The Rev. David Smith was born in Scotland, in the year 1732. He studied there for the ministry, and in August, 1769, he was appointed by the Synod of Edinburgh as a missionary for Nova Scotia. He came out from Scotland, in the year 1770, and received a call from the people of Londonderry, to be their pastor, which he accepted. He was settled there and labored among them about twenty-five years, and shared the hardships of a newly settled country with his small congregation. To him, his people looked for consolation in the hour of tribulation, and the fruit of his labors may be traced to the generation of the present day. Although he was settled in Londonderry, his labors were not altogether confined to this place. He visited the people of Cumberland and Pictou and preached to them, before the arrival of the Rev. James McGregor in Pictou, which was in the year 1786. He was married to Agnes Spear about the year 1756, about fourteen years before he left Scotland.
James, their eldest son, was born about the year 1757, and was brought by his father to Nova Scotia, when about thirteen years old. In the year 1785, he was returned to represent Londonderry in the House of Assembly, and on December 5th of this year, he took his seat in the Assembly, and continued to represent the Township of Londonderry until April 6th, 1789, when his seat was declared vacant. He obtained a grant of 500 acres of land in Middle Stewiacke. It was laid out in rear of the front lots, being part of Smithfield, from which the place took its name. James Smith was married to Elizabeth, daughter of William and Dorothy Putnam. They had one son; his name was William Putnam Smith. He married Miss Campbell, and they have a family and are settled at Antigonish. Mr. Robert Hennesy's wife, of the Lower Village of Truro, is a daughter of theirs. James Smith removed to Stewiacke with his father-in-law, and died there. His widow was married again to Capt. James Miller about the year 1797. They removed and settled in Antigonish.
David, the second son of the Rev. David Smith and Agnes Spear, was born in Scotland about the year 1759, and was brought by his father to Nova Scotia. He was married to Rebecca, the only daughter of William Cock and Sidney Holmes, 1786. They had four sons. He was a cabinetmaker, and carried on his business at Halifax where he died in 1800. John, the third son of the Rev. David Smith and Agnes Spear, was born in Scotland in the year 1761, and shortly after this Mrs. Smith died, and Mr. Smith came to Nova Scotia a widower, with his two eldest sons and left his youngest son, John, with his friends in Scotland, until the year 1774. He then sent for him, and he came to Nova Scotia when he was thirteen years old. He was married to Sarah Crowe, the second daughter of Thomas Crowe and Sarah Barnhill, of Beaver Brook, in the year 1801. They had seven sons and two daughters. He inherited his father's property at Debert, which was granted to him (his father) as the first minister of Londonderry, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their days. He died November 1st, 1831, aged 70 years, and his widow died October 1847, aged 67 years.
Rev. David Smith was married the second time to Miss Margaret Rogers, of Chiganoise, about the year 1778. But this was not to be his abiding place. On March 25th, 1795, he changed his early habitation for a mansion prepared for him by his Celestial Father. This melancholy bereavement of so venerable a man at once struck a damp on the cheering prospects of his congregation.