# Orlando J. Smith

Orlando Jay Smith (June 14, 1842 – December 20, 1908) was an early 20th-century American philosopher. Though he was an avowed agnostic, he advocated for the search to a meaning in life which would be commensurate with the possible existence of an ultimate intelligence.

## Early life

Smith was born on June 14, 1842, in Terre Haute, Indiana. He fought in the Civil War, and was wounded near Atlanta, Georgia, on August 3, 1864. He achieved the rank of Major.

## Career

He was editor of the Terre Haute Mail, the Terre Haute Express, the Chicago Express and was the Founder of the American Press Association in 1882, whose General Office in 1910 was at 225, West 39th Street, New York. He lived at Bonneview, his estate in Dobbs Ferry, New York.
Among works by Smith were A Short View of Great Questions (1899), The Coming Democracy, Balance the Fundamental Variety (1904), The Agreement Between Science and Religion (1906) and Eternalism: A Theory Of Infinite Justice (1902).

## Philosophy

Smith didn't call himself religious, he thought that both religion and science had been misinterpreted and perverted. He argued that just as there is a balance in the natural world, so there is a balance in the spiritual world. And that just as no good would go unrewarded, no evil would go unpunished. Though an agnostic, Smith nevertheless believed in reincarnation and his book A Short View of Great Quests inspired Henry Ford the industrialist and founder of the Ford Motor Company to take an interest at least in reincarnation.
Smith distilled his philosophy into three fundamentals:
* That the soul is accountable for its action;
* That the soul survives death;
* That there is a supreme power to right things.'

## Personal life

On March 28, 1881, Smith was married to Evelyn Virginia "Eva" Berry (1861–1944), a daughter of Walter G. Berry and Virginia R. (née Edmonston) Berry. Together, they were the parents of three children:
* Evelyn Woodford Smith (1882–1956), who married Eric Lawrence Hodge (1894–1962).
* Courtland Smith (1884-1970), who married Elinor Cary, a daughter of polo-player Seward Cary.
* Mabel Follin Smith (1886–1938), who married attorney Jerome Monks (1873–1946) in 1914. In 1920, they bought the Cyrus West Field estate in Dobbs Ferry, New York.
Smith died on December 20, 1908, at Bonneview in Dobbs Ferry, New York. In 1910, after his death, his son commissioned his portrait to be painted by the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury, who also painted his daughter-in-law's portrait six months later.

## Sources

* 1 2 Conrad, Stephen (2019). "SMITH, Major Orlando J. – ADOLFO MULLER-URY". muller-ury.com/. Stiftung Adolfo Muller-Ury. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
* ↑ Lang, Andrew (September 20, 1902). "MEANING OF EXISTENCE; Orlando J. Smith's new Book on "Eternalism" and the Theories It Sets Forth.*". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
* 1 2 "The Monist, Volume 14, Issue 5". Oxford Academic. 6 January 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
* ↑ "Henry Ford and Reincarnation". The Henry Ford. 13 August 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
* 1 2 Edmonston, Gabriel (1911). A Genealogical History of the Follin Family in America. G. Edmonston. p. 94. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
* ↑ "Deaths". The New York Times. May 19, 1956. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
* ↑ Howes, Durward (1937). American Women. Richard Blank Publishing Company. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
* ↑ "Deaths". The New York Times. October 21, 1962. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
* ↑ "Courtland Smith, Film Executive For Early Newsreels, Is Dead". The New York Times. August 13, 1970. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
* ↑ "MRS. JEROME MONKS; Daughter of Founder of The American Press Association". The New York Times. April 22, 1938. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
* ↑ "JEROME MONKS". The New York Times. November 13, 1946. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
* ↑ The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States as Illustrated in the Lives of the Founders, Builders, and Defenders of the Republic, and of the Men and Women who are Doing the Work and Moulding the Thought of the Present Time. University Microfilms. 1967. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
* ↑ "IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY.; Jerome Monks Buys Cyrus W. Field Place". The New York Times. April 27, 1920. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
* ↑ "MAJOR ORLANDO SMITH DEAD.; President of American Press Association Succumbs to Cancer". The New York Times. December 21, 1908. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
* ↑ Conrad, Stephen. "SMITH, Mrs Courtland (Elinor Cary) – ADOLFO MULLER-URY". muller-ury.com/. Stiftung Adolfo Muller-Ury. Retrieved 7 June 2021.