Background
Oliver was born on January 20, 1766 at Hatfield, Massachussets, United States, the son of Samuel and Mary (Morton) Smith. On his father's side, he was a descendant of Samuel Smith who emigrated from England on the ship Elizabeth in 1634, settled in Wethersfield, Connecticut, and later moved to Hatfield. Mary Morton's ancestry went back to George Morton, one of the organizers of the voyage of the Anne and the Little James to Plymouth.
The year after Oliver, the youngest of six sons, was born, his father died of an "apoplectic fit, " occasioned by overwork in the hay field on a hot July day. The boys were brought up by their mother, a woman noted in the community for her frugality, vigor, and piety.
Education
There is no information about his education.
Career
Oliver began life with a capital of $500. He engaged in farming, fattened cattle for market, and in his later years made profitable investments in Wall Street securities.
He was a member of the Massachusetts constitutional convention in 1820, a presidential elector in 1824, voting for John Quincy Adams, and twice represented his town in the state legislature (1827 - 28). For many years he was a director of the bank in Northampton.
By his will - a remarkable document - he established an accumulating fund, which, when it had reached a certain amount, was to be used for three objects. Brought up by a widowed mother and mindful of the straitened circumstances of his early days, he directed that the major portion of the fund should be utilized to provide grants for indigent young people and widows. Boys selected by the trustees were to be bound out in good families, taught husbandry or a trade, and when twentyone, if worthy, receive a grant of $500; similarly, girls were to be bound out, instructed in domestic duties, and given $300 as a marriage portion.
Smith's interest in agriculture led him to stipulate that another portion of the fund be used to establish an agricultural school in Northampton. The remainder, $10, 000, was to go to the American Colonization Society. The will was contested by the heirs-at-law and a notable legal battle in the supreme judicial court of Massachusetts followed, opening July 6, 1847; but the will was sustained. The amount expended by the trustees in carrying out the terms of the will reaches into the millions, and on March 15, 1907, the Smith's Agricultural School and Northampton School of Technology was established.
Politics
In politics he was originally a Jeffersonian Democrat, but later became a National Republican.
Views
He managed to avoid paying taxes on all his property, thinking that the money would be wasted. He was opposed to liberal education, believing it a hindrance rather than a help to success in life, and carried about in his pocket statistics to support his conviction.
Personality
He wasted nothing, spent little, and rarely gave anything away.
Quotes from others about the person
A contemporary wrote regarding him: "During the thirty years or more of my recollection of him, he wore the same overgarments; but by reason of a certain trimness and neatness, he always appeared respectably dressed".
