Asa Bowen Smith

Asa Bowen Smith was born in Williamstown, Vermont, on July 16, 1809. His parents were Asa and Polly Waller Smith and four of his twelve siblings were Laura, Marcia, Lucia, and John Curtis Bowen Smith. Believing that it would be helpful as a missionary to have medical training, he studied medicine as well at three medical schools. While away at college and the seminaries, he began livelong correspondence with his brother and sisters, which are archived at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library of the Yale University Library. In the spring of 1837, he preached at the Congregationalist Church in Woodbridge, Connecticut, five miles northwest of New Haven. He lived a spartan lifestyle. For a time, he ate crackers soaked in warm water and molasses. He walked where he needed to go, like to medical school and to the family home. He had a number of walks between 20 and 100 miles. Friends helped with expenses, like room and board and books. He also worked as a carpenter building furniture. ==Sarah Gilbert White Smith==

Smith met Sarah Gilbert White in the fall of 1835. She wanted to become a missionary. had been missionaries. Their parents were Edwin Locke (1813–1843) and Martha Laurens Rowell Locke (1812–1842) of the Eight company of missionaries. Lucy Maria Locke Smith married Rev. Elijah Harmon. She died in June 1871, and Smith continued to have a relationship with his son-in-law. He was named in Smith's will, along with Martha. She married a man named Wilson, lived in San Francisco, and had a son who was a missionary in Hawaii. Sarah died of consumption (tuberculosis) on May 27, 1855. She was buried in Buckland, Massachusetts. ==Missionary==

within present-day United States in the early 19th century Pacific Northwest. He was ordained on November 1, 1837, and decided to become a missionary. Nez Perce grammar Smith learned the Nez Perce language from Hol-lol-sote-toot. Mountain men called him "Lawyer" because of his astuteness. Lawyer knew two native languages, that of his father Chief Twisted Hair and his mother a Flathead woman—as well as some English. Lawyer, from Kamiah, was their guide and assistant. Smith developed a Nez Perce grammar by adapting the missionary alphabet used in Hawaiian missions. Leaving the Whitman mission Insinmalakin and Inmtamlaiakin, subchiefs of the Nez Perce at Kamiah, ordered Smith to leave the village on October 14, 1840. The natives resented that the whites were encroaching on their land and lives without their permission. They wanted Smith to pay for the land where his house and farm were established. The Smiths left the mission on April 19, 1841. By that time, both of the Smiths were in poor health, Sarah so much so that the only way that they could leave the mission was in a canoe. They first went to Fort Walla Walla and then went to Vancouver where they convalesced. Needing a better climate, they went to the Sandwich Islands, arriving on January 25, 1842, where the couple's health improved significantly. Hawaii At his request, Smith was transferred to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiian) Mission in 1842 and stayed there until October 1845. They were stationed at Waialua on the island of Oahu. They adopted three girls who were the orphaned daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Locke. Smith's voice failed in 1845 and they left the islands, traveling a seven-month journey to Canton, China and around Cape Horn, and then to Massachusetts. His voice recovered in 1846. ==Congregational minister==

He was the pastor of a church in South Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1847, and then of the Buckland Congregational church in March 1848 in Massachusetts. There was a controversy that arose in 1859, which was investigated by the Congregational ecclesiastical committee. Smith was cleared of the complaints, but it was recommended that he find another church. He left in August 1859. He was the pastor of the Congregational Church in Southbury, Connecticut, from January 1860 to May 1871. The Smiths moved to Rocky Hill, Connecticut. ==Marriage to Harriet E. Nutting==

In June 1856, Smith married Miss Harriet E. Nutting of Amherst, Massachusetts. She had been a teacher in Ohio and other places. She was also described as a scholar. ==Later years and death==

Smith lived in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, until 1884 when he moved to Sherwood, Tennessee. He was initially buried in Sherwood and later moved next to Sarah at a cemetery in Buckland, Massachusetts. Papers regarding his position with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions are among the collection of the Research Library of the Oregon Historical Society. ==Notes==