Editing Jedediah Smith (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Lewis and Clark.jpg|thumb|Lewis and Clark]]

Smith was born in Jericho, now [[Bainbridge, New York|Bainbridge]], [[Chenango County, New York|Chenango County]], New York, on January&nbsp;6, 1799,{{sfn|Morgan|1964|p=24}}{{efn|According to Dale, p. 175, Smith was born on June 24, 1798, the son of a [[general store]] owner from [[New Hampshire]].{{sfn|Schafer|1935|p=290}}  More recent sources agree on the later date.}}{{sfn|Schafer|1935|p=290}} to Jedediah Smith I, a [[general store]] owner from [[New Hampshire]], and Sally Strong, both of whom were descended entirely from families that came to [[New England]] from [[England]] during the [[Puritans#New England Puritans|Puritan emigration]] between 1620 and 1640.
Smith received adequate English instruction, learned some Latin, and was taught how to write decently.{{sfn|Schafer|1935|p=290}} Around 1810, Smith's father was caught up in a legal issue involving [[Counterfeit money|counterfeit currency]] after which the elder Smith moved his family west to [[Erie County, Pennsylvania]].{{sfn|Barbour|2011|p=16}}

At age 13, Smith worked as a clerk on a [[Lake Erie]] [[Lake freighter|freighter]], where he learned business practices and probably met traders returning from the far west to [[Montreal]].{{sfn|Schafer|1935|p=290}}  This work gave Smith an ambition for adventurous wilderness trade.{{sfn|Schafer|1935|p=290}} According to [[Dale Morgan|Dale L. Morgan]], Smith's love of nature and adventure came from his mentor, Dr. Titus G. V. Simons, a pioneer medical doctor who was on close terms with the Smith family.  Morgan speculated that Simons gave the young Smith a copy of [[Meriwether Lewis]]' and [[William Clark]]'s 1814 book of their [[Lewis and Clark Expedition|1804–1806 expedition]] to the Pacific,{{efn |Barbour later wrote that one of Smith's neighbors, Patrick Gass, a member of the [[Corps of Discovery]], may have been the one who introduced young Smith to the story of Lewis and Clark, whom Smith later referenced in his memoir.{{sfn|Barbour|2011|p=17}}}} and according to legend Smith carried this journal on all of his travels throughout the American West.{{sfn|Morgan|1964|p=25}} Smith provided Clark, who had become superintendent of Indian affairs, much information from his own expeditions to the West.{{sfn|Buckley|2008|p=158}} In 1817, the Smith family moved westward to Ohio and settled in Green Township in what is present-day [[Ashland County, Ohio|Ashland County]].{{sfn|Morgan|1964|p=26}}