Elizabeth Bray Allen Smith Stith (1692 - 1774)

Isle of Wight County

Planter and Philanthropist

Elizabeth Bray (ca. 1692–by February 22, 1774) grew up near Williamsburg and, unlike many young women at the time, learned to read and write. She married Arthur Allen in 1711 and after his death sixteen years later she managed his Surry County plantation and large brick home that later became known as Bacon's Castle. In order to secure the property that she had inherited for herself and her children, in 1729 she entered into a marriage contract with Arthur Smith. In 1753 Elizabeth Smith established a £140 trust fund to create a free school for six poor boys and girls in Smithfield. She named the trustees and gave directions for the construction of the building. She specified that boys would study reading, writing, and arithmetic for three years and that girls would study reading and writing for two years. After their schooling the boys would be apprenticed to learn a trade and the girls would learn about household matters from local women.

After her third marriage early in the 1760s, Elizabeth Stith continued her interest in the school. When she wrote her will, she provided for the education of a goddaughter and left £120 and the remainder of her estate to the Smithfield school, which continued to operate at least until the Revolutionary War. She was a wealthy woman with personal property valued at £350, including five enslaved laborers, when she died shortly before her will was proved in the Surry County Court on February, 22, 1774.


2015 Virginia Women in History honoree, Library of Virginia.

Image Courtesy of the Library of Virginia.