SMITH, Cotton Mather, clergyman, born in Suffield, Connecticut, 26 October, 1731; died in Sharon, Connecticut, 27 November. 1806. He was descended from Reverend Henry Smith, who came to this country in 1686, and was first pastor at Wethersfield, Connecticut His mother was the granddaughter of Increase Mather. Cotton was graduated at Yale in 1751, taught the Stock-bridge Indians while studying theology, and in 1.753 was licensed to preach. From 1755 until his death he was pastor of the Congregational church in Sharon. During the Revolution he served as chaplain under General Philip Schuyler in 1775-'6. During his ministry he delivered more than 4,000 public discourses. He published three sermons (Hartford, 1770, 1771, 1793). He was distinguished for force of character, tact, tenderness of heart, fine scholarship, and grace of manner. His views were of advanced liberality, and he was an effective and persuasive preacher, whose influence long survived. --His son, John Cotton, statesman, born in Sharon, Connecticut, 12 February, 1765; died there, 7 December, 1845, was graduated at Yale in 1783, admitted to the bar in 1786, and served several terms in the legislature, of which he was clerk in 1799 and speaker in 1800. He was elected to congress as a Federalist in the latter year, served till 1806, was chairman of the committee on claims in 1802-'6, and in the once celebrated discussion on the judiciary in 1801 presided over the committee of the whole, tie re-sum ed an extensive legal practice when he returned from his congressional career, was again in the legislature in 1808-'9, and was chosen a judge of the Connecticut supreme court the next year. He was lieutenant-governor in 1810 and governor in 1813-'18, after which he retired and did not again accept office, devoting himself to literary pursuits and the care of a large estate. He was president of the Litchfield county foreign missionary society, and of the County temperance society, first president of the Connecticut Bible society, of the American Bible society in 1831-'45, and of the American board of foreign missions in 1826-'41. Yale gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1814. He was a member of the Northern society of antiquaries in Copenhagen, Denmark, and of the Connecticut historical society, and an occasional contributor to scientific reviews, tie combined strength of character with true amiability in a remarkable degree. His fine personal appearance and graceful, commanding manners added a charm to the eloquence for which his speeches were noted. True to his convictions and his friends, enduring no thought of compromise on any moral question, he was yet a man of broad views and enlightened statesmanship. Though belonging to a defeated party, he was ever held in high respect by his opponents as an able, unflinching, and generous foe. See his "Correspondence and Miscellanies," edited with a eulogy by Reverend William W. Andrews (New York, 1847).-John Cotton's grandson, John Cotton, diploma-list, born in Tivoli, New York, in 1810; died in Sharon, Connecticut, 21 November, 1879, was graduated at Yale in 1830, elected to the legislature at twenty-one years of age, and served for many terms. He was an active member of the Democratic party, and in 1856-'60 was United States minister to Bolivia. He was an eloquent speaker and possessed of wide information and many attractions.--Cotton Mather's grandson, Thomas Mather, clergyman, born in Stamford, Connecticut, 7 March, 1797; died in Portland, Maine, 6 September, 1864, was the son of Cotton Mather's daughter, who married Reverend Daniel Smith, pastor , of the church at Stamford from 1793 until his death in 1841. Thomas was graduated at Yale in 1816, and at Andover theological seminary in 1820. He was ordained to the ministry of the Congregational church in 1822, was successively pastor in Portland, Maine, Fall River, Catskill, New York, and New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1826-'42, and in 1844, having changed his theological views, was ordained in the Protestant Episcopal church. He was professor of theology in the Gambler (Ohio) seminary in 1845-'63, anti president of Kenyon in 1850-'4. Bowdoin gave him the degree of D. D. in 1850.--Thomas Mather's son, John Cotton, clergyman, born in Andover, Massachusetts, 4 August, 1826; died in New York city, 10 January, 1882, was graduated at Bowdoin in 1847, studied theology at the Gambler (Ohio) seminary, was ordained deacon in the Protestant Episcopal church in 1849, and priest in 1850. He was successively rector of St. John's church, Bangor, Maine, assistant on the Green foundation at Trinity church, Boston, and from 1860 until his death was rector of the Church of the Ascension, New York city. During his pastorate there he was active in mission work, the church contributing under him $1,000,000 to charity. He organized the first successful attempt to establish improved tenement-houses, and was instrumental in erecting two blocks of such homes that are under the care of an association in Ascension .church. He built the Mission chapel on the corner of Jane and Greenwich streets, and that on West 43d street, which number 3,000 pupils, and was also active in foreign mission work. He was a member of the American Bible society, and one of a committee of three to revise the received Greek text. Columbia gave him the degree of D.D. in 1862. Dr. Smith was a strong and effective preacher, a profound scholar, and of wide and Catholic views. For several years he edited the "Church and State," a paper established as the representative of the liberal branch of the church. He discussed scientific, literary, and social subjects in it and in his pulpit, and aided largely in the gathering of the church congress in New York in 1874. Dr. Smith published an "Artillery Election Sermon" (Boston, 1858), and numerous other occasional sermons and tractates; "Limits of Legislation as to Doctrine and Ritual" (New York, 1874);" Miscellanies Old and New" (1876); " Briar Hill Lectures: Certain Aspects of the Church" (1880); "The Church's Mission of Reconciliation" (1881) ; and "The Liturgy as a Basis of Union" (1881).