John Smith Biography

This Biography consists of approximately 4 pages of information about the life of John Smith.

John Smith Biography

This Biography consists of approximately 4 pages of information about the life of John Smith.
This section contains 1,177 words
(approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the John Smith Biography

Encyclopedia of World Biography on John Smith

John Smith (ca. 1580-1631), English colonist in America, was president of the governing council of Jamestown, Va. His writings about Virginia and New England have considerable historical and literary merit.

John Smith's life is known mainly from autobiographical passages in his writing, many details of which have been verified by modern scholarship. He was baptized on Jan. 8, 1579/1580; his birth presumably took place at Willoughby, Lincolnshire, a few days earlier. He was the eldest son of a freeman farmer. He attended school at nearby Louth and was briefly apprenticed to a merchant. In 1596 his father died and Smith inherited the land.

Adventures in Europe

But Smith was eager for adventure: he served for several years in the English army that had been fighting in the Netherlands. Either before or after this term of soldiering, he visited France as a servant to the son of Lord Willoughby, Smith's liege lord...

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This section contains 1,177 words
(approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the John Smith Biography
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John Smith from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.