Jonathan Bayard Smith, the Grand Master of Pennsylvania, was one of Philadelphia's prominent citizens. During the Revolutionary period he was an ardent patriot; he was among the earliest of those who espoused the cause of independence. In 1775 he was chosen secretary of the Committee of Safety, and in February, 1777, he was elected by the assembly a delegate to the Continental Congress. He was a second time chosen to this post, serving in the congresses of 1777-8. From April 4, 1777, till Nov. 13, 1778, he was prothonotary of the court of Common Pleas.
On December 1, 1777, he presided at the public meeting, in Philadelphia, of "Real Whigs," by whom it was resolved "That it be recommended to the council of safety that in this great emergency ... every person between the age of sixteen and fifty years be ordered out under arms." During this year he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of a battalion of "Associators."
B. FEB. 21, 1742; D. JUNE 16, 1812.
GRAND MASTER OF MASONS IN PENNSYLVANIA, 1789-1794.
In 1778 he was appointed a justice of the court of Common Pleas, Quarter Sessions, and Orphans' Court, which post he held for many years. He was appointed in 1781, one of the auditors of the accounts of Pennsylvania troops in the service of the United States. In 1792, and subsequently, he was chosen an alderman of the city, which was an office of great dignity in his day, and in 1794 he was elected auditor-general of Pennsylvania.
Brother Jonathan B. Smith was an active member of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. He was the Senior Grand Warden in 1786, at the time when the Provincial Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania: "Resolved, that the Grand Lodge is, and ought to be perfectly independent and free of any such foreign jurisdiction."[54]
In the two following years he was appointed Deputy Grand Master by Right Worshipful Grand Master William Adcock; he was elected Right Worshipful Grand Master in 1789 and served in that capacity for six years (1789-1794). In the year 1798 he was again elected to that honorable office, serving five more consecutive years (1798 to 1802), when he declined reëlection. The following action was taken by the Grand Lodge:[55]
"On Motion made and Seconded the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania impressed with a grateful sense of the long assiduous and highly useful labours of their late R. W. Grand Master, Bror Jonathan Bayard Smith, Esqr, previous to and during his service in the high Station which he has left, Resolved Unanimously, That the most respectful Thanks of the said G. Lodge be presented to their said Brother Jonathan Bayard Smith for the eminent services he has rendered to the Craft generally and more especially for the able, diligent and impartial manner in which he has discharged the Duties of the Chair and while they deplore the necessity of his now retiring from the Official Station amongst them which he has so Honourably filled, they hope for a continuance of his Brotherly Love, Aid and information and finally that he be requested to receive the best wishes of the Grand Lodge for a prolongation of his useful life, a commensurate enjoyment of his Health and his final Happiness in the Mansion of Everlasting Rest."
Brother Joseph Few, Deputy Grand Master, was also a Revolutionary Soldier, having served as Regimental Quarter Master with the 4th Continental Artillery.