The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-10-16
THE SMITH FAMILY.
|, rnunn1nnE roR THE cuR1ous.

sarv count will be prepared for the statement
that there are named, in the "New York Di
Factory" for the year of grace 1866, not less
.hor tuvo Thousand five hundred and twenty
a. ,oorobers of the Smith family. These
bo,,r almost exclusively housekeepers, be-
,ssne .to canvassers for the Directory have
CaSso Soos 20 make exceptions in favor OF only
'tI ,oS,ers and boarders as are prominent
o. L,,sjness we have a basis troI Whlch we
NAV arrive at q pretty accurate esIiuate Vi
1be AGGREGATE number Of Smlths' hsIImaVlng
Az o9eraSe for families at hve members eaoh,
80 have tbe grand total of twelve thousand
ak hundred and ten in a single city fair
estimate for the whole country, in turn, from
this new starting point, would reveal the
number of this single family as having reached
about half million in the United states alone.
The diversity of the mode of spelling this
name is worthy of remark. Two thousand
and four Of those mentioned in the directory
smell their name "Smith, " in the approved
English style of orthography. Four hundred
and forty-two spell it, in the more common
German style, as "Schmidt." Eighty-one
seem to have preferred to have it "Schmitt"
while fifteen have abbreviated it to "Schmid,"
and seven to "Smid, " leaving seven more re-
ioicing in the more distinctive form and sound
of "Schrnitz." But, while this exhausts the
number Of the Teutonic fancies as to the
photography of the name, have still to notice
portion of the family, scarcely deserving the
degree of indulgence which we might be will
ing to grant to the German Smiths, who have
corrupted the correct form to "Smyth, to the
inevitable puzzling Of their fellow-citizens of
polite inclination as to the pronunciation of
their name. There are sixty-seven of these
people mentioned in the Directory, while
there are two who have carried the corruption
even further than this-as if resolved to
escape from the family association of the
Smiths altogether-and authorized the name
gatherers to put them down as "Smythe."
One of these is a female, while the other is
gentleman very conspicuous of late
in an official relation-so very
conspicuous, indeed, that he will
allow us to say pleasantly that we cannot
help guessing that he may have lost some
thing by not having the crowd of the "Smiths"
to hide among-that is, if he is not inordi-
nately fond of conspicuity and notoriety both.
As his name now stands - SOLITARY and
alone" as "Old Bullion" once self-vauntingly
said in Congress-there is not the slightest
chance for his escaping whatever response
bility attaches, rightfully or wrongtully, to
his acts. But that being his own affair, we
leave him and pass on to comparison and
speculation or two which have interested our
own thought, and may possibly interest that
of our readers.
The number of Smiths spelling their names
''Smith, - recorded in the Directory for 1865,
one, as against two thousand and four in 1866.
The number of this family in this city in
1856, according to a statement in Arthur's
chronological Dictionary" was about eigh-
teen hundred. Supposing that his count was
of the English "Smiths" exclusively, the nu-
merical strength and glory of the family
would seem to have declined between that date
and 1865. But their strength of numbers was
most probably given entire, which would indi-
cate an increase, Notwithstanding the fair infe-
renee that not few of them fell in the late
war, while, without doubt, the collectors of
names found not little difficulty in prosecu-
ting their work during the war years, because
of fears of the military draft, to which must
be added the new fear of the internal revenue
assessors with whom the Directory collectors
were constantly liable to be confounded.
The number of people chronicled in the
Directory for 1866, rejoicing IN the disun-
guished name of "JOhn Smith, is one hum
dred and six. In proportion to the increase
of the whole number of "Smiths," there
ought to have been. one hundred and sixty -one,
so that there has been a falling off to the
extent of thirty-fve per cent. in the "Johns''
of the family. How are we to account for this
fact2 | am inclined to take that view of the
case most creditable to the fathers Of the Smith
family. This would suppose that some of
them had come to see that confusion worse
confounded" and great inconvenience had
grown out of the custom of bestowing their
name on their sons, and therefore that they
had consented to forego an otherwise desirable
expedient for perpetuating their whole name
to posterity; for there is little room to doubt
that selishness whether working consciously
or not, generally controls in such cases, while
taking the form of "family pride" But there is
still another way in which this decrease in the
number of John Smiths may be, at least in
part, accounted for. There is growing tend
enoy for giving a middle name to children,
and, If it is not given in baptism, young men
are very much inclined to assume one. Any
one curious on this subject will find the most
striking evidence of the tendency referred to
by comparing the names of the members of
the present Congress oft the United States with
those of the members of the Continental Con-
gress, or Of the signers of the Declaration
of American Independence. In the latter,
middle names are very rare while they
are very numerous in the ranks of pub
lie men at the present day, many OF
them not being contented with even two
Christian names. This being the case as
touching other names, the wonder is that, for
distinctions sake, there should be an end put
TO the name of "John Smith," spite of the
parental vanity already alluded to as one of
the sources Of its constant supply.
wish it to be distinctly understood that l
do not say this in disparagement of the name
OF smith" nor, in fact of 'Smith with the
John" The plea for the name which am
about 10 oner will prove to the contrary.
now propose to trace out some of the
chronological and other facts relating to the
Smith family. First, as to the origin of the
name itself. This evidently was derived from
the Saxon verb SHlitdn. To strilya or e,,;,o