Smith, Thomas G

Smith, Thomas G., a Dutch Reformed minister, was born in Scotland in 1756, came to America in 1774, and enlisted actively in the cause of American independence. After, the Revolutionary war he studied for the ministry under Dr. John Mason, and obtained license to preach in 1791 from the Associate Reformed Church. His ministry covered the period of forty-six years, during most of which (1808 to 1837) he was pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church at Tarrytown, N.Y. He had previously been settled in the Associate Reformed Church in Orange County, and then in Ulster County, in the churches of Esopus, Bloomingdale, and Hurley. He was always a favorite preacher, popular in manner, evangelical in spirit, and Calvinistic in creed, and in the pulpit was particularly practical and experimental, He possessed a sound mind in a sound body, and a warm heart with a vigorous intellect. His ministry was discriminating, and in every respect useful and honored. See Corwin, Manual of the Reformed Church, p. 219, 220. (W.J.R.T.)