Illegitimate Englishman donated millions to U.S.: Which museum bears his name?

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11-22-2009 @ 3:39PM

James said...

This is a fascinating story and there's much more to it. For example, his father married into the famous Percy family and abandoned his own name to adopt that of Percy as the Duke of Northumberland. James Smithson carried his mother's married name, Macie throughout most of his life, but for some reason took his father's name later. I have always found it interesting, why I don't know, that if tradition had taken its course, one of the most historic aristocratic families in England would currently be called Smithson in the Percy line, because the male line had ended before the Smithson/Percy marriage, and the famous American institution would be called the Macieian Institution. Weird, huh? The whole story of his life would make a great movie.

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