All Scholars
SMITH, John
- Date of Birth: December 21, 1751
- Born City: Rowley
- Born State/Country: MA
- Parents: Joseph & Sarah Sawyer S.
- Date of Death: April 30, 1809
- Death City: Hanover
- Death State/Country: NH
- Married: Mary Cleveland, February 8, 1781; Susan Mason, January 13, 1785.
- Education:
B.A. Dartmouth, 1773; A.M., 1776; D.D.(honorary) Brown, 1803.
- Professional Experience:
Preceptor, Moor's Indian Charity Sch. (Hanover, NH), 1773-4; tutor, 1774-8; professor of Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Oriental Languages, 1778-1809; librarian, 1779-1809; minister, College Church, 1782-1805; trustee, 1788-1809.
- Publications:
A Hebrew Grammar without Points (Boston, 1772); The Duty, Advantages, and Pleasure of Public Worship (sermon) (Hanover, NH, 1795); A Sermon, Preached in Randolph, June 3, 1801, at the Ordination of the Rev. Tipton Eastman (Randolph, VT, 1801); The New Hampshire Latin Grammar (Boston, 1802); A Hebrew Grammar, without Points (Boston, 1803); M. Tulli Ciceronis ad Q. Fratrem Dialogi Tres De oratore, ed. Z. Pearce, notes & index by Smith (Walpole, NH, 1804); A Grammar of the Greek Language (Boston, 1809).
- Notes:
John Smith was appointed Dartmouth College's first professor in 1778 and served the institution in various capacities for over 30 years. A protégé of Dartmouth founder Eleazar Wheelock (1711-79), he worked closely with Wheelock and his son, John Wheelock (1754-1817). In addition to his duties as professor of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, Smith served as college librarian and trustee and ran the college bookstore from his home. After 1787 he also acted as sole pastor of the college church until a new professor of divinity was appointed in 1804.
In 1802, Smith published a Latin grammar that went through several editions. The next hyear he published a Hebrew grammar that he had begun working on as an undergraduate. A Greek grammar appeared in 1809. Smith also produced a series of theological lectures, which he was preparing for publication at the time of his death.
- Sources:
Michael R. Cioffi, BDAE, 1206; Susan Mason Smith, Memoir of the Rev. John Smith, D.D., Professor of Oriental Languages at Dartmouth College (1842); William B. Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit 2 (1859) 90-2; "Records by Rev. John Smith, D.D., of Hanover, N.H.," The New England Historical and Genealogical Register 70 (1916) 150-3; Dartmouth College and Associated Schools General Catalogue 1769-1940 (1940); NatCAB 9:95; WhAmHS 562.
On Smith's possible relation to Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church, see https://faenrandir.github.io/a_careful_examination/documents/book_of_mormon/translation/Dartmouth-Arminianism-Behrens-2006-JWH.pdf
- Author: Stephen Clarke
