Smithtown, A History: Edward Henry Smith

Long after town founder Richard Smythe’s death, his descendants continued to live in and to contribute greatly to Smithtown. Edward Henry Smith, a former U.S. congressman, was a member of the founding family who called Smithtown home in the 1800s.

According to , his brother Edward was born in 1809 on the family homestead “Mud Island” in Nissequogue. Smith was only 12 years old when he left school and began taking care of his father’s farm which was 400 acres. Smith’s father gave him $200 to invest in cattle. When he returned home from a trip to East Hampton with the cattle, his father said it was the best purchase that was ever made for him.

According to The History of Smithtown, Smith was 22 years old when he married his first wife, Mary A. Smith. Mary died six months after their wedding, and two years after her passing, he married her sister Elizabeth. The couple had four children together.

While farming became a lifetime career for Smith, he was also involved in politics. According to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, the Democrat was a justice of the peace in Smithtown from 1833 to 1843 and was also town assessor from 1840 to 1843. In 1856 he became town supervisor and remained in the position until 1860.

According to the directory, Smith was a U.S. congressman from 1861 to 1863. In office during Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, the judge wrote that Lincoln said to his brother, “I like to visit with you Mr. Smith; you ain’t all the time asking for something.”

After leaving political office, he returned to farming. During his lifetime, the former congressman owned a few homes in Smithtown. His first was the family homestead of “Mud Island” that he inherited after his father Richard V Smith’s death, according to . Smith soon sold it and lived for a short period in a house that eventually became and where is today.

Smith’s home for the last few decades of his life was located on Route 25A where Avalon Gardens Rehabilitation and Health Care Center stands today. According to the scrap-book, the politician and farmer bought his home and the property in 1856. When Smith died in 1885, his son Richard Bull inherited the homestead, and then when he passed, his brother Elliott Robbins owned it.

Alonzo Potter bought the property when Elliot died in 1917, and tore down the old house and built a brick one. In the 1920s Potter sold the home as well as 240 acres to Gerald M. Dahl, a former president of the B.M.T. subways, according to Smithtown Historian Brad Harris.

When the scrap-book was published in 1968, the property was used as a health resort and convalescent home by the Smithtown Spa. Harris said it was also used by the Lutheran Center for the Aging for a period of time.

While the congressman’s home may no longer be standing, his accomplishments are just one example of the Smith family’s contributions to our area throughout the centuries.