Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/595

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SMITH
SMITH

be picked." This lock he also patented in Eng- land, and about this time he invented an improve- ment on the first iron lathe dog that is n- in ei mimon use. He also devised a pe^-splitting nia- chine, and two sewing-machines, after which he produced a patent clothes-pin. In 1860 he began tin' manufacture of a spring hook and eye. I'm- which he also devised the machinery. Mr. Smith showed great ingenuity in inventing the machinery by which his original articles were made. In addi- tion to perfecting the ideas of other people that secured patents, lie took out for himself nearly six- ty. Hinong which was that for the machinery that is now used in folding newspapers.


SMITH, Sir David William, bart., Canadian statesman, b. in England. 4 Sept.. 1704; d. in Aln- wick, Northumberland, England, 9 May, 1837. His father, who was lieutenant-colonel of the oth foot, died while commandant of Fort Niagara, Canada West, in 1795. At an early age the son was ap- pointed an ensign in his father's regiment, in which lie subsequently attained the rank of captain. He afterward studied law and was admitted to the bar of Upper Canada, was appointed surveyor-gen- eral of lands, one of the trustees for the Six Nations, a member of the executive council, and of the com- mittee for administering the government during the governor's absence. I |e va^ a member of tin' three first Canadian parliaments, and a speaker of the house of assembly in two of them. He resided in England for many years preceding his death, and administered the affairs of the Duke of North- umberland. For his public services he was created a baronet by patent, 30 Aug., 1821.


SMITH, Delazon, senator, b. in Berlin. X. Y., in 181(3; d. in Portland, Oregon, 18 Nov., 1860. He was graduated at Oberlin collegiate institute in 1837, studied law. and was admitted to the bar, but adopted journalism as his profession, and be- came editor of the " True Jeffersonian " in Roches- ter. N. Y., and subsequently of the " Western Em- pire " at Dayton. Ohio. He was appointed by Presi- dent Tyler special commissioner to Quito, Ecua- dor. in 1842, removed to Iowa in 1840, and was licensed to preach in the Methodist Episcopal church. He settled in Oregon in 1802. was a mem- ber of the territorial legislature in I$o4 '6, a dele- gate to the convention that framed the state consti- tution in l.S~>7, and served in the U. S. senate from 4 Eel i.. is.li). to :! March of the same year, having been chosen as a Democrat. From 1859 until his death he edited the " Oregon Democrat."


SMITH, Sir Donald Alexander, Canadian legislator, b. in Morayshire, Scotland, in 1821. After completing his course of education he came to Canada, and early in life entered the service of the Hudson bay company, of which he became a director, and later resident governor and chief com- missioner. He was appointed in 1870 a member of the executive council of the Northwest territories, and in December, 1869, was a special commissioner to inquire into the causes, nature, and extent of the obstructions that were offered in the Northwest territories to the peaceful entrance of the lieutenant- governor, William McDougall, during the Eiel in- surrection. For the important services that he rendered on this occasion he received the thanks of the governor-general in council. He represented Winnipeg and St. John in the Manitoba assembly from 1871 till January. 1874, when he resigned, and was elected to the Dominion parliament for Selkirk. Manitoba, in 1871, being re-elected in 1*7-.!. 1874, and 1878. but upon petition the last election was declared void. He was an unsuccess- ful candidate in 1880. but was elected for Montreal, west, in February. 1887. In 1880 he became a director of the Canadian Pacific railway company, was largely instrumental in securing the successful completion of the road, and in 1886 was knighted for his services in connection with this undertak- ing. He is a governor of McGill university, and gave $120,000 to constitute a special course or college for women in connection with that institu- tion. With Sir George Stephen, bart.. he founded in 1885 the Montreal scholarship of the Royal college of music. London, for residents of Montreal and its neighborhood. Sir Donald has one of the finest private residences in the Dominion at Mon- treal, a seat at Pictou. Nova Scotia, and another at Silver Heights, near Winnipeg. In 1897 he was created Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal.


SMITH, Edward Delafield'. lawyer, b.'in Rochester. N. Y.. s May. 1*26; d. in Shrewsbury, X. ..!., 13 April, 1878. He was graduated at the University of the city of New York in 1846, was admitted to the bar in 1848, and practised in New- York city. He was TT. S. district attorney for the southern district of New Yi >rk in 1861-'5. returned to practice in the latter year, and from 1871 till 1875 was corporation counsel of New York city. He was an active member of the Republican party, and a member of the law committee of the Univer- sity of the city of New York. Among his many cases of importance was that of the People against Nathaniel Gordon, master of the slave-ship " Erie," whom he brought to the scaffold in 1862. and that against John Andrews, a leader of the draft riots in New York city in 1863. At the time of his death he was attorney of record in the Eliza B. Jumel estate case. Mr. Smith also attained success in private practice, and was widely known for his legal ability. He published " Avida-." a pi lem (New York, 1843) : " Destiny," a poem (1846) ; ' Oratory," a poem (1846) ; " Reports of Cases in the New York Court of Common Pleas " (4 vols., 1850-'9) ; and "Addresses to Juries in Slave-Trade Trials " (1861),


SMITH, Edward Pannelee. clergyman, b. in South Britain. Conn., 3 June, 1827; d. in Aecra, West Africa, 15 June, 1876. He was graduated at Yale in 1849, and at Andover theological seminary in 1855. was ordained in 1856. and settled in charge of the Congregational church in Pepperell, Mass. He was superintendent of the western department of the Christian commission in 1863-'5, field secre- tary in 186(i-'7, and at the same time general field agent of the American missionary association. He became U. S. commissioner of Indian affairs in 1873, and president of Howard university, Wash- ington, D. C., in 1876. Mr. Smith died on a visit to the coast of Africa in the interests of the Ameri- can missionary association. He published " Inci- dents of the United States Christian Commission" (Philadelphia, Pa., 1869).


SMITH, Eli, missionary, b. in Northford. Conn., 13 Sept., 1801 ; d. in Beirut, Syria, 11 Jan., 1857. He was graduated at Yale in 1821, and at Andover theological seminary in 1826, ordained the same year, and went to Malta as superintendent of a missionary printing establishment. He was subsequently transferred to the Syrian mission, travelled through Greece in 1829, and with Dr. Harrison G. 0. Dwight in Armenia, Georgia, and Persia in 1830-'!, which journey resulted in the establishment of the Armenian and Nestorian missions of the American board. He settled in Beirut in 1833, and in 1838 and again in 1852 was the companion and coadjutor of Prof. Edward Robinson in his extensive exploration of Palestine. His intimate knowledge of Arabic enabled him to render important service in the production of a new and im-