Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/429

 SMITH

SMITH

Letitia Lee, daughter of Richard and Sarah (Poythress) Lee of Vh-ginia; was lecturer at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and editor of the Medical and Physiological Journal, New York city, 1809-14; and president of the College of William and Mary, 1814-20, being the first lay-

WILLfAM AMP M>ARY COLLECe

man to liolJ that position. Duiing his adminis- tration the subject of removing the college to Richmond, the state capital, was favored and boldly urged by President Smith. He was pres- ident of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, 1831-34, and thereafter devoted himself to the practice of medicine. He is the author of: In- troductory Discourse before the New York Medi- cal College (1837); Functions of the Nervous System (1840); Mutations of the Earth (1846); Monograph upon the Moral Sense (1847); Moral and Physical Science (1853). He died in New York city, Feb. 9, 1865.

SMITH, John Bernhardt, entomologist, was born in New York city, Nov. 21, 1858; son of German parents, who immigrated to the United States. He attended public schools; was employed in retail stores, 1871-75; subsequently studied law in New York city; was admitted to the bar in 1879, and began practice, but gradually aban- doned the legal profession for entomological in- terests. He became a member of the Brooklyn Entomological society in 1879 j was associate editor of its Bulletin, 1883-84; editor, 1884-85, and also editor of its successor, Entomologia Americana, 1885-90. He was appointed special agent of the entomological division of the U.S. department of agriculture, 1883, and assistant curator of the department of insects in the U.S. National museum, 1885. He was married, in 1886, to Marie, daughter of Otto Von Meske of Albany. He was called to the chair of entomol- ogy in Rutgers college, New Brunsw-ick, N.J., in 1889, and in the same year was appointed ento- mologist to the New Jersey Agricultural College Experiment Station; visited the museums of Lon- don, Paris and Berlin in 1891, and served as state entomologist of New Jersey in 1898. The honor- ary degree of Sc.D. was conferred upon him by Rutgers in 1891. He was made a fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science and served as president of its Entomolo- gical club, 1888, and was also an active, honorary or corresponding member of various other scien- tific societies. He is the author of: Economic Entomology for the Farmer and Fruit-grower (1896), and of numerous papers on insect struc- ture.

SMITH, John Blair, educator, was born in Pequea, Pa., June 12, 1756; son of the Rev. Robert and Elizabeth (Blair) Smith, and brother of Samuel Stanhope Smith (q.v.). He was grad- uated from the College of New Jerse}', A.B., 1773, A.M., 1776; studied theology at Hampden- Sidney college and led a company of students in the defence of Williamsburg. He was tutor at Hampden-Sidney, 1777-79, and succeeded his brother, Samuel Stanhope Smith, as president of the institution in 1779. He was licensed in April, 1778, and ordained Oct. 26, 1779. He was married, in 1780, to Elizabeth, daughter of Col. John Nash of Templeton, Prince Edward count}', Va. He carried the college successfully through the period of the Revolutionary war; established the theological school, and in 1788 conducted an extensive revival throughout southern and western Virginia. He resigned the presidency of Hampden-Sidney in 1779 and became pastor of the Pine Street Presbyterian church. Philadel- phia, Pa. In 1795 he was elected the first presi- dent of Union college, Schenectady, N.Y., and served till 1799, when he resumed his former charge in Philadelphia. The honorary degree of D.D. was conferred on him by Hampden-Sidney college in 1795. Of his many sermons. The En- largement of Christ's Kingdom was published in 1797. He died in Philadelpliia, Pa., Aug. 22. 1799.

SMITH, John Butler, governor of New Hamp- shire, was born at Saxton's River, Vt., April 13, 1838; son of Ammi and Lydia (Butler) Smith; grandsonof David and Eleanor (Ceddings) Smith, and of Doctor Elijah and Lydia (Fifield) Butler, and a descendant of Lieut. Thomas Smith, who came from the North of Ireland, and was of Scotch ancestry. In 1847 his parents returned to Hillsborough, N.H., where they had formerly re- sided, and he was educated in the public schools of Hillsborough and at Francestown academy. Quite early in life he entered upon the manufac- ture of woolen knit underwear and hosiery on his own account, first at Washington and next at Weaie, N.H., but in 1806 built a mill at Hills- boro' Bridge, which developed into generous pro- portions and became the Contoocook Mills com- pany, Mr. Smith being its president and chief owner. He resided in ^lanchester, 1863-80, and in the latter year removed to Hillsborough, where, in 1891, he erected a fine residence. He was mar- ried, Nov. 1, 1883, to Emma E. Lavender,