titus

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Terrence M. Punch, “SMITH, TITUS,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/smith_titus_7E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Farmer, surveyor, office holder, botanist, author, and journalist; b. 4 Sept. 1768 in Granby, Mass., eldest child of the Reverend Titus Smith and Damaris Nish; m. 4 Jan. 1803 Sarah Wisdom in Halifax, and they had five sons and nine daughters; d. 4 Jan. 1850 in Dutch Village (Halifax).
    • In 1768 Titus’s father became a convert to the teachings of the Reverend Robert Sandeman and was later ordained in his sect. When the American revolution broke out, Smith and other Sandemanians discovered that the sect’s opposition to participation in violence or rebellion left its members vulnerable to the suspicion of rebels, who operated on the assumption that “he who is not for us is against us.” The family took refuge on Long Island, N.Y., and in 1783 was evacuated to Halifax, where the Reverend Mr Smith responded to a call to preside over a church group. The family also farmed at Preston, near Dartmouth, and in 1796 moved to Dutch Village, west of Halifax.
    • Titus Smith Jr earned his living as a farmer and as an occasional land surveyor, a training he acquired in his twenties. On four occasions between 1808 and 1829 the provincial government appointed him an overseer of roads. Among these endeavours were attempts to acclimatize seeds to the Maritimes. Farmers and gardeners in Nova Scotia were then in the habit of using seeds imported from England. Smith observed that these seeds had a tendency to fail, and was successful in modifying them to local conditions.
    • Smith often wrote and lectured on subjects relating to nature and how this resource ought to be used. In 1839 he encouraged Maria Frances Ann Morris, a Halifax artist, in her wish to paint the province’s flora, and wrote the descriptive texts to her Wildflowers of Nova Scotia. He was a regular contributor in the 1840s to several Nova Scotia newspapers, including Yarmouth Herald and Colonial Farmer (Halifax), which he edited. Characteristically, as reported by a son-in-law, “he was always beforehand with work. Up to the time of his death, and for years previously, he prepared a weekly article on agriculture for the Acadian Recorder of Halifax; and at the time of his decease he had several weeks’ matter ready for the printer.” He was a founder of the Halifax Mechanics’ Institute and lectured before it on mineralogy, natural history, and painting. In 1833 he received a grant of £15 from the legislature to collect specimens of geology, botany, and mineralogy for the institute’s museum.
    • Smith espoused a “natural philosophy” that embraced three themes. First, he had a deep belief in God as a wise Providence. Secondly, he was persuaded that humanity had a duty to discover, use, and conserve nature’s bounty. Finally, many progressive ideas embodied in the advance of industrialization were in his view out of rhythm with nature and therefore wrong.
  • Son of Loyalist in Loyalist Directory –https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=11944
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