Gerrit Smith, an American philanthropist, born in Utica, N. Y., March 6, 1797, died in New York, Dec. 28, 1874. He inherited from his father Peter Smith, a partner of John Jacob Astor in the fur trade, one of the largest estates in the country, consisting chiefly of land in almost every county of New York and in nearly all the states of the Union. He graduated at Hamilton college, Clinton, N. Y., in 1818, and for many years his chief occupation was the management of his property, his residence being at Peterboro, Madison co. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar when 56 years old (1853). In 1825 he joined the colonization society, and contributed largely for the removal of colored people to Africa. Ten years later he withdrew from it and joined % the American anti-slavery society. He gave away large quantities of land in public and private charity, and in 1848 distributed 200,000 acres, in parcels averaging 50 acres. In 1852 Mr. Smith was elected a representative in congress; but he did not like public life, and resigned at the close of the first session. While in congress he voted with the party opposed to slavery, and made several speeches on that side.

A few years later he contributed largely to the struggle for free institutions in Kansas, in which his friend John Brown became prominent; and in 1859 he gave pecuniary aid to Brown in preparing for the attack on Harper's Ferry, though he probably had no precise knowledge of his plans. The failure of that attempt, and grief and anxiety for the loss of life which it occasioned, temporarily overthrew his reason, and for some months he was an inmate of the insane asylum at Utica. During the civil war he strongly advocated the cause of the Union and contributed largely for the raising of troops. After its close, he joined with Horace Greeley in 1867 in signing the bail bond by which Jefferson Davis was liberated. Mr. Smith was of a strongly religious nature, and he was in the habit of preaching in a church built by himself. His originally orthodox views underwent great changes, but he is said to have finally returned to them. He printed and distributed gratuitously many pamphlets, speeches, and addresses, and published in book form "Speeches'in Congress" (1855); "Sermons and Speeches" (1861); "The Religion of Reason " (1864); " Speeches and Letters " (1865); " The Theologies " (2d ed., 1866); " Nature the Base of a Free Theology " (1867); and " Correspondence with Albert Barnes " (1868).