Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/626

This page needs to be proofread.
592
SMITH
SMITH

York, where he was protected by the loyal popula- tion. He went to England at the close nf the war. I nit subsequently returned to the United States. He published "An Authentic Narrative of the Causes that led to the Death of Major Andre," of which Jared Spark- -a - : " The volume is not wor- thy of the least credit except when the statements are corroborated by other authorities" (London, ls(is : ,.- York, 1809).


SMITH, William, clergyman, b. near Aber- deen. Scotland, in 1727: d. in Philadelphia. Pa., 14 May. 1803. He entered the college in his native city, and was graduated in 1747. After spending years in teaching he embarked for this country, and in 1752 was invited to take charge of the seminary in Philadelphia, which subse- quently became the University of Pennsylvania. He went to Kng- land in 1753, re- ceived orders in the Church of England, and on his return tin next year en- tereduponhised- ucational work. He revisited England in 1759, ree .ei V ed the de-

gree of D. D.

from the University of Oxford, and was honored subsequently with the same degree from Aberdeen college, and from Trinity college. Dublin. In addi- tion to his work as an instructor. Dr. Smith engaged actively in missionary duty as one of the Propaga- tion society's workers in Pennsylvania from 1766 till the opening of the Revolution. He favored the American view of the differences with England, and delivered a sermon in June. 1775, by request of the officersof Col. Caclwallader's battalion. hii-li produced a sensation both here and in the mother country. Subsequently he lost popularity in this respect, and was looked on as giving doubtful sup- port to patriotic measures, the charge of disloyalty being partially owing to his marriage to Rebecca, daughter of Gov. William Moore. The charter of the College of Philadelphia was taken away by the legislature of Pennsylvania in 1779, whereupon Dr. Smith removed to Chestertown, Md., and became rector of Chester parish. He established a clas- sical seminary, which was chartered as a college by the general assembly of Maryland in June, 1782. It was named Washington college, and Dr. Smith became its president. In May. 1783, a convention of the clergy of Maryland was held for organiza- tion of the American Protestant Episcopal church in that state, and Dr. Smith was chosen president. At a convention in June of the same year he was elected bishop of Maryland, but, as the election was not approved by many, and the general con- vention of 1786 refused to recommend him for consecration, he was not elevated to the episcopate. He was several times clerical delegate to the gmrnil convention, and was uniformly chosen president of that body. He was appointed in 1785 on the com- mittee to propose alterations in the liturgy, which resulted in what is known in ecclesiastical litera- ture as the " Proposed Book." In the preparation of this he had the chief part, and the book was puh- lished in 1786, but the alterations were never sanc- tioned by any action of the church. In 178!) the charter was restored by the legislature to the col- lege in Philadelphia, and Dr. Smith, on being in- vited to return, resumed his office as provost. He spent the latter years of his life at his residence at Falls of Schuylkill, near Philadelphia, and en- gaged largely in secular pursuits, especially land speculations. He was much given to scientific- re- search, was a man of more than ordinary ability and broad culture, and was regarded as an eloquent and effective preacher. Besides separate sermons and various addresses and orations, he published a collection of " Discourses on Public Occasions " (London, 1759; 2d ed., enlarged, 1763); "Brief Account of the Province of Pennsylvania" (Lon- don, 2d ed., 1755; New York, 1865); a series of eight essays, entitled " The Hermit," in the "Amer- ican Magazine," at Philadelphia (1757-'8); an ac- count of " Bouquet's Expedition against the West- ern Indians " (1765 ; new ed., with preface by Fran- cis Parkman, Cincinnati, 1885) ; and an edition of the poems of Nathaniel Evans, with a memoir ilTT','1. Shortly before his death he made a collec- tion of his printed sermons, addresses, etc., for publication. Bishop White furnished a preface, and added other sermons from manuscripts of Dr. Smith's, which were published in two vols. (Phila- delphia. 1803). See "Life and Correspondence of l!ev. William Smith." by his great-grandson, Horace Wemyss Smith (2 vols., 1879). Dr. Smith's vignette is from the portrait painted in 1800 by Gilbert Stuart. His daughter, Mrs. Blodget, was also painted by the. same artist. His MHI. William Moore, lawyer, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 1 June, 1 75!i : d. at Falls of Schuylkill, Pa., 12 March. 1831, was graduated at the College of Philadelphia in 177o. studied law. and attained to a high rank in his profession. He was appointed an agent for the settlement of claims that were provided for in the lit h art icle of John Jay's treaty, and visited England in 1803 to close his commission, after which he returned to Pennsylvania and devoted the remainder of his life to scholarly pursuits. His publications include several political pamphlets and essays, and a volume of poems (Philadelphia, Pa., 1784; London, 1786). William Moore's son. William Rudolph, politician, b. in La Trappe, Montgomery co., Pa., 31 Aug., 1787; d. in Quincy, 111., 22 Aug.. isc.s. was carefully educated by his grandfather, Rev. William Smith, until 1803, when he accompanied his father as private secretary to England, studied law in the Middle Temple, and on his return was admitted to the bar of Philadelphia in 1808. He removed to Huntingdon county, Pa., the following year, became deputy attorney-general for Cambria county in 1811, and during the second war with Great Britain, having previously been major-general of state militia, was appointed colonel of the 42d Pennsylvania reserves. He commanded this regiment in support of the movement on Canada" under Gen. Winfield Scott, and participated in the battle of Lundy's Lane. He subsequently served many terms in both branches of the legislafure, and in 1837 was appointed, with (lov. Henry Dodge, U. S. commissioner to treat with the Chippewa Indians for the purchase of their pineries, a large part of the territory that is now embraced in the state of Minnesota. After successfully negotiating that enterprise he settled at Mineral Point, Wis., where In 1 parsed the remainder of his life. He was adjutant-general of the territory of Wisconsin in 1839-'52, and district attorney of h.;i county for many years, presided over the first Democratic convention in Wisconsin in 1840. and