[1][2] In 1830-1831, Smith (then Huntington) and Sarah Breed established and conducted a Sunday school among the Mohegan Native American tribe in Connecticut.
Her maternal grandfather was Peter Lanman, Esq., of Norwich, a man of religious character; among whose ancestors, in the county of Plymouth, Massachusetts, were several individuals of eminent piety.
During the first twelve years of her life, she was like other thoughtful and pleasant girls of her age, and spent her time in the amusements and pursuits of youth.
For aid in her work, she also applied to the Connecticut General Assembly, and when that failed, she turned to United States Secretary of War.
When she met in the road a few Native Americans, or a group of men and women, she would stop her horse, and converse awhile with them.
[15] On August 29, Mrs. Smith left her childhood home, forever, and, after visiting the friends of her husband in Boston, embarked from that place for Malta, on September 21, in the brig George, commanded by Capt.
The sketch of their voyage given by Mrs. Smith herself, and found in her published memoir, documents their travels across the Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea, the Azores, the coast of Africa, the Strait of Gibraltar, the stay at Malta, the visits to convents, temples, and other places of worship, the city of Alexandria, the grave of Parsons, the passage to Beirut, and their safe arrival.
[16] Though the people kindly welcomed them, the missionaries found a wide difference in the habits and customs of the European and the Arab, and, brought into connection with the latter, as they were every hour of the day, the contrast was continually before them.
[17] But Mrs. Smith felt that these annoyances were to be endured with cheerfulness, and she would console herself that such privations and trials were parts of the missionary work.
The schoolhouse, which was erected upon a plan of her own, was filled by a large number of children of Egyptian, Arabian, and Turkish parents, who, under the care of their teacher, made considerable progress.
[20] One of the most pleasant circumstances connected with the missionary life of Mrs. Smith, was her visit to the Holy Land, in 1835.
She traversed the mountains of Galilee, and stood upon the summits of Carmel, Gerizim, Tabor, Hermon, Lebanon, Olivet, and Calvary.
[21] After visiting the prominent places of the Holy Land, Smith returned again to her station at Beirut, where she labored until June 1836, when her health failing, she set sail with her husband for Smyrna with the hope of regaining it.
The fifth night after leaving Beirut, the vessel was wrecked on the north side of the island of Cyprus, and the voyagers barely escaped.
The consumption grew worse; and on September 30, 1836, she died at Boojah, Ottoman Empire, a small village about 5 miles (8.0 km) from Smyrna.
[23] On the following day, as word spread through Smyrna that Mrs. Smith died, the flags of the American vessels in the harbor were seen lowering to half-mast, and that upon the dwelling of the consul was shrouded with the drapery of death.
The slab of marble which rises upon her grave bears an inscription:—[26]TO BENEVOLENT EFFORTS, FOR THE YOUTH AND THE IGNORANT OF HER NATIVE CITY; FOR THE NEGLECTED REMNANT OF ITS ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS; AND FOR THE BENIGHTED FEMALES OF SYRIA SHE DEVOTED ALL HER ARDENT, EXPANSIVE AND UNTIRING ENERGIES, AS A SERVANT OF CHRIST, UNTIL, SINKING UNDER MISSIONARY LABORS AT BEYROOT, SHE WAS BROUGHT HITHER, AND DIED IN TRIUMPHANT FAITH, SEPTEMBER 30, 1836, AGED 34.At the Park Church, Norwich, the two dormer windows nearest the east transept were put in by E. B. Huntington as memorials of Deacon Jabez Huntington and his wife, and also to Smith.