Sophia Smith

Notes:

By the age of 40, Sophia Smith had become quite deaf, and even the use of an ear trumpet did not counter the growing isolation that her hearing loss engendered in the years to follow. The death of her siblings Harriet (in 1859) and Austin (in 1861) left Sophia Smith wealthy but alone. In the final decade of her life, she was faced with the difficult decision of how to dispose of the considerable Smith family fortune. What led her, during that period, to her determination to devote the largest part of that fortune -- $387,468 -- to establish a women's college in Northampton? "Miss Smith often spoke of her childhood and her youth. She retained vivid and pleasant recollections of them. I think she regarded them as the happiest periods of her life." John M. Greene, "Sophia Smith," Hampshire Gazette and Northampton Courier, 2 March 1914

Because few family records survive, little is known about Sophia's early years. Her journal, which she kept for the last nine years of her life, is primarily a record of her spiritual development but also includes discussions of events of the day, her travels, and the books she was reading.

"The past week has been a trying one on some accounts. My girl domestic has been very disorderly. She seems very wilful, throwing off all restraint, setting her own will in defiance of rule and authority. I have already put up with more from her than is consistent with a proper dignity as mistress of the house. I want wisdom from above to get along with her. "Sophia Smith, Journal entry, 27 June 1864

Sophia became an expert spinner and housewives were anxious to obtain her fine thread in return for other commodities. -- Nor was Sophia an extravagant housekeeper. There is a story that she scolded her maid so severely when she found her about to use an egg in a loaf of ginger bread that the maid lost her temper and threw the egg at her mistress. Marion Billings, unpublished paper on Sophia Smith

While many girls of her era were given a meager formal education, Sophia appears to have had more educational advantages than most and demonstrated a keen thirst for knowledge. Her pastor, John M. Greene, recalls Sophia telling her that as a girl she used to sit on the steps of the schoolhouse in the morning and hear the boys recite their lessons, "with the hope of picking up there some crumbs of knowledge," as girls in Hatfield at that time received their lessons only in the afternoon. She read avidly and widely throughout her life. Such passion -- which included poetry and prose, newspapers and magazines of social, political and literary commentary -- not only portended her future contributions but may also have helped her endure the tragedies of her adulthood.

Besides the schools in Hatfield, Sophia Smith attended a school in Hartford, Conn., for twelve weeks when she was fourteen years old. After this she was a pupil for a time in what was later known as the Hopkins Academy in Hadley

For help with her decision for the disposition of her fortune, Sophia Smith turned to her pastor, John Morton Greene, as well as other advisors. Among the options considered were bequests to Amherst College (Rev. Greene's alma mater) and to the nearby Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, which had been educating young women since 1837. Initially, Sophia settled on a variety of projects, including a school for the deaf -- a logical choice in light of her own struggles with impaired hearing. Smith College may, at least in part, owe its very existence to the fact that John Clarke died before she did, endowing a school for the deaf (today the acclaimed Clarke School in Northampton) and prompting Sophia to abandon her plan.

The "Last Will and Testament of Miss Sophia Smith" was not completed until March of 1870, only three months before she died but nine years (and many revisions) after first meeting about the matter with John Greene. This final version supported "the establishment and maintenance of an Institution for the higher education of young women, with the design to furnish for my own sex means and facilities for the education equal to those which are afforded now in our Colleges to young men."

The will also made three gifts to religious societies and eighteen female relatives, and it provided for the establishment of the Smith Academy in Hatfield for the education of both sexes, requiring, too, that "the number of female teachers shall be equal or one less than that of the male teachers" and that the female teachers must have a voice in the management of the School...."

When Sophia Smith died in June 1870, her obituary appeared in the same issue of the Hampshire Gazette and Northampton Courier that announced the death of Charles Dickens and the first annual meeting of theWomen's Suffrage Committee of Hampshire County.

"Miss Sophia Smith died on Sunday, at the advanced age of 74 years. She was well known in all this section as a lady of great wealth, of benevolent disposition and blameless and irreproachable life. She was the sister of Austin Smith, and received from him and a sister, property to the amount of $200,000. In addition, she had some $30,000 from the estate of her father. A few years since she gave $30,000 to Andover Theological Seminary, and she also gave liberally toward founding a public library in the town of Hatfield. Her private charities were numerous and her memory will be cherished with affection by a large circle who have been recipients of her benefactions."

The inventory of the estate of Miss Sophia Smith. The estate amounts to a greater sum than was supposed by anyone.

Furniture 2,885.00 Misc. 558.00 Jewelry 1,073.00 Bank Stocks 225,096.00 Railroad Stocks 24,528.00 Railroad Bonds 54,470.00 State Bonds 14,000.00 United States Bonds 55,420.00 Promissory Notes 72,859.29 Cash on Hand 2,954.64 Real Estate 15,000.00

Total $468,843.93

THE SMITH FAMILY GENEALOGY (http://clio.fivecolleges.edu/smith/sophia/found/found.htm)

Joseph married Lois White on 19 Feb 1789. Lois was born on 14 Oct 1769; died about 1829. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married:
Of the seven Smith offspring, three died young and only Joseph, Jr. married, producing no heirs. Sophia, her sister Harriet and brother Austin shared the family homestead, which still stands at 22 Main Street in Hatfield.

Sophia's father, Joseph, was both prosperous and frugal. After his death, son Austin shrewdly invested his inheritance in the New York stock market and often traveled there to watch the Smith assets grow. Back in Hatfield, Austin was reputed to be a miser devoid of community spirit. He argued at town meetings against the extravagance of public education and was said to pay board to his sisters to manage the household -- and then charge them a shilling for a ride in the family carriage.

At least Austin seemed to come by his penurious ways honestly. His uncle, Oliver Smith, was also renowned in Hatfield for his parsimony. For instance, the elder Smith is said to have employed the village tailoress to turn his coats wrong side out and remake them. Then, when he died, he left a half-million dollars to charity. The Smith Charities is still in operation today, housed in a handsome brownstone building at 51 Main Street in Northampton. Smith Vocational and Agricultural School, serving students throughout Hampshire County, is also the result of Olivers' benevolence

THE SMITH FAMILY GENEALOGY (http://clio.fivecolleges.edu/smith/sophia/family/gen1.htm)

Samuel married Mary Morton about 1749. Mary was born about 1727; died about 1807. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"Sophia Smith remembered her grandmother [Mary Morton Smith] well. She used to say: 'I looked up to my grandmother with great love and reverence. She more than once put her hand on my head and said, "I want you should grow up and be a good woman and try to make the world better." -- Rev. John M. Greene, An Address at the Centennial of the Birth of Sophia Smith, 27 May 1896

http://clio.fivecolleges.edu/smith/sophia/family/gen1.htm

Joseph married Canada Waite about 1696. Canada (daughter of Benjamin Waite and Martha Leonard) was born on 22 Jan 1677 in Canada; died about 1749. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"[Canada Waite] was the child born in captivity to Benjamin Waite, the hero of the early days, who with Stephen Jennings made the perilous trip to Canada in the Winter to ransom captives taken in the memorable attack on Hatfield, Sept. 19, 1677." Daily Hampshire Gazette, 22 October 1972

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mcstayfamily/smith.htm

Notes:

Married:
The SMITH FAMILY GENEALOGY WEBSITE (http://clio.fivecolleges.edu/smith/sophia/family/gen1.htm) shows that they were the parents of 10 children.