George Handy Smith

A noteworthy ancestor in this family’s tree was General Lachlan McIntosh, a member of General George Washington’s staff at their Valley Forge encampment during the American Revolution. His great-grand-niece, Margaret Phillips, married Levin Smith and their first child was George, followed by three more boys and a girl. Levin had been a silversmith before becoming a Philadelphia police officer, and his oldest son followed in his footsteps.

When he was 18, George listed his occupation as a silversmith and worked in a few jewelry stores before shifting to law enforcement. He started as a night clerk at the central police station, then was listed in the 1860 census as a “special officer,” or detective, in the department.  By then he had married Sophia Cecelia McGowan and they were parents of two girls.

In September of 1862, after Confederate forces made their way into Maryland, Pennsylvania’s governor issued an emergency call to all male citizens to form militias to prevent the Rebels from crossing the Mason-Dixon line into the Keystone State. Some 25,000 men started to gather into small groups, but a week later the Union Army drove the enemy south after the Battle of Antietam, so the civilians weren’t needed. One of those was George, who officially served for two weeks and then returned to work. He was sorely needed because at that time Philadelphia employed only eight police detectives.

After the war, since he was still considered a veteran, he joined a local post of the Grand Army of the Republic, which became the most influential association of Civil War veterans and a good venue for social networking. He and Margaret also added two more girls to their family, but a son died in infancy.

George was good at his job so he was hired at a private detective agency, then decided to try running for the state legislature. His first attempt failed but he won a seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 1872 session, and was sent back to Harrisburg in 1873 and 1874. 

The next year he made a successful bid for the State Senate to fill a vacant seat for one year. He was so popular he was re-elected in 1876, 1880, 1884, 1888, and 1892. He was in leadership of the Senate for two of those years, chairman of four committees, and member of four others.

The idea of running again in 1896 was rejected on the advice of his doctor. The previous October he was riding in a carriage at his “country residence” in Montgomery County when the horse bolted and threw him onto a pile of rocks. He was badly bruised on his left side, contracted pneumonia, and in July had a stroke from which he never really recovered.

His wife also suffered a serious fall, adding to the emotional toll on her as caretaker. She died on April 5, 1897, followed by her husband one year and nine days later. His primary cause of death was kidney failure.

The girls placed this “ledger” gravestone to remember their parents, and later added Isabella’s name. Two daughters were buried with their husbands in other cemeteries, but Virginia Smith Peale and her husband were also buried in this plot. She married the son of James Godman Peale, a city councilmember, whose own Notable life story is found here.