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Subject: Wm. Smith founding member of Columbia Univewrsity
Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2004 18:06:48 EDT

Hi Listers,

I have been told that we are related to the Wm. Smith married a Livingston
lady that help found Columbia University in Brooklyn,NY. Are there any other
Smiths on the list that are related to this Smith line.

This is what I got from Columbia University.

The lawyer William Smith, Jr., (b. NYC June 25, 1728; d. Quebec December 3,
1793 ) contributed to the founding of King's College (renamed Columbia
College after the Revolutionary War) as a non-sectarian, non-Anglican
college. He attended Yale, was admitted to the bar in 1752, and became a
partner with William Livingston. Both Presbyterians, they were active in
New York politics and campaigned in 1753 for a nonsectarian college. They
founded the INDEPENDENT REFLECTOR weekly, used to promote their views on
the proposed college and anticlericalism. According to David C. Humphrey's,
FROM KING'S COLLEGE TO COLUMBIA, 1746-1800, a press war ensued which
ultimately resulted in the rejection of a college charter with Anglican
stipulations.

According to the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NEW YORK CITY, Smith was appointed chief
justice of the province in 1763 and helped organize the Whig Club, but
moved to England in 1783. He later became chief justice of Canada. I
recommend obtaining biographies on William Smith, Jr., at your local
library to track his genealogy for your own family research.

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