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Johannis Smith
Born 1730 Died 1813
St. Paul’s Lutheran cemetery, Red Hook. A short sandstone tablet with shouldered tympanum top, toward the front and parking lot, marked with a Revolutionary War stick marker next to two tiny marble stones and to the right of his daughter and son-in-law, fellow veteran, Henry Davis.
Revolutionary War Veteran, 1st Regiment, Tryon County Militia, signed the Articles of Association at Rhinebeck
Johannis Smith (or Schmidt) was the son of Zacharias Schmidt and Anna Maria Bender, baptised in the Dutch Reformed Church on April 5th, 1730. His mother was an aunt to Peter and John F. Bender (or Benner) who are also veterans buried in this cemetery. He married Elisabeth Zipperly and the two of them are buried together, though her tombstone has been lost to time since it was last recorded c.1914 in Old Gravestones of Dutchess County.
Johannis and Elisabeth had several children, including Philip, 1773, Anna Maria, 1765 (married the Hessian, Henry Davis and both are buried in this cemetery), Zacharias, 1762 who married Gertraud Holsapple (they had a son they named Henry Davis Smith after his Hessian brother-in-law). Johannes, 1778, Catherine, 1763 who married Jacob Milhem, and Frederick, 1771 who married Catherine Strong.
Trying to attribute the service of someone with the surname Smith is difficult, more so when their first name is John. There are many men with this name who fought in the Revolutionary War in New York State. We are not entirely sure that the Johannis Smith whose service is in Tryon county is the same as this one, as the name also appears on Ulster and Albany county militia lists. However, Johannes Smith is listed as having pledged his allegiance to the American cause in Rhinebeck (which then encompassed Red Hook) in 1775.