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Morgan Jedediah Livingston Smead Papers, Special Collections Research Center, William & Mary Libraries
Removed from the Faculty-Alumni File Collection in 2016
University Archives Faculty-Alumni File Collection
Henry A. Washington Papers
July 12, 1855 letter to Hugh Blair Grisby is a gift of Mrs. William S. Morton
From
Morgan Jedediah Livingston Smead was "born March 4, 1813, and died November 11, 1871, son of Jedediah L. and Caroline Howe Smead. He was educated at the District School of Covington, New York; Wyoming Academy, New York; Union College and Berlin University." "He taught Greek at William and Mary College, languages at Le Febre's School at Montgomery, Alabama, and modern languages at the Univesrity of Georgia." "He married Susan Wright Empie, daughter of Dr. Adam Empie, President of William and Mary College, but left no children."
Smead served on the faculty of William & Mary from 1848-1858.
The collection includes letters written by or sent to Smead. While most are written in English, some are written in German.
One letter of note was written by Smead in 1855 to Hugh Blair Grisby, noting the discovery of the original Phi Beta Kappa seal, found in a secret desk drawer of W&M alumnus Judge Stuart of Staunton, Virginia. He details the story relayed to him by Stuart's son regarding how it's likely the seal came to be hidden and forgotten about for more than 50 years.
Another letter of note is from May 29, 1848 and received by Smead. The writer, Benjamin A. Gould, Jr. describes the revolution in Berlin, soldiers all over town in Göttingen, the German attack on Denmark, and other political news.
Subjects included in other letters include relations between Europe and the United States, the Polish Revolution, professors at Leipzig, Berlin, and consumption, with the majority of the text related to personal business of the writer.