James Adger Smyth was Mayor of Charleston, South Carolina for two terms between 1896 and 1903. Smyth was born on June 8, 1837, in Charleston, South Carolina. His father, Thomas Smyth, was pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Charleston; his mother, Margaret Milligan Adger Smyth, was the daughter of a Charleston shipping merchant, James Adger, making his uncle the missionary John Bailey Adger.He attended Doctor Miller's Preparatory School, the Charleston High School, and Professor Sachtleben's School. He graduated from the College of Charleston in 1858 and began working at his uncles' wholesale hardware firm, J.E. Adger & Company. He married Annie Ransom Briggs, the daughter of Cedar Grove Plantation owner, Thomas Whitaker Briggs in March 1860. In 1862, he enlisted and fought with Co