Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/442

 SMITH

SMITH

New Jersey, 1779-83; professor of moral pliil- osophy and theology, 1783-1!^12, and was vice- president of the college, 1789-95, and president, 1795-1812, when he resigned. He was secretary of the board of trustees, 1781-95 ; was a member of the governing committee of the Presbyterian cliurch and an lionorary member of the Ameri- can Philosophical society of Philadelphia, before which lie delivered the anniversary address in 1785. He was married about 1775, to Ann, daughter of Dr. John Witherspoon (q.v.). The honorary degree of D.D. was conferred on him by Yale in 1783, and that of LL.D. by Harvard in 1810. He was associate in preparing the "Form of Presbyterial Government" still in use. He is the author of: Essay onthe Causes of the Variety of Complexion and Figure of the Human Species (1787), being an enlarged edition of his Philo- sophical Society Address (2d ed., 1810); Sermons (1799); Lectures on the Evidences of Christian Beligion (1809); Lectures on Moral and Political Philosophy {2 vols., 1812); Comprehensive Views of Natural and Revealed Religion (1815, 2ded., 1816). and many published sermons and addresses. He died in Princeton, N.J., Aug. 21, 1819.

SMITH, Samuel William, representative, was born in the townsliip of Independence, Oakland county, Mich., Aug. 23, 1852 ; son of Nicholas B. and Mary (Pliillips) Smith. He attended school at Clarkston and Detroit ; was admitted to the bar of Oakland county in 1873, and was graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan, 1878. He was married in December, 1880, to Alida Deland of Pontiac ; made his home in Pontiac, and was prosecuting attorney for Oak- land county, 1880-84. He was state senator, 1884, and a Republican representative from the sixth Michigan district in the 55th-58th congresses, 1897-1905. serving on the committees on invalid pensions niul the District of Columbia.

SiMITH, Seba, journalist, was born in Brickfield, Maine, Sept. 14, 1792. He was graduated from Bowdoin college in 1818, and settled in Portland, Maine, wliere he wrote Yankee dialect stories under the pen name, "Major Jack Downing." About 1824 he was married to Elizabeth Oakes Prince (q.v.). He edited the Eastern Argus, the Family Recorder and the Daily Courier in Port- land, 1822-42, and in the latter year removed to Patchogue, L.I., N.Y. He continued editorial work on New York periodicals, spending his winters in New York city. His published writ- ings include : Letters of Major Jack Doivning (1833); Poichatan (1841); New Elements of Geometry, a travesty (1850) ; Way Doicn East, or Portraitures of Yankee Life (1855), and various poems, including TTie Mother's Sacrifice and Tlie Snou'.'itorm. He died at Patchogue, L.I., N.Y., July 29, 1868.

SMITH, Sophia, educationist, was bora in Hatfield, Mass., Aug. 27, 1796 ; daughter of Joseph and Lois (White) Smith ; granddaughter of Lieut. Samuel and Mary (Morton) Smith, and of Lieut. Elihu White ; niece of Oliver Smith, philanthro- pist, and first cousin once removed of Benjamin Smitli Lyman, geologist. Her early education was extremely meagre. She attended school in Hartford, Conn., in 1810 for three months, and in 1814 was for a short time a pupil in the Hop- kins academy, Hadley, Mass. She was an exten- sive reader, and in 1861 inlierited a large fortune (about $450,000) from her brother, Austin Smith. In later years she conceived the idea of building a college for women, defined the object and general plan of the institution, appointed the trustees, and selected Northampton, Mass., as its site. The college, which bears her name and

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which was the first institution for the higher education of women in New England, was opened in September, 1875, with L. Clark Seelye (q.v.) as president. Miss Smith bequeathed for the founding of the college $365,000 and also $75,000 for the endowment of Sniith academy at Hat- field, Mass., where she died, June 12, 1870.

SMITH, Thomas, delegate, was born near Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1745 ; son of Thomas and Margaret (Campbell) Smith. His father was half brother of the Rev. Dr. William Smith (q.v). He came to America probably with his uncle William in 1759. He first appears in public life as deputy surveyor of a frontier district ; removed to Bedford county. Pa. ; was prothonotary clerk ; clerk of the sessions and recorder, and in 1775 joined the Patriot army as colonel of militia. He was a member of the state constitutional con- vention in 1776; a representative in the state legislature, 1776-80, and a delegate to the Con- tinental congress, 1780-82. He was judge of the coimty courts of four counties, 1791-94 ; and judge of the supreme court of Pennsylvania. 1794-1809, He died in Philadelphia. June 16. 1809 (1811?).

SMITH, Thomas Church Haskell, soldier, was born in Fairliaven. Muss., March 24, 1819 ; son of Thomas Briggs and Mercy Bassett (Swift) Smith, and grandson of Jonathan and Love (Bassett)