John Blair Smith was born in Pequea, Pennsylvania Colony, on June 12, 1756, the son of the Rev. Robert Smith, who ran an academy there.
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The younger Smith, who was ordained and elected president on the same day his brother resigned, managed to revive the flagging enterprise, and, with the assistance of Trustee Patrick Henry, then Governor of Virginia, persuaded the General Assembly of Virginia to grant a charter in 1783, bestowing the power to grant degrees and establish a self-perpetuating Board.
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