Sophia Smith (August 27, 1796 – June 12, 1870) founded Smith College in 1870 with the substantial estate she inherited from her father, who was a wealthy farmer, and six siblings.
An avid reader, Smith attended schools in Hatfield, Massachusetts, and Hartford, Connecticut. She later attended Hopkins Academy in Hadley, Massachusetts.
Early life
Born as the first daughter into a family of three boys, Sophia Smith soon became the caretaker for the following three children (all girls). A resident of Hatfield, Massachusetts, the 1800 census states that the town had 153 homes, 11 of which were owned by her relatives both on her father's (Smith) side and her mother's (White) side. After the death of her mother, the care of the household became the sole responsibility of her sister Harriet. After Harriet's death, she relied on her eldest brother Austin who managed to acquire a sizable fortune; following his death in 1861 the fortune that would soon found Smith College accrued to Sophia Smith.
Founding Smith College
Deaf since age 40 and unmarried, Smith initially considered endowing her fortune to an institute for the deaf, but changed her mind when the Clarke School for the Deaf opened in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1868. Encouraged by the Reverend John Morton Greene, she decided to endow a women's college instead. Upon her death on June 12, 1870, her fortune of $387,468 was willed to endow Smith College, which was chartered in 1871 and opened its doors in 1875 with 14 students. She also left money for the establishment of coeducational high school in her hometown of Hatfield, Massachusetts.
The Last Will and Testament of Miss Sophia Smith
Beginning in the thirteenth section of her will, Smith outlines the provisions for what would soon become Smith College:
THIRTEENTH: I hereby make the following provisions for the establishment and maintenance of an Institution for the higher education of young women, with the design to furnish for my own sex means and facilities for education equal to those which are afforded now in our Colleges to young men.
It is my opinion that by the higher and more thorough Christian education of women, what are called their "wrongs" will be redressed, their wages adjusted, their weight of influence in reforming the evils of society will be greatly increased, as teachers, as writers, as mothers, as members of society, their power for good will be incalculably enlarged.