Samuel M Schmucker

The life and times of George Washington. By Samuel M Schmucker

Samuel Mosheim Schmucker or Smucker (January 12, 1823 - May 12, 1863) was an American historical writer and popular biographer. Born at New Market, Virginia, the son of respected Lutheran pastor Samuel Simon Schmucker, Samuel Schmucker graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, in 1839 and Washington College in Pennsylvania in 1840 and became a Lutheran pastor in the Pennsylvania Ministerium. Schmucker held pastorates at Lewistown (1842-45) and Germantown, Pennsylvania (1845-48). Schmucker left the ministry in 1848, studied law, and practiced in Philadelphia (1850-53). After two years in New York, he returned to Philadelphia and devoted his remaining years to writing, mostly popular biographies. According to the National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Schmucker's works "exhibit diligence in compiling rather than deep research."