Smith, James (1),
a Methodist Episcopal minister, was born in Virginia in 1782, converted in early youth, and in 1802 received as a travelling preacher into the Virginia Conference. He soon gave evidence of strong powers of mind, and evinced a taste and capacity for intellectual improvement.. On some occasions, especially, he was truly eloquent, and rose far above ordinary speakers in sublimity of sentiment and energy of thought and expression. He died in 1826. See Minutes of Annual Conferences, 1, 542; Stevens, Hist. of the M.E. Church, 3, 401, 402; Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, 7, 373- 377; Bangs, Hist. of the M.E. Church, 2, 307; 3, 371.