James George Smith
{{Short description|American fraternity founder (1819–1849)}}
{{notability|Biographies|date=July 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name = James George Smith
| birth_date = August 20, 1819
| birth_place = Waynesville, Ohio, US
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1849|9|16|1819|8|20}}
| death_place = Warren, Ohio, US
| burial_place = Miami Cemetery. Corwin, Ohio, US
| alma_mater = Miami University
| occupation = Farmer
| known_for = Founders of Beta Theta Pi
}}
James George Smith (August 20, 1819 – September 16, 1849) was one of eight founders of Beta Theta Pi, a prominent college fraternity founded at Miami University in 1839.
Early life
Smith was born in Waynesville, Ohio on August 20, 1819.{{Cite book |last1=Floriani |first1=Peter J. |url=https://issuu.com/betathetapiao/docs/faithful_home_of_the_three_stars_-_floriani__with_ |title=Faithful Home of the Three Stars: The First 150 Years of Beta Theta Pi |last2=Church |first2=Stanley R. |publisher=The Beta Theta Pi Fraternity / The C. J. Krehbiel Co. |year=1989 |editor-last=Morris II |editor-first=B. Hume |location=Cincinnati |page=526 |via=issuu}} His parents were Mary (née Whitehill) and Thomas Edward Smith.{{Cite web |title=Miami Cemetery Corwin, Warren County, Ohio |url=https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohwarren/Cemetery/Miami/smith.htm#JamesGSmith |access-date=2024-04-06 |website=Warren County, Ohio Virtual Cemetery Project |publisher=Warren County Genealogical Society (Ohio Genealogical Society)/Warren County OHGenWeb Project. |via=sites.rootsweb.com}}
He attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, graduating with an A.B. degree in 1840.{{Cite web |title=Typescripts of 1841-1842 letters from James George Smith, 1841-1842 {{!}} Special Collections Research Center |url=https://scrcguides.libraries.wm.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/403837 |access-date=2024-04-05 |website=William & Mary}}[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015065984661 Catalogue of Beta Theta Pi, 9th ed]. James T. Brown, ed., New York: James T. Brown, 1917. via Hathi Trust. While there, he was a member of the Union Literary Society. He was also one of eight founders of Beta Theta Pi in 1839 and served as the fraternity's first secretary.{{Cite web |title=The Origins of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity |url=https://www.beta.org/about/ |access-date=2024-04-06 |website=Beta Theta Pi Fraternity |language=en-US}}Shepard, Francis W., ed. (1927). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Z1vOAAAAMAAJ Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities (11th ed.)]. Menasha, Wisconsin: George Banta Publishing Company. p. 59 – via Google Books. He was roommates with Samuel Taylor Marshall, another Beta Theta Pi founder, in the west wing Old Main.{{Cite web |date=2014-06-18 |title=Beta Founders |url=https://issuu.com/betathetapiao/docs/the_beta_theta_pi_-_summer_2014 |access-date=2024-04-06 |website=The Beta Theta Pi Magazine |page=24 |language=en |via=issuu}}Floriani, Peter J.; Church, Stanley R. (1989). Morris II, B. Hume (ed.). [https://issuu.com/betathetapiao/docs/faithful_home_of_the_three_stars_-_floriani__with_ Faithful Home of the Three Stars: The First 150 Years of Beta Theta Pi.] Cincinnati: The Beta Theta Pi Fraternity / The C. J. Krehbiel Co. p. 525 – via issuu.
Career
After college, Smith was a farmer, living six miles east of Lebanon, Ohio.
Personal life
Marshall described Smith as a "pale, studious, quiet fellow in delicate health". In 1941 and 1842, Smith went to Florida to treat his tuberculosis. He recovered and returned to Ohio.
Smith died on September 16, 1849, in Warren, Ohio, from dysentary, resulting from cholera. He was buried in the Smith family cemetery and reinterred in the Miami Cemetery at Corwin, Ohio in November 1867.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Find a Grave|17641959}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, James George}}
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Category:People from Waynesville, Ohio
Category:Miami University alumni
Category:Beta Theta Pi founders