New York: William Smith

Much like Henry Dearborn, William Smith had an illustrious and 

colorful career as a soldier, diplomat, U.S. marshal, and politician 

that spanned the course of four decades. Smith was born in New 

York on November 8, 1755. Prior to the outbreak of hostilities with 

Great Britain, Smith graduated from the College of New Jersey 

(Princeton) and established a law practice in 1774. When, the 

American Revolution reach his home state of New York in the 

summer of 1776, Smith was commissioned a major in the 

Continental Army and worked as an aide to Major General John 

Sullivan, one of the heroes from the Battle of Long Island. 

Throughout the rest of his military career, Smith participated in 

numerous battles and campaigns, all the while rising through the 

ranks. By the end of the Revolution, in the fall of 1783, Smith rose 

to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and served as an aide to General

Washington.67 That was also the year that he became a founding 

member of the Society of the Cincinnati, to promote and preserve the ideals and fellowship of 

the officers of the Continental Army. 

In the six-year period between the end of the American Revolution and his appointment as the 

first U.S. marshal of New York, Smith worked as diplomat overseas (1785-1788). During this 

time, he married Abigail “Nabby” Adams, the oldest daughter of John Adams and sister of John 

Quincy Adams, on June 12, 1786, and returned to New York City two years later to pursue 

business and new political opportunities.68 Because of his personal ties to influential politicians 

like Washington and Adams, Smith became the first U.S. marshal for New York in the fall of 

1789.69

As such, Smith was responsible for overseeing the enumeration of New York’s population and 

overcoming any obstacles that emerged. For example, some New Yorkers were superstitious 

and associated censuses with tragic events. In the minds of these participants, their fear 

seemed rational because an epidemic occurred in part of New York during a colonial-era 

enumeration of the area.70 Despite struggling to convince people to complete the census, 

Smith and his eight deputies were able to determine that the state of New York had a total 

 

67 “History - The First Generation of United States Marshals/The First Marshal of New York: William Smith,” U.S. 

marshals Service, last estimated release October 17, 2019, 

https://www.usmarshals.gov/history/firstmarshals/smith.htm. (Accessed October 17, 2019).

68 His sister, Sally, married Charles Adams, younger brother of Smith’s wife Abigail.

69 “History - The First Generation of United States Marshals/The First Marshal of New York: William Smith.”

70 W.S. Rossiter, “The First Census of the United States,” pgs. 45-46.

Among his numerous accomplishments, 

William Smith helped found the Society 

of the Cincinnati, shortly after the 

American Revolution. 

Courtesy of Yale University Art Gallery
population of 340,120 people.71 72

 Furthermore, Smith’s 

final 1790 census schedule noted New York City was the 

largest city in America with a population of 33,131 

people in 1790-91.73 Today, New York City is still the 

largest city in the United States with a population of 

8,398,748 people.74 In addition to providing the total 

population of New York in 1790, Smith and his deputies’ 

enumerations are unique because they have two extra 

columns in their returns with information about 

whether the enumerated area had more males or 

females in the population. This extra information is 

significant because Smith, apparently on his own initiative, went beyond the scope of the 

instructions in the 1790 Census Act.75 Regardless of the challenges and time to gather extra 

information, Smith and his deputies completed the enumeration of New York’s population on 

July 26, 1791.76 Despite his successes, Smith left the U.S. Marshal Service after only a year to 

accept the more lucrative federal position of New York’s Supervisor of the Revenue.77 78 

 

71 “New York”. Return of the whole number of persons within the several districts of the United States: according to 

"An act providing for the enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States," passed March the first, one 

thousand seven hundred and ninety-one. pg. 41, PDF. Retrieved from 

https://www.census.gov/content/census/en/library/publications/1793/dec/number-of-persons.htm. (Accessed 

October 17, 2019).

72 "Assistant marshals for the state [New York]: 1790," in Heads of Families/1790/A Century of Population Growth 

New York & Pennsylvania (Washington, D.C,: Government Printing Office, 1908), 3:11.

73 “Summary of population [of New York], by counties and town: 1790," 3:9.

74 “QuickFacts: New York City: New York,” U.S. Census Bureau, last estimated release July 1, 2018, 

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/newyorkcitynewyork/PST045218. (Accessed October 17, 2019). 

75 W.S. Rossiter, “The First Census of the United States,” pg. 47. It appears Smith added the two columns on his 

own initiative as there are no instructions from Governor George Clinton, President Washington, or Secretary 

Jefferson to William Smith regarding the specific instructions for the census.

76 “New York,” Return of the whole number of persons within the several districts of the United States: according to 

"An act providing for the enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States," passed March the first, one 

thousand seven hundred and ninety-one.

77 “History - The First Generation of United States marshals/The First marshal of New York: William Smith”. 

78 “Spirits, Foreign and Domestic, Communicated to the Congress, November 1, 1791,” American State Papers, NA, 

Finance 1: 110. Retrieved from https://memory.loc.gov/cgibin/ampage?collId=llsp&fileName=009/llsp009.db&Page=110. (Accessed October 7, 2019). 

A Plan for New York City c. 1789

Courtesy of the Library of Congress 
Smith held this position until 1800, when his father-in-law, now 

President of the United States, appointed him as the surveyor 

of the Port of New York. Smith was able to leverage these two 

positions to increase his family’s pre-existing wealth, which 

proved to be beneficial because the Jefferson Administration 

removed him from his post shortly after taking office in 1801. 

In 1806, Smith’s status within American society and wealth 

were further threatened, when he was arrested and tried for

violating the Neutrality Act of 1794 for his role in failed Miranda 

Expedition of 1806, which attempted to free Venezuela from 

Spanish control. However, he was acquitted of all charges and 

eventually elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 

1813.79 Ultimately, Smith would serve only one term. After

losing his re-election bid, he returned to the town of Lebanon, N.Y., where he died on June 10, 

1816.80

 

79 “Spirits, Foreign and Domestic, Communicated to the Congress, November 1, 1791,” American State Papers, NA, 

Finance 1: 110. 

80 Ibid.

The two columns on the far right of 

Smith's 1790 census return were not 

required by the 1790 Census Act