It’s election day in Smithtown, which means a sunny day off for some, interrupted by last minute automated phone calls from Candidates and strangely Bill Clinton. While the Zeldin/Bishop race has the media in a frenzy, we thought of a great excuse to introduce our new column and take you on an exciting voyage back in time, to another tight election. It is with great love for history and respect for the historian and author of this excerpt, that we introduce the work of Brad Harris, in a column we’ve appropriately deemed Smithtown Yesterday.
Judge John Lawrence Smith, pillar of the community of Smithtown Branch
An excerpt from Brad Harris: Smithtown Historian
In 1850, John Lawrence Smith ran for the office of District Attorney of Suffolk County. Again he ran on the Democratic ticket and again he was elected. He served with such distinction in this office that the Democratic Party nominated him for Suffolk County Judge. He won election in spite of the 600 vote margin that the Republicans enjoyed over Democrats in Suffolk County. “So fitted did he show himself to perform judicial duties that he was renominated as County Judge and Surrogate in 1862, and … he was again elected, by 1,100 vote majority, upon the Democratic ticket. (J. Lawrence Smith, The History of Smithtown, Smithtown Historical Society, 1961, p. 31.)
Judge J. Lawrence Smith became such a respected jurist in Suffolk County that he won election again and again to the office of Suffolk County Judge and Surrogate. He continued to serve as a Suffolk County Judge until his death in 1889. The fact that such a prominent and respected jurist lived in the middle of the little community of Smithtown Branch, and had his office there, gave a measure of importance to the village. This fact became even more significant when the Judge’s Office later became the site of trials in Suffolk County. According to his daughter Bessie, her father was “Judge of Suffolk County and ‘Judge Smith’s Office’ was the real judgement seat for the Townspeople, a place to be feared and revered! All the disputes of the Town were brought to my father, and later, when he was too ill to go to hold Court at Riverhead, the Court was brought to the office in Smithtown.” Here in offices built off the west side of the Homestead, the Judge held court and dispensed justice to the people of Suffolk County. The Judge’s presence in the community put the little village of Smithtown Branch on the map.