THE FOUNDING OF THE INSTITUTION, 



1835-1846 



BY GEORGE BROWN GOODE 



'HEN Smithson died in Genoa in 1829 his 

 estate became the property of his brother's 

 son, Henry James Hungerford, then about 

 twenty-three years of age, who was privi- 

 leged to enjoy its income during his own life- 

 time, and to whose heirs it was to pass at his death. Hun- 

 gerford, then known as the Baron Eunice de la Batut, died 

 in Pisa, June 5, 1835, unmarried and without heirs. 



There was now no one to contest the claim of the United 

 States to the estate except his mother, Madame de la Batut, 

 who declared herself to be satisfied by the granting of a small 

 annuity payable during her own lifetime. 



The fact of the Smithson bequest first became known in 

 this country in September, 1835, when there was received at 

 the State Department a letter from Aaron Vail, charge d'af- 

 faires of the United States in London, transmitting a copy of 

 the will, together with certain information obtained from 

 Smithson's solicitors in London. 1 



1 For the letter of these gentlemen, and the full text of all documents referred to 

 Messrs. Clarke, Fynmore, and Fladgate, in this chapter, see " The Smithsonian Institu- 



