The National cyclopædia of American biography : being the history of the United States as illustrated in the lives of the founders, builders, and defenders of the republic, and of the men and women who are doing the work and moulding the thought of the present time, edited by distinguished biographers, selected from each state, revised and approved by the most eminent historians, scholars, and statesmen of the day . and higherastronomy. His studies were prosecuted at theFriends academy, Westtown, Pa., and a classicalschool in Germantown. Ambition to excel in hisstudies, with its inevitable ove
The National cyclopædia of American biography : being the history of the United States as illustrated in the lives of the founders, builders, and defenders of the republic, and of the men and women who are doing the work and moulding the thought of the present time, edited by distinguished biographers, selected from each state, revised and approved by the most eminent historians, scholars, and statesmen of the day . and higherastronomy. His studies were prosecuted at theFriends academy, Westtown, Pa., and a classicalschool in Germantown. Ambition to excel in hisstudies, with its inevitable overwork, affected hishealth, and he was ordered to leave his studies whenbut fifteen years of age. The succeeding four yearswere spent in outdoor life at home. At the age oftwenty-one he went to Philadelphia, where, underthe instruction of Joseph Fox, a noted surveyor, hebecame an expert draughtsman. Being a superiormathematician, he made rapid progress as surveyorand engineer. In 1856 he plotted a district of WestPhiladelphia into streets, and soon after publishedthe first complete atlas of Philadelphia, which be-came the standard authority for many years. Fiom1858-78 he was a member of the board of city sur-veyors, and from 1873 until his resignation in 1893,he filled the responsible position of chief engineerand surveyor of Philadelphia. By reason of hislarge experience, his services during so long a period. were necessarily of great value to the city, whichembraces within its corporate limits 129 square improvements and constructions prosecuted byMr. Smedley cost many millions of dollars, and,among other things, include the building of the Pen-rose ferry bridge; the iron cantilever bridge at Mar-ket street; the Fairmount bridge ; the new Walnutstreet bridge, the iron work of which is 2,400 feetlong, and the Girard avenue bridge. All these crossthe Schuylkill river, but in the list of his construc-tions are numerous bridges crossing smaller streets,canals, and railr
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