Jonathan smith

Smith graduated from what is now Princeton in 1760 and became a merchant. He was among the first to join the revolutionary struggle. He became secretary of the Committee of Safety in 1775, and was elected a delegate to the Constitutional Congress in 1777. After serving a second term, he was prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas and was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of a battalion of "Associators" under Colonel John Bayard, Smith's brother-in-law. Smith also held in public offices in Pennsylvania, serving as an Auditor of the Accounts of State Troops and Auditor-General of the state. In 1779, he became one of the founders and a member of the board of trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, and became a trustee of Princeton in 1779. Smith was also a vice-president of the Sons of Washington, grand-master of Masons in Philadelphia, and a forty-year member of the American Philosophical Society.