Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/409

 SMILEY

SMILLIE

erford, 1849-53, and with his twin brother, Alfred H., he established an English and classical acad- emy in Philadelphia, where he remained for four years. He was principal of the Oak Grove sem- inary, Vassalborough, Maine, 1858-60 ; and was superintendent and principal of Friends School, Providence, R.I., 1860-79. He received the de- gree A.M., from Haverford in 1859, and the honorary degree, A.M., from Brown university in 1877. In 1870 he established a summer resort at Lake Mohonk, N.Y., where, from 1883, he held each autumn a conference of prominent friends of the Indian, entertaining for four days two or three hundred persons as his private guests. Also from 1895 he held each spring a similar conference for the promotion of interna- tional arbitration. He was made a member of the board of Indian commissioners in 1879, and was chairman of a commission of three, appointed in 1890, under a law of congress, to select reser- vations for the Mission Indians of Southern Cali- fornia. In 1898 he presented to the city of Red- lands, Cal., a library building and adjoining park costing $60,000. Also, in conjunction with his twin brother in the same town, he developed an estate called Canyon Crest Park, comprising two hundred acres, and commanding fine mountain and valley views, which was thrown ojjen freely to the public. He was made a member of the board of trustees of Brown university in 1875, and was a member of the board of trustees of Bryn Mawr college. Pa., from its foundation, and president of the board of trustees of the New York State Normal school, at New Paltz, N.Y., from its foundation.

SMILEY, Elmer Ellsworth, educator, was born in Syracuse, N.Y., Aug. 6, 1862; son of AlpheusandRosetta (Kathan) Smiley ; grandson | of William and Ovanda (Botsford) Smiley and of John B. and Sai'epta (Walker) Kathan and a de- scendant of Deacon William Smiley, of Scotch- Irish descent who settled at Jaffrey, N.H., 1740. He was graduated from Syracuse (N.Y.) university A.B., 1885, and from the Yale Divinity school, D.B., in 1890: was principal of Union school. East Bloomlield, N.Y., 1885-87, and graduate student at Yale, 1890-91. He was married, June 17, 1891, to Edith Constance, daughter of Abram and Samantha (Venton) House, of Lysander, N.Y. He was pastor of Pilgrim church, Vancouver, Wash., 1891-94 ; of the First Congregational church, Cheyenne, Wyo., 1894-98; chaplain of- the Wyoming state legislature, 1896-97, and was elected president of the University of Wj^oming, 1898. He received the degree of D.D., from Syr- acuse university in 1899, and an honorary degree, A.M., from Yale in 1901.

SMILIE, John, representative, was born in Ireland in 1742. He settled in Lancaster county.

Pa., in 1760. During the Revolution he held both civil and military positions ; and subse- quently he was a representative in the state legislature, and a Democratic representative from Pennsylvania in the 3d, 6th and 12th congresses, 1793-95 and 1799-1813. He died in Washington, D.C., Dec. 30, 1813.

SMILLIE, George Henry, landscape artist, was born in New York city, Dec. 29, 1840 ; son of James and Catharine (Van Valkenburgh) Smillie ; grandson of David and Elizabeth (Cumming) Smillie and of Lambert L. and Mary (Paterson) Van Valkenburgh. James Smillie was born in Edinburgh, and Catharine Van Valkenburg was born in Greene Co., N.Y., and was of Dutch de- scent. After serving a short time in a mercan- tile establishment he began the study of drawing under his father, and afterward entered the studio of James M. Hart, landscape painter. On the merits of his Sunny-Brook Farm, he was elected associate of the National Academy of Design in 1864. In 1871 he visited the Yosemite Valley, bringing back many sketches, but he pro- duced few pictures from that locality. From Adirondack studies he painted A Lake in the Woods, which was well received in New York, and afterward exhibited in Memorial Hall of the Centennial Exhibition, 1876. He visited Florida in the winter of 1874, and from that region drew the subject of A Florida Lagoon. A Goat Pas- ture, exhibited in 1879, marked the adoption of a broader and stronger method. He was married, in June, 1881, to Nellie Sheldon, daughter of Samuel J. and Helen M. (Sheldon) Jacobs, of New York, a member of the American Water Color society, and they had three sons. In 1881 he painted Hard Fare and TJie Way to the Beach, and in 1882 On the Merrimac River, wliich was purchased by the president of the Bank of Eng- land, and for which Mr. Smillie was elected an Academician of the National Academy of Design. In 1883 he painted At Marblehead Neck and Au- tumn near the Sea; purchased by Sir Henr}- Irv- ing, the actor. In 1884 he visited Europe for study and observation. Here he painted a number of studies and sketches, few of which were made into pictures, his preference being for American subjects possessing thoroughly Amer ican characteristics. He also painted Light and Shadow Along Shore, property of the Union League club of Philadelphia ; Morning, Maine Coast ; On the Merrimac River, property of the Boston Art club, and 3Iassachusetts Coast, pur- chased by George I. Seney, and Summer Morning on Long Island, bought by R. H. Halsted ; Au- tumn on the Massachusetts Coast and also Long Island Farm Scene, both owned by the Cor- coran Art Gallery. He was an early member of the American Water Color society, for many