USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > An historical catalogue of the St. Andrew's Society of Philadelphia, with biographical sketches of deceased members > Part 12
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At the close of the war Dr. Sinkler went to Philadelphia, entered the Medical Department of the University of Penn- sylvania, and graduated from that institution with the class of 1868. He became a resident physician at the Episcopal
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Biographies of Deceased Members
Hospital in that city after his graduation. He was an attend- ing physician to the same institution for many years, re- signing in 1886 to become a manager, in which position he served for twenty-four years. From the time he began the practice of his profession he made his home in Philadelphia. After the expiration of his term as resident physician at the Episcopal Hospital, he became engaged in the general practice of medicine in Philadelphia and achieved great prominence as a general practitioner. Early in his pro- fessional career he began to devote himself to a special study of nervous diseases, and in this connection he became chiefly known. His reputation as a neurologist was very high throughout the country. While successful in the treat- ment of cases, he was also widely known to his profession through his many contributions to medical literature.
His activities in the line of his profession may be judged by the many positions in which he served with great skill and faithfulness. At the time of his death he held the following offices :
Physician to Orthopaedic Hospital and Infirmary for Nervous Diseases ; Consulting neurologist to State Hospital for the Chronic Insane at South Mountain ;
Neurologist to the Bryn Mawr Hospital;
President of the Board of Managers of The Pennsylvania Epileptic Hospital and Colony Farm;
Manager, Episcopal Hospital;
Member of executive committee, General Alumni Society, University of Pennsylvania ;
Consulting neurologist, Widener Home for Crippled Children ;
Trustee, University of Pennsylvania ;
Chairman, Section of Nervous and Mental Diseases, 1906, of the Ameri- can Medical Association ;
Neurologist, Germantown Hospital ;
Trustee, Eastern Pennsylvania State Institution for Feeble-minded and Epileptic ;
Former president, Philadelphia Medical Club;
President, Alumni Society Medical Department University of Penn- sylvania ;
Vice-president, College of Physicians.
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He was also a member of the following medical societies : American Medical Association; American Neurologist Association; American Philosophical Society; College of Physicians, Philadelphia; National Association for the Study and Care of Epileptics; Pathological Society, Phila- delphia; Philadelphia Neurological Society; Philadelphia County Medical Society ; and Society of Tropical Medicine, treasurer.
He had many activities outside of his profession. Al- ways a devoted member of his church, he was for a number of years before his death a vestryman of St. James's Prot- estant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. His participation in the educational affairs of the community was shown by his being at the time of his death a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania and of the Academy of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He was for a time president of the Southern Club of Philadelphia, and was for many years and until his death a member of the Board of Governors of the Huntingdon Valley Country Club. He was also a director of the Philadelphia Contributionship.
He was a member of the Masonic Order, and belonged to the Aztec Club of Mexico, Rittenhouse Club, University Club, Huntingdon Valley Country Club, University Barge Club, Philadelphia Medical Club, Southern Club of Phila- delphia, Alpha Mu Pi Omega Medical Fraternity, and the Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity.
On February 10, 1872, Dr. Sinkler married Ella, daugh- ter of the late John P. Brock of Philadelphia, and was sur- vived by a widow and five sons and two daughters. Two sons, Charles and Dr. Francis W. Sinkler, are members of The St. Andrew's Society.
Dr. Sinkler was taken ill after returning from Rich- mond, Virginia, where he was a distinguished guest of the Tri-State Medical Convention, before whom he read a paper. He was ill but three weeks, and died March 16, 1910. He died when at the highest point in his medical career and usefulness as a physician and a man.
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Biographies of Deceased Members
EDMUND SMITH,* member 1856. Edmund Smith, one of the sons of Robert Hobart Smith, and grandson of Robert Smith, referred to below, was born in Philadelphia, April 4, 1829, and died in that city July 31, 1895. After completing a course of studies at the Friends' Academy and at the Phila- delphia high school, he spent two years in a wholesale drug house, acquiring a knowledge of commercial methods.
In June, 1847, when eighteen years of age, he received an appointment in a corps of civil engineers, then about to engage in the survey and location of a section of the Penn- sylvania Railroad, between Huntingdon and the Allegheny Mountains. In this, and, later, the work of construction, he was employed until the spring of 1850, when he was sent to Blairsville, on the Western Division of the road.
In March, 1853, he was transferred to the company's office in Philadelphia, having been assigned to a responsible post there. He was elected secretary of the company Janu- ary 16, 1855, and held that office until May 2, 1869; served as third vice-president from May 3, 1869, to February 28, 1873; as treasurer from March 1, 1873, to July 31, 1874; as second vice-president from June 29, 1874, to September 30, 1882, and as first vice-president from October 1, 1882, to June 30, 1888.
In the years 1859 and 1862 he went abroad, and spent much of his time in studying the railway systems of Great Britain and the Continent.
In 1870 he purchased the Colemanville Iron Works prop- erty, in Lancaster, at the junction of the Pequea Creek and the Susquehanna River, comprising a forge and rolling- mill, and an estate of twelve hundred acres of land.
Mr. Smith was a member of the Union League, a contrib- utor to the Pennsylvania Hospital and to other charities.
* The sketches presented of Edmund Smith, John Rhea C. Smith, Robert Hobart Smith, and Captain Robert Smith are from Frank Willing Leach's monographs in the Sunday edition of the Philadelphia North American.
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He married, December 9, 1851, Arabella Barnes, daugh- ter of Henry and Marilla (née Weldon) Barnes, and to them were born four children.
JOHN RHEA CLARENDON SMITH, member 1815. John R. C. Smith was the only adult son of Robert Smith, by his first wife. He was born in Philadelphia, March 19, 1783, and died in that city July 1, 1868, aged 85 years. He was buried at the Church of St. James the Less, Falls of Schuyl- kill.
Entering the College of New Jersey-now Princeton University-when a youth of fourteen, he graduated in 1801, when only eighteen years of age. While at that institution, following a sentimental custom largely prevalent among the undergraduates, he adopted an additional name, to wit, " Clarendon," and was ever afterward known as John Rhea Clarendon Smith.
Upon leaving college, he entered the mercantile house of Willing & Francis, and there, through proven ability, receiving the highest praise from his employers, who sent him to Canton and Brazil upon different occasions as super- cargo. He continued to follow commercial pursuits for many years, attaining both prominence and financial success.
He joined, May 20, 1805, his father's old command, the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry; in 1810 he be- came third corporal and in 1811 fourth sergeant and later first sergeant. In 1811 he was chosen treasurer of the command, and held this post until 1824.
In 1815 he was commissioned cornet ; the following year, 1816, was promoted to his father's former post, second lieu- tenant, and in 1817 was advanced to the captaincy of the command, and continued therein until 1825.
Three years previously, June 13, 1822, the First and Second Troops of Cavalry were formed into a squadron, of which Captain Smith was made major.
He figured conspicuously in the demonstration upon the occasion of General Lafayette's visit to Philadelphia, in
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September, 1824. His troop and several other cavalry organizations were formed into a squadron, of which he was given the command, and, marching to Morrisville, oppo- site Trenton, the distinguished Frenchman was met and escorted to Philadelphia. Throughout the sojourn of the Marquis in the Quaker City, the First Troop acted as a per- sonal escort to him, and Captain Smith was constantly in his company.
Captain Smith, according to the Troop's historian, " was much beloved for his admirable qualities and soldierlike characteristics," and November 17, 1823, at their annual anniversary banquet, he was presented with a sword and a full suit of horse equipments, "as a mark of its regard and respect."
A year later, November 17, 1824, at a banquet in cele- bration of the 50th anniversary of its existence, this toast was given :
J. R. C. Smith, Esqr .- Our noble Captain-Relying upon the basis of his own merit, he neither requires praise, nor fears reproach.
Within a year, his honorable military career was brought to a close under unfortunate circumstances. Upon receiv- ing an order from an officer, who, according to Captain Smith's understanding, was not his superior, he declined to obey it. For this he was court-martialed and his com- mission as captain revoked.
The sympathies of the Troop were entirely with their commander, and he was continued as a private until the fol- lowing year, when, April 19, 1826, he was placed upon the Honorary Roll.
In 1815 Captain Smith was elected to membership in The St. Andrew's Society, of which his father was then president.
" Being a gentleman of means and refined tastes," says the Troop's historian, he spent the remaining years of his long life in the retirement of his home, where he died.
Captain Smith was married to Miss Maria Bell, of a Philadelphia family.
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CAPTAIN ROBERT SMITH Member 1784 President 1813-1830 Died April 15, 1838
Biographies of Deceased Members
ROBERT SMITH, member 1784, Assistant 1786-1793, 1803-1808, Vice-president 1809-1812, President 1813- 1830. In the first volume of the "Historical Catalogue, The St. Andrew's Society," in a brief reference to such details as were then obtainable, it was stated :
The records examined do not furnish any data as to the place of birth or ancestry of Robert Smith. . . His official positions in The St. Andrew's Society cover probably a longer period than that of any other member.
His portrait is the only one missing in that volume of the long line of Presidents of the Society from 1749 to date, and that, with full details of his long and useful life, has now been furnished through the valuable monographs of " Old Philadelphia Families," by Frank Willing Leach, in the Sunday edition of the North American, here freely made use of.
The portrait now given of Robert Smith is from an oil painting by the famous artist Thomas Sully, in possession of a granddaughter, Mrs. Francis R. Jackson, of Bryn Mawr, who courteously gave permission for a photograph for this work.
William Smith, the father of Robert Smith, was born in Dumfries, Scotland, in 1717. In July, 1743, he was mar- ried, in New York City, to Miss Elizabeth Corrin, of English extraction. They had nine children, but only two of these are known to have married,-Robert, referred to below, and Mary, a daughter, who married Alexander Robertson, a native of Falkirk, who became one of the leading mer- chants in New York and was treasurer of the Saint Andrew's Society of that city 1787-1793.
Our member, Robert Smith, was born in New York City, November 20, 1752, and was but fifteen years of age when he was doubly orphaned by the death of both parents, only a year apart, when he became a member of the family of his married sister, Mrs. Robertson, and, in time was associated in business with his brother-in-law.
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He was but twenty-two years of age when the Battle of Lexington was fought, and he at once offered his services in behalf of American Independence, and in 1775 aided in recruiting a company of Scotchmen, of which he was made captain. Officers and men were dressed in full Highland costume and accoutrements.
In June, 1776, he was commissioned captain in a regiment of New York militia commanded by Colonel William Mal- colm, who also was of Scotch antecedents. Captain Smith took part in the strenuous campaign on Long Island, and was wounded in the disastrous Battle of White Plains, October 28, 1776. In spite of his disability, he accompanied the army under Washington in the retreat into and through New Jersey.
Colonel Malcolm's command became one of the Sixteen Additional Continental Regiments, under the Resolve of Congress, December 27, 1776, which were not numbered, but were known by the names of their respective colonels. The lieutenant-colonel of this regiment was Aaron Burr, afterward Vice-president of the United States, but better known by reason of his having killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel.
Captain Smith was commissioned a company comman- der in Malcolm's Regiment in January, 1777, just after the American successes at Trenton and Princeton. Then came the battles of the Brandywine and of Germantown, followed by the worse than sanguinary struggle with nature at Valley Forge.
With the evacuation of Philadelphia by the British came renewed activity on the part of the American forces. The Delaware was crossed, and the Continentals followed the retreating army to Monmouth, where, June 28, 1778, a glor- ious victory was won by Washington's army. Here Smith received his second wound, a more serious one than that which he had suffered at White Plains two years previously. He was so long recovering from this injury that he never returned to active service.
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Exactly when Robert Smith came to Philadelphia is not known, but it was while the war of independence was still in progress, as, in May, 1781, he was enrolled as a private in the celebrated Troop of Light Horse-now the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry-which had been organ- ized November 17, 1774, and had rendered valuable service during the seven years which followed.
In 1794 the Whiskey Insurrection in Western Pennsyl- vania occurred, and the troop volunteered its services and took the field. Private Smith was advanced to the post of second sergeant and participated in the brief campaign, and was later commissioned as second lieutenant. While filling this latter post, the troop was again called into active ser- vice, upon the second of the historic insurrections which the Federal Government was called upon to quell during the last decade of the 18th century, the Fries Rebellion, in North- ampton and contiguous counties. In this campaign Lieuten- ant Smith rendered intelligent and effective service. The post of second lieutenant was held by him until 1803, when he resigned and was made an honorary member.
As honorable and conspicuous as were Robert Smith's military services during and after the Revolution, he was even more widely known as a dominant factor in the com- mercial life of Philadelphia. Soon after locating there he engaged in mercantile pursuits, and for many years was looked upon as an exemplar of all that was honorable in commercial methods and practices. Throughout his long life as a Philadelphian-he attained the ripe age of eighty- six years, nearly sixty of which were spent in the Quaker City-he was a recognized leader not only in the business world, but in the higher phases of development which mark the progress of an enlightened community.
Mr. Smith was one of five trustees named by Stephen Girard, who in the event of his death were promptly to pay depositors in his bank. In 1826 Mr. Girard executed a new indenture, naming ten trustees instead of five, with Robert Smith one of the number. After the death of Mr.
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Biographies of Deceased Members
Girard, which occurred December 26, 1831, these trustees successfully wound up all the affairs in which Mr. Girard was interested, and handed to the executors securities aggre- gating over four million dollars.
Captain Smith served repeatedly in the Common Council of the city, whose membership at that time comprised only the most eminent citizens of the municipality. He was trus- tee of the General Loan Office of Pennsylvania, to which responsible post he was named in 1791.
He was a member and for nearly half a century an elder of the Second Presbyterian Church, and throughout his long life was repeatedly chosen to positions of trust by that con- gregation.
Among other institutions of a philanthropic nature with which he was connected was the Pennsylvania Hospital, to which he became a contributor in 1787, and from 1798 to 1805 he sat upon the board of management. He was also one of the founders of the Philadelphia Dispensary, and succeeded Bishop William White as president.
He was for a long time an intimate friend, as well as a patient, of Dr. Benjamin Rush, the celebrated physician and statesman. The latter had treated him successfully for tuberculosis, and, in one of his lectures, cited the case as proof that this dread disease could be eradicated.
His death occurred April 15, 1838, and he was buried in the burial-ground of the Second Presbyterian Church. Upon his tombstone was inscribed : " Mark the perfect man and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace."
Robert Smith was married three times, first on March 9, 1781, soon after establishing himself in Philadelphia, to Ann, a daughter of John Rhea. He married, secondly, Mrs. Rebecca Hobart Potts, widow of Nathaniel Potts and a sis- ter of Right Rev. John Henry Hobart, Protestant Episcopal Bishop of New York. Mr. Smith's third wife was Miss Mary Feariss, who survived him nine years.
Mr. Smith had five children by his first wife and eight by the second wife. Of these, John Rhea and Robert Hobart
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Smith became members of The St. Andrew's Society in 1815, when their father was President. Their biographies appear here from the same source.
ROBERT HOBART SMITH, member 1815. Robert Hobart Smith, the eldest son of Robert Smith by his second wife, Rebecca Hobart, was born in Philadelphia, April 23, 1792. After spending six months at the College of New Jersey, he matriculated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1805, where he was graduated in 1808. After a course of legal studies in the law office of Jared Ingersoll, he was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar October 24, 1812.
After practising for a time, he concluded to abandon the legal profession, believing himself called to ecclesiastical service. After a course of study at Princeton Theological Seminary, he was, in 1829, licensed to preach by the Presby- tery of Philadelphia.
His health, however, was not sufficiently robust to permit him to assume a pastoral charge, but, from time to time, he officiated at the various philanthropic institutions of the city, and, for nearly a quarter of a century, was a ruling elder of the Second Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, and treas- urer of the General Assembly for many years. " He was a good classical scholar," it is said, " and, as he grew older, he would often turn to these favorite studies of his youth as a means of mental recreation."
In 1815, at the time his half-brother, John Rhea Claren- don Smith, joined The St. Andrew's Society, Robert Hobart Smith also became a member. From 1832 to 1855 the latter filled the office of City Clerk of Philadelphia.
During the concluding years of his life Mr. Smith's home was in Germantown, where he died August 10, 1858.
He married, September 23, 1813, Mary Potts, daughter of Joseph and Sarah (née Potts) Potts. She was born De- cember 7, 1792, and died February II, 1878. Resulting from this alliance, nine children were born, to wit: Rebecca, Robert, Joseph Potts, William Alexander, Alfred, Sarah
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Potts, Hobart, Edmund, and Corrin Frank. Of this num- ber both daughters and three sons died unmarried-the lat- ter, Robert Smith, Joseph Potts, and Hobart Smith. All of these, however, reached a mature age.
WILLIAM SMITH, M.D., member 1789. Doctor Smith was a son of Samuel Smith of Philadelphia, and was born in that city in 1746, and died there on May 20, 1822.
He was educated at the old academy on Fourth Street, and later graduated from the College of New Jersey (Princeton), in 1766. The degree of A.M. was conferred upon him by that college in 1784. He entered the Medical Department of the college preceding the University of Penn- sylvania, and graduated in 1771 as M.D.
He engaged in the drug business as junior partner of Lehman & Smith, for many years one of the leading estab- lishments of that class in Philadelphia.
Dr. Smith took an active interest in public affairs, espe- cially during the Revolutionary War, and was a deputy from Philadelphia to the Provincial Convention July 15, 1774. In August, 1776, Congress appointed Dr. Smith to the official position of druggist to be located in Philadelphia, and in April, 1777, that body voted, naming him as Con- tinental druggist, moneys for medicines and supplies for public use and for medicines furnished the brig Lexington.
He served as captain of a company with the forces sent to delay the advance of General Howe to Philadelphia.
Dr. Smith was elected a member of the American Philo- sophical Society in January, 1792, and was one of the organ- izers and a director of the Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania.
He was twice married, first in Graeme Park, Pennsyl- vania, to Ann, the eldest daughter of Captain James and Mary Jane Graeme Young and granddaughter of Dr. Thomas Graeme of The St. Andrew's Society. This lady died April 4, 1780. Dr. Smith was married again on Novem-
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THOMAS DUNCAN SMITH, ESQ. Counsellor 1868-1873 Vice-President 1874-1880 Died October II, 1880 (Biography Vol. I, page 319)
Biographies of Deceased Members
ber II, 1783, to Letitia Correy, daughter of John Correy, a leading merchant in Philadelphia of that time.
Of the children of Dr. Smith, one son, William Har- rison, joined The St. Andrew's Society in 1817. Another son, Samuel F., was for many years president of the Phila- delphia National Bank, retiring from that position January 26, 1852, and he died in August of that year.
WILLIAM ANTHONY SMITH, M.D., member 1879, was born at Huntingdon, Pa., November 13, 1809, son of General William Rudolph Smith. Dr. Smith practised his profession successfully for many years in Cambria County and until the breaking out of the Civil War, when he ten- dered his services as surgeon to the North, and served throughout the war, at one time being a prisoner at Ander- sonville. He became a member of The St. Andrew's Society in 1879 by right of Scotch descent, his great-grandfather be- ing the Rev. William Smith, D.D., an early President of the Society, and his grandfather, William Moore Smith, one of its early secretaries and its first counsellor. On the mater- nal side he was a great-grandson of Michael Hillegas, first Treasurer of the United States during the Revolution.
Dr. Smith took a lively interest in the welfare and work of the Society, was a constant attendant at all its meetings up to within a short time of his death, and to him the Society is indebted for two valuable biographical pamphlets read at its quarterly meetings at Augustin's, one on Hon. James Hamilton and the other on the life of Dr. Thomas Graeme, the first President of The St. Andrew's Society.
Dr. Smith died at Philadelphia on October 30, 1887, and is buried at Laurel Hill.
WILLIAM HARRISON SMITH, member 1817. He was a son of Dr. William Smith (member 1789) and of his wife Letitia Correy Smith. He was born in Philadelphia, January 29, 1786.
He early entered into mercantile business in Philadelphia
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Biographies of Deceased Members
and became extensively engaged as an importer, his trade being largely with China and other Oriental ports.
His younger brother, John Correy Smith, was associ- ated with him in business.
COLONEL ARCHIBALD LOUDON SNOWDEN, member 1864, Counsellor 1865-66. Born in Cumberland County, Penn- sylvania, August II, 1837. Died in Philadelphia, September 9, 1912.
He was a son of Dr. Isaac Wayne Snowden of Phila- delphia, who served as surgeon under General Andrew Jack- son, and of Margaret Bines Snowden of Cumberland County.
After graduating from Jefferson College, now Wash- ington and Jefferson, at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, Colonel Snowden entered the Law School of the University of Penn- sylvania and was admitted to the bar. Washington and Jefferson College later conferred upon him degrees of A.M. and LL.D.
He married in Philadelphia, February 16, 1864, Eliza- beth Robinson, daughter of Isaac Robinson Smith, and they had one son, Charles Randolph, and two daughters, Mrs. Stuyvesant Wainright and Mrs. Frank Samuel.
During the Civil War Colonel Snowden organized a regiment, which he partly equipped at his own expense, and was appointed lieutenant-colonel; but the quota of Penn- sylvania was then filled, and the companies were scattered to organizations in other States.
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