Smith, Hannah Whitall (1832–1911)

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Smith, Hannah Whitall (1832–1911)

American religious leader and writer. Born Hannah Whitall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Feb 7, 1832; died May 1, 1911, in Iffley, near Oxford, England; dau. of Quakers, John M. Whitall (wealthy glass manufacturer) and Mary (Tatum) Whitall; sister of Mary Whitall Thomas (mother of M. Carey Thomas); m. Robert Pearsall Smith (brother of librarian Lloyd Pearsall Smith), in 1851 (died 1898); children: Nelly (died at age 5); Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946, English essayist); Franklin (died 1872, at 18, of typhoid); Rachel (died 1879, age 11); Mary Berenson (who m. Bernard Berenson); Alice or Alys Smith Russell (who m. Bertrand Russell); grandmother of Ray Strachey (1887–1940).

Wrote the religious classic The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life (1875); preached with husband in Germantown, Pennsylvania, then Millville, New Jersey; moved to England with family (1874) and continued evangelical work; also wrote The Record of a Happy Life: Being Memorials of Franklin Whitall Smith (1873) and The Unselfishness of God and How I Discovered It (1903).

See also Women in World History.

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Smith, Hannah Whitall (1832–1911)

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