Elias Smith

Smith founded The Herald of Gospel Liberty in 1808, which he claimed (in his autobiography) to be "the world's first religious newspaper".

The Herald had two purposes: reporting news of revivals and promoting "religious liberty", by which he meant an end to tax supported churches.

)[1] Smith proved to be a controversial figure in the Christian Connexion, leaving the denomination for several years to become a Universalist.

His brethren were understandably hesitant to accept him, but his home congregation of Portsmouth, NH received him back in fellowship in 1840.

[2] Smith spent his later years as a vigorous proponent and practitioner of the Thomsonian system of herbal medicine, though he and Thomson had a public dispute and falling out in 1827.