This is an IHeart podcast.

This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories,

the show where America is the star and the American people. And to search for

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In 1606, 105 British colonists sailed to America, seeking gold and a trade route to the Pacific.

Only the leadership of Captain John Smith, who died on this day in 1631, averted doom

for the first permanent English settlement in the new world.

Many people know John Smith as the man who was saved by Pocahontas.

But what you may not know is that he had led a life full of adventure.

Here to tell the story is Juliana Rogers, author of Captain John Smith, American Hero.

Let's take a listen.

John Smith is known in history as being really important part of the Jamestown settlement,

becoming the first permanent English settlement in America.

So you would think his qualifications might be, you know, he was from a wealthy family. He was very well connected.

He's tall, dark, handsome, charming,

well spoken, very diplomatic.

And he's just about the opposite.

You know, he really was not those things.

So John Smith was born in 1580 in England.

He was the son of a farmer. and his father's name was George,

and his mom's name was Alice, and he had a younger brother and a younger sister. So they weren't wealthy,

but they weren't poor either. His father owned some land and was the farmer on that land, but then also

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