1789] KEV. WILLIAM SMITH, D. D. 3O9 



gave the Legislature ^40,000 on condition that they would pay ;;/^3,ooo 

 annually to two Colleges — should such be built — one at Annapolis, the 

 metropolis of the State, and the other at Chestertown, on the eastern 

 side of Chesapeake Bay — ;C'^,1S° ^'^ that on the western shore and 

 ^^1,250 to that at Chestertown, on the eastern shore. During the war 

 (of the Revolution) the money was used by the State, and when, by the 

 great exertions of the Rev. William Smith, who travelled through the 

 whole eastern shore on Jiorscback for that purpose, the necessary fund for 

 building the College was raised, the Legislature imposed a tax on 

 " Hawkers and Pedlars and Marriage Licenses," and paid to Washing- 

 ton College ^1,250, founded in 1782, and to St. John's College, at 

 Annapolis, built about 1783 or 1784, the annual sum of ^1,750. It 

 was made by Act of Legislature a perpetual endowment ! How they 

 could have a right to take it away afterwards is a question. 



The above statement, spoken of afterwards so often by my class and 

 others, was indelibly impressed on my mind, and, I believe, every word 

 of it. But I confess that though I made many efforts years ago to verify 

 it, I have not succeeded. 



Before the College was founded, Dr. Smith, as you are probably 

 aware, was principal of a large and fine school in Chestertown, and 

 Rector of the parish of L U., built in 1767 in Kent county. The 

 church in Chestertown, built in 1772, was then a chapel of ease. He 

 was Rector of both when the College was built. He was elected Prin- 

 cipal, and continued so until he returned to Philadelphia, about 1790. 

 Personally, of course, I was unacquainted with him, being born in i 786 ; 

 but I have always heard him spoken of as eminent both as a scholar 

 and as a minister of the Church. The life-size portrait, which I had 

 taken from a small engraving, is hanging in the Library at Washington 

 College, and when painted was pronounced by two aged and intelligent 

 ladies who remembered and admired him, as a good likeness. 



Of course I can know nothing personally of your renowned ancestor. 

 I may have seen him, for he baptized me in 1786, when I was but a few 

 days old. I was not entered at Washington College (of which I am an 

 Alumnus) until 1794, after your ancestor had been called to Philadelphia, 

 and I left college in 1803, the year of his death. 



Please excuse this note. It would not have been written to trouble 

 you, but I feel personally interested in the success of your researches ; 

 having been educated at the College he founded, since that a vioitor of 

 it and Professor of Chemistry in that institution, slwA feeling it is my 

 duty to render any assistance I am able. 



I remain very respectfully yours, 



P. Wroth.* 



* See Appendix, No. V. 



