APPENDIX. 521 



man, suggests to me that a certain plainness of manner gives i*- rather 

 to the eminent Chief Justice of Pennsylvania just named, who was 

 warmly attached to his Associate, and was one of the executors, I think, 

 of his last will. Come from what source it may, it is worthy of preser- 

 vation in the biographies of the eminent Judges of Pennsylvania. 



OBITUARY. 



Hon. Thomas Smith was a native of North Britain, from whence he emigrated in 

 early life to this continent. On the 9th of February, 1769, he was appointed deputy 

 surveyor of an extensive frontier district, and established his residence at the town of 

 Bedford. In the execution of his ofificial duties he displayed integrity and abilities 

 which could not have been exceeded. His fidelity in this important and interesting 

 trust was so strongly marked that no individual has been able to complain of injury; 

 and exemption from law suits, and certainty of titles to property, have been almost the 

 invariable result. So high was his sense of honor, so inflexible his principles of jus- 

 tice, that he would never suffer even suspicion to cast a shade over his official char- 

 acter. His private interests yielded to the fumness of his mind; and although landed 

 property was then so easily to be acquired, he scrupulously avoided all speculation, 

 determined that the desire of gain should neither warp his rectitude nor give birth to 

 jealousy in others. 



When the county of Bedford was erected, he received commissions from the then 

 proprietors to execute the offices of Prothonotary, Clerk of the Sessions, Orphans' 

 Courts, and Recorder of Deeds for that county; and such was the uniform tenor of 

 his conduct as to insure the respect, esteem and attachment of all who had any trans- 

 actions with him. 



At the commencement of the late Revolution he zealously espoused the cause of his 

 adopted country, and at the head of his regiment of militia performed his tour of duty 



looked again and went away. An hour or two after midnight they came again and 

 found the guard still on duty. They then disappeared, and never renewed their visits 

 or their menaces. While proprietor of the United States Gazette, Mr. Bronson pub- 

 lished several works, including " Roscoe's Life of Lorenzo de Medecis," and "Leo 

 X.," by the same author. They are beautiful specimens of typography. " Under much 

 coldness of manner, amounting almost to apathy, Mr. Bronson," said the Baltimore 

 Chronicle, when noticing his death, which occurred in April, 1823, " possessed a warm 

 and benevolent heart, alive to all tender impulses, blended with uncommon boldness 

 and decision. His facility in writing and his powers of abstraction were remarkable. 

 With his office filled with men like Joseph Dennie, Nathaniel Chapman, Thomas 

 Biddle and others, the wits and conversation men of Philadelphia at that day — talk- 

 ing, telling stories and laughing, he would hand sheet after sheet of his ready compo- 

 sition to the printer's boy, and read proofs in which not an error would be left." 



Mr. Bronson married Mary, daughter of the venerable Bishop White. Two of his 

 seven children survive: one the widow of the late accomplished Prof. Henry Reed, 

 who was lost at sea on the ill-fated "Arctic;" the other the Rev. William White Bron- 

 son, a minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church, distinguished for his theological 

 learning and valued by all who know him for his devotion to the sick and poor and 

 suffering of every class who need his service. I owe to him my many thanks for ser- 

 vices rendered to me in the presentation of this work. 



