John Blair Smith was born in Pequea, Pennsylvania

Pequea, Pennsylvania

Pequea, Pennsylvania is an unincorporated community located in Martic Township in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The zip code is 17565.-See also:*Pequea Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania*Pequea Creek*Pekowi...

, on June 12, 1756, the son of the Rev. Robert Smith, who ran an academy there. John Blair Smith was valedictorian

Valedictorian

Valedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony. Usually, the valedictorian is the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution...

 of the Class of 1773 at the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

. He was recruited at the age of 19 to come to Virginia as a tuto at the new Hampden-Sydney College

Hampden-Sydney College

Hampden–Sydney College is a liberal arts college for men located in Hampden Sydney, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1775, Hampden–Sydney is the oldest private charter college in the Southern U.S., the last college founded before the American Revolution, and one of only three four-year,...

, then being founded by his older brother, Samuel Stanhope Smith

Samuel Stanhope Smith

Samuel Stanhope Smith was a Presbyterian minister, founding president of Hampden-Sydney College and the seventh president of the College of New Jersey from 1795 to 1812. His stormy career ended in his enforced resignation...

.

In 1779 S.S. Smith resigned his presidency and the pastorates of his churches, in order to answer a call to be president of the College of New Jersey. The younger Smith, who was ordained and elected president on the same day his brother resigned, managed to revive the flagging enterprise, and, with the assistance of Trustee Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786...

, then Governor of Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, persuaded the General Assembly of Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 to grant a charter in 1783, bestowing the power to grant degrees and establish a self-perpetuating Board. J. B. Smith resigned in 1789, accepting a call as pastor to church in Philadelphia. Four years later he was elected the first president of Union College

Union College

Union College is a private, non-denominational liberal arts college located in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. In the 19th century, it became the "Mother of Fraternities", as...

 in Schenectady, New York

Schenectady, New York

Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...

. Eight months after returning to his pastorate in Philadelphia in 1799, he died there in a yellow fever epidemic.