By Jim Small

Copyright © 1998

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Many of the founders early learning, is traced back to William in letters and various mentions of him with fond memories during his political career. Some of those letters are excerpted below in endnotes.

To William Small

"DEAR SIR, -- I had the pleasure by a gentleman who saw you at Birmingham to hear of your welfare. By Capt. Aselby of the True-patriot belonging to Messrs. Farrell & Jones of Bristol I send you 3 doz. bottles of Madeira, being the half of a present which I had laid by for you. The capt was afraid to take more on board lest it should draw upon him the officers of the customs. The remaining three doz. therefore I propose to send by Cap;att Drew belonging to the same mercantile house, who is just arrived here. That which goes by Aselby will be delivered by him to your order, the residue by Drew, or by Farrell & Jones, I know not which as yet. I hope you will find it fine as it came to me genuine from the island & has been kept in my own cellar eight years. Within this week we have received the unhappy news of an action of considerable magnitude, between the King's troops and our brethren of Boston, in which it is said five hundred of the former, with the Earl of Percy, are slain. That such an action has occurred, is undoubted, though perhaps the circumstances may not have reached us with truth. This accident has cut off our last hope of reconciliation, and a phrensy of revenge seems to have seized all ranks of people. It is a lamentable circumstance, that the only mediatory power, acknowledged by both parties, instead of leading to a reconciliation of his divided people, should pursue the incendiary purpose of still blowing up the flames, as we find him constantly doing, in every speech and public declaration. This may, perhaps, be intended to intimidate into acquiescence, but the effect has been most unfortunately otherwise. A little knowledge of human nature, and attention to its ordinary workings, might have foreseen that the spirits of the people here were in a state, in which they were more likely to be provoked, than frightened, by haughty deportment. And to fill up the measure of irritation, a proscription of individuals has been substituted in the room of just trial. Can it be believed, that a grateful people will suffer those to be consigned to execution, whose sole crime has been the developing and asserting their rights? Had the Parliament possessed the power of reflection, they would have avoided a measure as impotent, as it was inflammatory. When I saw Lord Chatham's bill, I entertained high hope that a reconciliation could have been brought about. The difference between his terms, and those offered by our Congress, might have been accommodated, if entered on, by both parties, with a dispostion to accommodate. But the dignity of Parliament, it seems, can brook no opposition to its power. Strange, that a set of men, who have made sale of their virtue to the Minister, should yet talk of retaining dignity! But I am getting into politics, though I sat down only to ask your acceptance of the wine, and express my constant wishes for your happiness. This however seems to be ensured by your philosophy & peaceful vocation. I shall still hope that amidst public dissention private friendship may be preserved inviolate and among the warmest you can ever possess is that of your humble servt. "

Thomas Jefferson

Endnotes

William Small of William and Mary College, Virginia
Exercped from Vol. 103 p.355 Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, William and Mary College, William Small

In 1758, William Small was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy at William and Mary.
William Small, a graduate of Marischal College at the University of Edinburgh, was the only layman who had served on the faculty.

Small became Thomas Jefferson's defacto tutor. In later years Jefferson paid heartfelt tribute to his teacher and to the circle of learned friends he made available.

"Dr. Small was ..... to me as a father. To his enlightened and affectionate guidance of my studies while at college, I am indebted for everything.... He procured for me the patronage of Mr. Wythe, and both of them, the attentions of Governor Fauquier, the ablest man who ever filled the chair of government here. They were inseparable friends, and at their frequent diners with the governor, he admitted me always, to make a partie quarrae. At these dinners I have heard more good sense, more rational and philosophical conversation than all my life besides." Thomas Jefferson.

Virginia Historical magazine Vol. 56 page 382.
Thomas Jefferson wrote to William Small on May 7, 1775. William was an educator at William and Mary College in Virginia.

The Virginia Magazine Vol. 66 p134
William Small, a scholar, was a friend and educator of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson studied under Small and George Wythe (law) at William and Mary, and corresponded with him on numerous occasions.
George Wythe was the first professor of Law at William and Mary, member of the House of Burgesses (1754-55, 1758-68) Wythe was judge of the Virginia Court of Chancery from 1778 to 1786 and chancellor of the state of Virginia after 1786.
William and Mary College had a very stormy beginning, and at times, educators invited to teach elsewhere. Upon one occasion, they were down to only two professors, one being William Small.

Virginia Magazine Vol. 99, p.145. William Small taught mathematics, along with his duties as professor of philosophy, due to the departure of another educator. "Everyone acquainted with Thomas Jefferson's life knows that his stay at Wm. & Mary important because of William Small who taught mathematics, moral Philosophy, and Science. For all practical purposes, Small was the college for Jefferson and was his only teacher during most of his time as student. From Small Jefferson received friendship, an abiding love of science, and an introduction to the social circle of Governor Francis Fauquier. (1) There he met, among others, George Wythe, who became his friend and mentor and whom he came to revere as "one of the greatest men of the age."(2) To these associations, he said, he "owed much instruction."(3)

Jefferson's education during his formative years was thus largely extramural. The college has little to do with his tuition; indeed, during the time Jefferson was in Williamsburg, the institution presented a sorry spectacle.
It was repeatedly disrupted by bitter internal and external quarrels, discredited by disorderly, drunken, and licentious clergymen-professors, and embarrassed by a bibulous president who died a disgraced drunkard not long after Jefferson arrived. (4) No wonder he had a low opinion of what was technically his alma mater or that years later he proposed a drastic reorganization of the college to the General Assembly.

(1Dumas Malone, Jefferson and His Time (6vols.; Boston, 1948-81), 1:52-55, 59-60; Thomas Jefferson, "Autobiography," in Andrew A. Lopscomb and Albert Ellery Bergh, eds,. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (20 vols.; Washington, D. C., 1904-5), 1:3-4

(2) Thomas Jefferson to Ralph Izard, 17 July 1788, in Julian P. Boyd et al., eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography," p.4.

(3) Jefferson, "Autobiography," p.4

(4) J.E.Morpurgo, Their Majesties' Rotal College: William and Mary in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Washington, DC 1976), pp.119-29; Malone, Jefferson, 1:52; Daniel Mack Hockman, "The Dawson Brothers and the Virginia Commissariat, 1743-1760" (Ph.D.diss., University of Illinois, 1975), pp268,273,276

The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography Vol. 99 No. 2 (April 1991)

Jefferson wrote to Small, May 7, 1775, "Within this week past there have been at least 10,000 men in arms in this colony, from whom Ld Dunmore was in the last danger. Some of them had got within 16. miles of the capitol before the intercessions of the principal people could prevail on them to return to their habitations."


Excerpts from Social Life in Old Virginia by Philip Alexander Bruce
Chapter 12 P. 390 "Higher Institutions: William and Mary College" (continued)

p.717
"The explanation of this sympathetic attitude of Fauquir is to be found in his devotion to scientific studies, which were antagonistic to dogmas of all kinds-religious or governmental. He delighted in the company of Dr. William Small, the professor of Natural Philosophy at William and Mary, and at his table the youthful Jefferson, Page, Walker, McClurg and others of the Virginia youth learned their lessons in the rights of man."

Marischal College, Aberdeen Scotland
Dear David Craig,

Thank you for your recent e-mail of the 24th of December concerning the above.

I have looked in our archives and there is not mention of either James or Alexander Small who may have graduated in the time period which you specified.

I have, however, taken the liberty of transcribing information about William Small from an article written by a previous archivist in our department:

In the last years seven enquiries about William Small have been received. On each occasion we were asked to confirm his graduation as a Master of Arts from Marischal College in 1755. The most recent enquirer explained the reason for his interest. Small, he claimed, has subsequently taught Thomas Jefferson in the College of William Mary in Viriginia. His influence has prompted Jefferson subsequently to admit that Small had 'fixed the destinies of my life'. Our modern sholar had followed the link and, seeing similarities between the American Declaration of Independece and the work of Small's former Aberdeen Professor William Duncan, suggested that Small was the channel through which Duncan's ideas had influenced Jefferson. In this case, fascinating though the possibilities were, the archives were unable to give confirmation without reference to other secondary sources. It is true that a William Small graduated AM from Marischal College in 1755, but we know nothing of his family background or career. It is also true that a William Small, apparently a practitioner in Birmingham, was granted an MD from Marischal College in 1765. Whether these entries refer to the same man is not recorded. For further information we must look to external biographical sources. These confirm the fact the Jefferson's friend was the same Dr William Small who settled in Birmingham in 1765 and who there became involved with the circle of men who founded the Lunar Society. Furthermore, they demonstrate that that this was the same William Small who received a medical degree in 1765 from the Alma Mater which had awarded him his AM in 1755. While the archival records could make only a limited contribution to the biographical study, the enquiry has proved a profitable one for us. Through the informaton provided by Small's biographers, we now know Small's date of birth, parentage and the names of his siblings, and can follow his career from Aberdeen with some assurance until his premature death in 1775. The pattern shown in this enquiry, that of meagre archival records who biographical significance only becomes apparent through external evidence, can be repeated many times in the enquiry files maintained by the department.

Johnson, Dorothy B., 'Registers, Receipts and Personal Reminiscences: Sources for Investigating the Student Membership of King's College and Marischal College, c. 1600-1860' Aberdeen University Review, Vol, LI (1985-86) p. 457

I hope this information helps and apologise that I cannot give you a more favouralbe reply than this but if you have any further queries then please get back in touch with me.

Regards,
Andrew Wiseman
Information Assistant

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