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==Early life== Smith was born on 23 March 1769, in [[Churchill, Oxfordshire]], the son of John Smith (1735β1777), the village [[blacksmith]], and his wife Ann (''nΓ©e'' Smith; 1745β1807).<ref>{{Cite ODNB|title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|date=2004-09-23|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/25932|pages=ref:odnb/25932|editor-last=Matthew|editor-first=H. C. G.|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/25932|access-date=2019-12-01|editor2-last=Harrison|editor2-first=B.}}</ref> His father died when Smith was eight years old, and he and his siblings were raised by his uncle, a farmer also named William Smith.<ref>Winchester (2001), ''The Map That Changed the World'', p. 27</ref> Largely self-educated, Smith was intelligent and observant, read widely from an early age, and showed an aptitude for mathematics and drawing. In 1787, he met and found work as an assistant for Edward Webb of [[Stow-on-the-Wold]], [[Gloucestershire]], a surveyor. He was quick to learn and soon became proficient at the trade. In 1791, Smith travelled to [[Somerset]] to make a valuation survey of the [[Sutton Court]] estate, and building on earlier work in the same area by [[John Strachey (geologist)|John Strachey]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/gsl/geoscientist/features/page1017.html |title=Smith's other debt |work=Geoscientist 17.7 July 2007 |publisher=The Geological Society |access-date=13 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080310201732/http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/gsl/geoscientist/features/page1017.html |archive-date=10 March 2008 }}</ref> He stayed in the area for the next eight years, working first for Webb and later for the [[Somerset Coal Canal|Somersetshire Coal Canal]] Company, living at Rugborne Farm in [[High Littleton]]. During this period, Smith inspected coal mines in the area, where he first observed and recorded the various layers of rock and coal exposed by the mining. Smith's coal mine studies, combined with his subsequent observations of the strata exposed by canal excavations, proved crucial to the formation of his theories of [[stratigraphy]].
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