Nathan Sidney Smith Beman, D.D., the fourth president of the Institute, was born in that part of Canaan, N.Y., which is now called New Lebanon, on November 26th, 1785. He was a son of Samuel and Silence (Douglass) Beman, his paternal ancestors being of German and his maternal ancestors of Scotch origin. When he was four or five years of age his parents removed to Hampton, Washington County, N.Y., then called Greenfield. Institute Archives and Special Collections, Rensselaer Libraries (viewed Nov. 24, 2008) http://www.lib.rpi.edu/dept/library/html/Archives/history/presidents/beman,nss.html
Leonard E. Wales was a lawyer in New Haven, Conn.
From the description of Isaac N. Wales letter, 1818. (University of Georgia). WorldCat record id: 276295551
