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Background
The journey to Palestine for which this 1846 passport was key was not the first for the Reverend Eli Smith: he had, remarkably, already been there, in 1838, as the Arabic-speaking companion of Edward Robinson, there to explore, most famously, biblical Jerusalem. Nor was the “Wife” with whom he traveled, the first he had brought with him to the Middle East, but the third , the other two having died there.
“Enfeebled health and shortened life are the sacrifices necessary to the work of the missions,” Smith had unhappily noted; and indeed, having returned from America after a year’s furlough in 1846 – his last - he would himself die in Beirut, at the age of 56.
Here, then, Secretary of State Buchanan, who would in ten years become America’s fifteenth President, signs the passport of the Connecticut Yankee who would, also within the decade, become America’s first Arabist.
“Enfeebled health and shortened life are the sacrifices necessary to the work of the missions,” Smith had unhappily noted; and indeed, having returned from America after a year’s furlough in 1846 – his last - he would himself die in Beirut, at the age of 56.
Here, then, Secretary of State Buchanan, who would in ten years become America’s fifteenth President, signs the passport of the Connecticut Yankee who would, also within the decade, become America’s first Arabist.
Document Signed, as Secretary of State, partially printed and accomplished in manuscript, being a Passport, for the Reverend Eli Smith and Wife (Hetty Simpkins Butler Smith) 1 page, large folio, Department of State, Washington, October 23, 1846. Signed by ELI SMITH, and on verso, stamped and docketed by the U.S. Consulates for Constantinople and Syria & Palestine – including a 3-line autograph docket, signed, in the hand of HENRY WOOD, as United States Consul for Syria and Palestine at Beirut.
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Page 1/2

UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA
To all to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting
DESCRIPTION
OF AMERICA
To all to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting
DESCRIPTION
Age 45 Years
Stature 5 Feet 6 Inches Engh
Forehead _________
Eyes dark
Nose common
Mouth common
Chin ____________
Hair dark
Complexion dark
Face round
Signature of the Bearer
ELI SMITH
GRATIS
No 1390.
I, the Undersigned, Secretary of State of the
United States of America, hereby request all
whom it may concern to permit safely and
freely to pass Revd Eli Smith, ac- 1
companied by his Wife 2
a Citizen of the United States, and in
case of need to give him all lawful Aid and
Protection
Given under my hand and
the impression of the Seal of the
DEPARTMENT OF STATE at the
City of Washington the 23d day 3
of October A. D. 1846,
in the 71th Year of the Independence
of these United States.
JAMES BUCHANAN
Page 2/2

Eli Smitte. [sic]
No. 271. the 9, Mouharrem 1263
Vu a la Legation des Etats Unis a Con=
=stantinople le 5eme Janvier 1847. Bon
pour La Syrie.
D.S. CASS
No. 271. the 9, Mouharrem 1263
Vu a la Legation des Etats Unis a Con=
=stantinople le 5eme Janvier 1847. Bon
pour La Syrie.
D.S. CASS