Melancton Smith

Melancton Smith ( May 7, 1744 – July 29, 1798 ) was a New York Delegate to the Continental Congress.

He was born in Jamaica on Long Island in New York and educated by his parents. He was businessman in Poughkeepsie, New York and became a delegate to the First Provincial Congress in New York on May 22, 1775. He served in the Continental Line Regiment which was organized June 30, 1775, and he organized the Dutchess County Minutemen, of which he was Captain. He was a Secret Service Commissioner and Sheriff of Dutchess County, New York, in 1777 and 1778.

Smith moved to New York City in 1785 where he was a merchant. He served in the Continental Congress from 1785 to 1787, was a member of the State ratification convention at Poughkeepsie in 1788, and was a State Assemblyman in 1791. He died in New York City and was buried in Jamaica, New York.