Annie Rebekah Smith was born on March 16, 1828, in New Hampshire. She died from tuberculosis on July 26, 1855. She was 27 years old, just a few years older than many of us are at Southern.
Since it’s Women’s History Month, I decided to write about Smith, who I believe exemplified what it means to be not only an amazing woman, but also a dedicated Christian and Seventh-day Adventist who blessed many during her short life. Most of this information is from the Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists and a sketch of Smith’s life by her mother, Rebekah Smith.
Smith had exciting ambitions. She loved music, writing, poetry and art, and she was talented in all of those areas. After the Great Disappointment of 1844, she turned to her studies and future plans to teach French and painting.
Then in 1850, she decided to sketch a landscape of Boston from Prospect Hill in Somerville, Massachusetts. The city was three miles away, and the strain on her eyes became so great that, for the next eight months, she could barely see. This was a huge disappointment to her, especially since she had to decline a position at a seminary where she had been wanting to teach.
Writing became her comfort. During this time, she sent articles and poems to magazines, getting published and unknowingly preparing herself for how she would minister in the future.
In 1851, Smith reluctantly attended a meeting led by Joseph Bates. The night before, she had a dream. In the dream, she entered a meeting room. There was a man up front, speaking. In the back, there was one empty seat by the door, and she sat down in it.
When she arrived at the real meeting, she was amazed to see the same situation she had seen in her dream.
From the front, Joseph Bates saw a young woman come in late and sit in the only seat left. After his sermon, he approached Smith with an even more amazing announcement. He had a dream the night before that matched hers and what had just happened exactly. This was the confirmation Smith needed to join the Advent movement again and rely on Jesus for her future.
The next four years were full of writing, friends and her new-found faith. Smith sent a poem to the Review and Herald, and James White was so impressed with her writing that he invited her to join the Review staff as a copy editor. She was given much responsibility, sometimes even editing the whole periodical when White was away. Her brother, Uriah, was also on staff at the Review and became its longest-serving editor.
The Whites took her under their wings, and they all became very close. Smith was only one year younger than Ellen White.
During this time, it is supposed that J. N. Andrews and Smith became close and may have even fallen in love with each other, according to the Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. However, Andrews married Angeline Stevens. In a letter to Andrews in 1855, Ellen White wrote that “Annie’s disappointment cost her her life.” Whatever the case, in 1854, Smith started showing symptoms of tuberculosis and returned home to be with her mother and brothers.
The last few months of her life were spent in New Hampshire. She died peacefully in her sleep on July 26, 1855.
Three of Smith’s hymns appear in the 1985 SDA Hymnal that we use today. “I Saw One Weary” describes Bates and White in the first and second verses, but she used the third verse to describe herself, using masculine pronouns to be consistent with the other verses. I think it gives a beautiful picture of what Smith was like.
“And there was one who left behind
The cherished friends of early years,
And honor, pleasure, wealth resigned,
To tread the path bedewed with tears.
Through trials deep and conflicts sore,
Yet still a smile of joy [she] wore;
I asked what buoyed [her] spirits up,
‘O this!’ said [she] “the blessed hope.’”
