David Smith was the oldest son of a fisherman in Cape Cod. Both his parents were of English descent, but their families had lived several generations in Massachusetts, New England.Captain David had gone to sea when a boy of nine and had become master of a ship at seventeen.

At 24 years old David Smith married to 19 yr old Rebecca Lombard in 1767. They had their first 6 children in Truro, Massachusetts where David was a successful whaler. He was recorded as one of the first men to travel as far as the Falkland Islands in pursuit of whales.

David Smith and his young family lived through the American Revolution (1775-1783). They were on the side of the United Empire Loyalists. After the revolution, there was a huge wave of United Empire Loyalists that emigrated to Canada and other parts of the world. It was 1784 when he came to Guysborough, NS with family of 5 sons and purchased a lot from Joseph Hadley for a wharf & business site. One of the sources state that he was reputed to be a man of considerable financial means as well as being thrifty and industrious. In 1786 made his home in Juste au Corps, Port Hood Island, NS. The house was isolated with no roads and long, hard winters. No other families lived in the area.

There are several accounts relating to the drowning of Captain David Smith near his home. He and 2 or 3 sons went seal hunting on the drifted ice on 19 Feb. 1789. An ice flow parted and they drifted from shore. David tried to cross the flows to shore but failing this he started to swim to their small boat. The weight of the water and the cold were too much for him - he was unable to get out of the water. The boys watched as their father drowned. The next day, cold and hungry, their ice flow drifted near the beach at Mabou, and the boys got ashore. With their pregnant mother and brothers and no neighbors, the small tragic family faced life alone in the wilderness. From such a hard and humble beginning the Smith family increased to multitudes of Smiths all across Cape Breton. The Smiths history is well documented. Many people are proud to recount their descent from Captain David Smith. And many descendants have come to this place in the Union Protestant Cemetery to see and photograph the memorial. (Sharing of these photos is welcomed and appreciated.)It was carved from native sandstone by a notable stone carver named William Pring. You will notice his unique work on many of the other tombstones of Inverness County through the Find-a-grave links.

The land grant David was to receive as a United Empire Loyalist went to his widow in 1792. Although his body was not recovered, his memorial is on his wife's tombstone.

SOURCES
-"Vital Records of the town of Truro Massachusetts to 1854", pg 116
-"The Smiths of Cape Breton" by Perley Watts Smith, 1967, Chapter 5
-“The History of Inverness County”, by John Lorne MacDougall, 1921, pg.250
-"Mabou Pioneers", A.D. MacDonald, 1977 -pg 654
-"Cape Breton Over", by Clara Dennis, 1942, pg. 269
-"Cape Breton and the Jackson Kith and Kin", by Elva Ethel Jackson, 1971, pg. 121
-“The Consolidated Genealogies of the Ralph Smith Family”, by Ralph S. Bloise, 1992
-"Sidney Earle Smith", by Edward Annand Corbett, 1961
-"History of the Presbyterian Church in Cape Breton", By Rev John Murray, 1921, p 81-81
-"The Drowning of Captain David Smith 1789", Article in the Inverness Oran (reprinted mid 1980's?) by Jennie Smith of Mabou, 1889
-"A Sketch Book Comprising Historical Incidents, Traditional Tales and Translations", by John MacKinnon, 1915, pgs 151-153
-"Memoir of the Rev. James MacGregor", by Rev George Patterson, 1859, pg 444
-“The History of North East Margaree”, by John F. Hart, 1963 –pg 121
-"The Salt Water Mail Men" by, Rev. Wilfred Grenfell Zwicker