Smith was born in Cecil County, Maryland, not far from the modern location of the Conowingo Dam.[1] He graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1764 at the relatively mature age of 28.[1] He was "tall, blond, slender, and had piercing eyes" and was "emotional to a degree we do not usually associate with Englishmen."[1]
Smith was known as a "firery and eloquent speaker" and held days-long revivals on the high plateau at Upper Buffalo.[1] He loved reading religious materials in the original language: The Old Testament in Hebrew, the New Testament in Greek, Edward Leigh's Critica Sacra, and Pool's Synopsis.[1] It was said that he kept a cloak at the foot of his bed for use when he would spontaneously rise to pray in his bitterly cold room in the middle of the night.[1]
References
Smith, D.D., Rev. Joseph (1858). William Buell Sprague (ed.). Annals of the American Pulpit. Vol. III. R. Carter and Brothers.