Did Captain John Rippey Hear This?

Jim McClure has a post at York Town Square on the reading of the Declaration of Independence:

"Four militia companies and 300 to 400 old men, women and boys joined Smith for a public reading..."

In our dream world, Captain John would have been there at the head of his company and James Smith, the York signer of the Declaration, would have been related to the William Smith who became connected to the family in Ontario county, NY.  But in reality there's nothing to indicate the two Smiths are related and there were several companies from the York area, and Captain John's was one of the later ones.  But the post is an interesting sidelight on how politics worked in 1776