Genealogical Record: Richard Smith Chew

John Chew

Elizabeth Smith

George French

Anne Brayne Benger

Walter Smith

Hester Belt

Leonard Covington Mackall

Catherine Beall

Robert Smith Chew
Court Clerk
* 1779 09 26 Spottsylvania Co., VA, USA
+ 1826 11 02

Elizabeth (Betsey) French
* 1783
+ 1842

Richard Smith
* 1786 Washington DC, USA
+ 1864

Covington Mackall
* 1796 Washington DC, USA
+ 1876

Robert Smith Chew
Civil servant
* 1811 11 04 VA, USA
+ 1873 08 03 Washington, DC, USA

Elizabeth Ringold Smith
* 1815 03 24 Washington, DC, USA?
+ 1899 02 23 Washington, DC, USA

Richard Smith Chew
* 1843 09 07 Washington, DC, USA
+ 1875 04 10 Washington, DC, USA

Listed in Appleton's 1886 Encyclopedia under father's entry, from whence most of the following.

1861: Graduated from Naval Academy.

1862 03 08-09: served aboard the frigate "Minnesota" during the famous battle between the Monitor and the Merrimack (Appleton misdates this in April, and misspells the ship Merrimac, but is not known for his accuracy).

1864 02 22: commissioned Lieutenant.

1866 07 25: Lieutenant-Commander.

1875 02 02: retired for disability

Another source gives his date of death as 1870.

Jim Cheevers of the USNA Museum confirms that RSC was in the Naval Academy class of 1859, which was ordered to active duty in May 1861 and was subsequently considered to have graduated in 1863. He also says that Midshipman Chew was serving aboard the steam frigate Minnesota in a published register of U.S. Navy officers dated 1862 09 01, and that it is safe to assume he was at the Battle of Hampton Roads.