Gamaliel Smethurst

Canadian politician

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (June 2014) Click [show] for important translation instructions.

* View a machine-translated version of the French article.
* Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
* Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
* You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is `Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Gamaliel Smethurst]]; see its history for attribution.`
* You may also add the template `{{Translated|fr|Gamaliel Smethurst}}` to the talk page.
* For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

|

Gamaliel Smethurst (April 9, 1738 – July 20, 1826)[1] was a New England Planter who wrote one of the rare captivity narratives from Nova Scotia and eventually became a politician in Nova Scotia. He represented Cumberland County in the Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia from 1765 to 1770.

He was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, the son of Captain Joseph Smethurst[1] and Tabitha Skinner.[2] In 1761, Smethurst travelled to Chaleur Bay to trade with the French and natives under a license from the military governor of Quebec, James Murray. Smethurst was abandoned by a captain in the employ of Roderick Mackenzie, and so was forced to make his way to Fort Cumberland in the month of November, without food or shelter. Smethurst returned to Marblehead by way of Halifax but, in 1763, received a land grant in Cumberland County. He served as customs comptroller and deputy surveyor of woods. Not long after his term in the Nova Scotia assembly, he moved to London, England.[3]

In 1774, he published A narrative of an extraordinary escape: out of the hands of the Indians, in the Gulph of St. Lawrence, describing his earlier voyage to Chaleur Bay.[3]

## See also

[edit]

* Captivity Narratives - Nova Scotia

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Chapman, Joseph Warren (1903). Vital records of Marblehead, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849. Vol. I–Births. Salem: Essex Institute. p. 471.
2. ^ Chapman, Joseph Warren (1904). Vital records of Marblehead, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849. Vol. II - Marriages and Deaths. Salem: Essex Institute. p. 392.
3. ^ a b Smethurst, Gamaliel (1774). Ganong, William Francis (ed.). 'A narrative of an extraordinary escape: out of the hands of the Indians, in the Gulph of St. Lawrence. New Brunswick Historical Society.

Authority control databases |

* SNAC

|

This article about a Member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

|

* v
* t
* e

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template