On May 30, 1757, Col. John Stanwix arrived in Carlisle with five companies of the Royal American Regiment's first battalion to begin constructing entrenchments. Even though he carried rations to feed his soldiers, when necessary, he purchased supplies from nearby farmers, millers, and distillers. Nathaniel Smith was one of those distillers.
It is likely that Nathaniel Smith was born in the 1730s. He may have been one of the sons of Samuel Smith (1693-1784)1 who was a Lancaster County sheriff in the 1730s, and later a Cumberland County Justice. Samuel and his son John moved to Baltimore c.1760 with William Buchanan and William Spear of Carlisle.
Nathaniel Smith married Elizabeth Chambers at St. James Episcopal Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on September 15, 1755.2 She was the daughter of John Chambers of Cumberland County who died in 1756. She is mentioned in his will as “my daughter Elizabeth Smith” to whom he left one shilling sterling.3 Nathaniel was one of the men who signed the 1756 Petition from the inhabitants of Cumberland County to the Governor, the Council, and the Assembly of Pennsylvania asking for protection against depredations by the French and Indians.4
He died without making a will in August 1757. His estate was administered by Samuel Smith. Nathaniel’s inventory was taken on August 31 by John McClure and John Byers, and his account was recorded in 1758. These documents reveal information about farming, distilling, and several of Carlisle’s early tavernkeepers. The most valuable items in his inventory were “1 Negro [sic] man” valued at £50, “1 still & fluxtan & 13 Hhds st.” valued at £20, and “1 wagon and four pair of geairs [sic] at £13.” One item in Smith’s account that stood out immediately was 313 gall’s licour sold to Coll. Stanwix at 2 shillings 4 pence for a total of £36”11”10.5
The spelling in the inventory and account that follow has not been changed and is in the order that it was written. NOTE: Pounds, shillings, and pence written here as 5/5/6.
“An inventory of Bonds & notes belonging to the estate of Nath’l Smith Dec’d.”
Walter Bond’s bill 5/5/6
James McCraken bill 8/2/0
Bryan [Prenty?] note 3/11/3
Walter Bonds note 2/1/2
James [Junkins] & Dan’l. Pritchard’s note 20/17/0
James Hughs note for 2/0/0
Jos. Speer note 2/3/5
William Blyth note 1/12/0
John Chambers note £35/2/2 [Nathaniel Smith’s father-in-law]
John Anderson’s 2 notes 1/8/0
Arthur Foster’s note 1/10/11
Patrick South’s [Louth?] note 0/10/2
Willliam White’s note 2/14/10
John Byers 2 notes 3/10/0
John Chambers note assigned by […] 2/16/0
George Brown’s note 0/6/0
[Total] £95/10/5
Book accts. £35/12/7
[Total] £131/3/0
Page 2 (Original spelling kept)
Plough & irons /0/12/0; 1 saddle 0/15/0; Hogs 5/0/0; 1 sprouting how [sic] and 1 grubbing ditto 0/7/0
*Rob’t Gibson 1 hdd licour [sic] 112 gall’s at 2 shillings per= £13/14/0 and 17 gall’s at £1/14/0
Randel McClure 45 bushels wheat 6/15/0
*Elizabeth Ross to 10 ½ galls licours at 2/6 £1/6/3
Willm Rusall 11 bushal corn 1/0/7
1 feather bed & bolster 3/0/0
1 bed ? 0/10/0
4 Iyen pot hangers 0/2/0
2 knivs & forks 0/1/0
1 chist 0/7/6
1 bay horss 3/10/0
313 gall’s licour sold to Coll. Stanwix 2/4 £36/11/10
*Licour sold by William Buchanan £5/12/0
The total of the inventory was £359/16/2 and did not include “The lands & improvements not yet sold nor appraised belonging to ye decedant.”
*Carlisle tavernkeepers
NOTE: The Inventory has the original number of 64 and the newer number 14.
Mrs. Ross, as her name was written on the “Applyers of Lots” in Carlisle in 1751, may have been the wife of John Ross, keeper of the Blue Rock Ferry in Hempfield Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, who according to court records, turned his wife Elizabeth out of his house in 1737. In 1741, he was ordered to pay her 3 shillings and 6 pence per week for her support.
1 “The Papers of General Samuel Smith,” The Historical Magazine & Notes & Queries Concerning the Antiquities & Biography of America. Vol. VII, Second Series No. 2, (February 1870): 81, accessed March 15, 2025. https://babel.hathitrust.org/
2 Pennsylvania Church Records-Adams, Berks, and Lancaster Counties, 1729-1881. Ancestry.com.
3 Cumberland County Will Book E, p. 222. (Microfilm at CCHS)
4 I. D. Rupp, The History and Topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry Counties...(Lancaster city, PA: Gilbert Hills, Proprietor & Publisher, 1846), 119-120.
5 Cumberland County Register of Wills, Account of Nathaniel Smith A-2 1758 taken by Samuel Smith, Administrator. (Cumberland County Archives, Carlisle, PA.)