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Samuel Francis Smith

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Samuel Francis Smith

Samuel Francis Smith (October 21, 1808 – November 16, 1895) was an American Baptist minister, journalist, and author. He is best known for having written the lyrics to "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" (sung to the tune of "God Save the King"), which he entitled "America".

Smith was born in Boston, Massachusetts on October 21, 1808.

Smith attended Harvard College from 1825 to 1829, and was a classmate of William Henry Channing, James Freeman Clarke, Benjamin Robbins Curtis, George T. Davis, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Isaac Edward Morse, Benjamin Peirce, George W. Richardson, and Charles Storer Storrow.

From 1829 to 1834, he attended Andover Theological Seminary.

While a student at Andover Theological Seminary, Smith gave Lowell Mason lyrics he had written and the song was first performed in public on July 4, 1831, at a children's Independence Day celebration at Park Street Church in Boston. The song, titled "America", was first published by Lowell Mason in The Choir in 1832.

Smith later wrote an additional stanza for the April 30, 1889 Washington Centennial Celebration.

In 1834, Smith worked in Boston editing the Baptist Missionary Magazine before going to Maine. His ordination as a Baptist minister was on February 12, 1834, in Waterville, Maine, where in addition to his ministry, he served as Professor of Modern Languages at Waterville College.

On September 16, 1834, Smith married Mary White Smith, whose maiden name was Smith. They had six children. Smith was foster father for four years to teenager Thornton Chase, who, instead of entering college, left to become an officer in the Civil War. In 1894-5 Thornton Chase would become the first western convert to the Baháʼí Faith, and was a leading member in the United States.

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