John Blair Smith (June 12, 1756 – August 22, 1799) was born in Pequea, Pennsylvania Colony, the son of the Rev.

Like his older brother, John Blair Smith was valedictorian of the Class of 1773 at the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University.

[1] He was recruited at the age of 19 to come to Virginia as a tutor at the new Hampden–Sydney College, then being founded by his elder brother, Rev.

While a tutor at the College, John Blair Smith was chosen in 1777 as a captain of a company of students (about sixty-five total) during the American Revolutionary War, assigned to the defense of Williamsburg.

The younger Smith, who was ordained and elected president of Hampden–Sydney on the same day his brother resigned, managed to revive the flagging enterprise, and, with the assistance of Trustee Patrick Henry, then Governor of Virginia, persuaded the General Assembly of Virginia to grant a charter in 1783 – bestowing the power to grant degrees and establish a self-perpetuating Board.