http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/29163199

Mr. Smithson goes to Washington

James Smithson (1765-1829) was the illegitimate son of Elizabeth Hungerford Keate Macie and Hugh Smithson. Hugh Smithson was, at the time, the baronet of Stanwick and later became the 1st Duke of Northumberland, taking the new surname of Percy. Elizabeth was a widow at the time of James' birth and was, herself, descended from royalty. He was born in France and was known as James Lewis Macie for the first several years of his life before he took upon the name of his father, Smithson. While taking upon himself the Smithson name which was rightfully his, he was denied any titles and was barred by English law of any recognition of his station in life. He lived most of his life on the continent studying the sciences and died at Genoa, Italy, in 1829. He left in his will what amounted to over $500,000 for the United States to create an institution of sciences and history so that his "name shall live in the memory of man when the titles of the Northumberlands and the Percys are extinct and forgotten.".

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