Madison-Oglethorpe County GaArchives News.....ROMANCE IN LIFE OF COL. JAMES M. SMITH IS RELATED November 28, 1929 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Christine Crumley - Brown http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00013.html#0003050 January 15, 2006, 10:50 am Banner Herald November 28, 1929 ROMANCE IN LIFE OF COL. JAMES M. SMITH IS RELATED By T. Larry Gantt The last issue of Cotton Oil News of Dallas, Texas contains the following article on the late Colonel James M. Smith: "SMITHSONIA, Ga. -- James M. Smith, of this place, who died about ten years ago leaving an estate of many millions of dollars, and a forty-mile railroad in Oglethorpe County, had 25,000 acres of land, most of which he planted to cotton every year. On his plantation, he had 400 fine mules, every one of which he knew by name. "Discussing the immigration question one day with some friends, he pointed to a pair of the finest young mules--They were daisies--and said: "There is the kind of immigrants we need." We will add that Colonel Smith had names for every head of cattle he owned, as also hogs-- He said it was necessary that a former name his live stock, to keep a proper record of them. The paper, in publishing the romance connected with this great bachelor, had blended two instances in the life of Colonel Smith and is altogether in error. the writer has heard Colonel Smith several times tell about his little love affair. The lady was a Miss Binns of Wilkes county, who was doubtless a member of the Binns family now manager of the Holman Hotel. His courtship had not proceeded far enough for him to ask the consent of her parents, and no member of the Binns family ever worked for Colonel Smith or lived with him. The father of the young lady was a large and well to do planter, in a highly prosperous condition, and had no occasion to borrow money or seek outside work. The writer in The Cotton News says: " Mr. Smith fell in love with the beautiful daughter of a rich neighbor, but when he asked for her, the father objected because he was ' too poor ' for his daughter. " Mr. Smith, who was then very poor and had just a few acres, in anger told him that in a few years, " my calf pasture will be bigger than all the land you have got. " After 20 years afterward, Mr. Smith had become very wealthy and the neighbor who refused his daughter to him, died almost penniless, and the daughter, having married a rich young planter in the meantime, became a widow but her estate did not pan out much, and Mr. Smith took her son to look after his office and the financial end of his huge operations. " When Mr. Smith died ten years ago, that young man was his lat__ice who fell in love with Mr. Smith, depended on his judgment and in the later years of his life, never made a business move without consulting him first. He left this young mad a large part of his estate when he died. " When Colonel Estell, owner of The Savannah News, was making his first campaign for governor, he spent several days with Colonel Smith who was his supporter. Colonel Estill had recently taken his second wife, Miss Hill, a niece of Colonel Hill who once lived in Athens, and whose daughter married Bill Vail of Elberton. One night Colonel Estill told Colonel Smith that he should marry and have a lady to preside over his home. Colonel Smith replied that it was the greatest mistake of his life not marrying when a young man, but at his age, with his fixed habits and surroundings, any desirable woman who would marry him would do so because of his wealth and he did not want one. Smith went on to say that a wife he would have to buy. __ marriage was the most serious problem in a person's life and should not be entered into without the most careful thought and consideration. To have a happy and contented life, the contracting party should be near the same age and their habits, tastes and all else should blend as near as possible. Colonel Smith then said that he never truly loved by one woman who was his ideal of what a wife should be. When a young man in his late teens he fell in love with a young girl, a daughter of a well-to-do neighbor, in far better condition than his own family. She was well educated and refined and in their school days she seemed partial to him, Colonel Smith said from his boyhood days he always looked ahead before taking any important step. There was nothing like an engagement between the two, but he knew that before marriage he must get an education and be in a position to support her in the manner in which she was accustomed. He intimated as much to his sweetheart and he thinks it was mutually understood that some day they would be married. At the time he had attained his eighteenth year, and going to his father asked him that he give him his freedom that he might attain a collegiate education and get a start in life. He went to East Tennessee where he heard of a college where a young man could work hi way through and get an education. It took him five years to graduate as he had to labor half of his time to pay expenses. He stood near the head of his graduation class. He began peddling over the country, living hard and saving every copper, until he had enough to make the first payment on four hundred acres of land, on which tract he lived and died. Colonel Smith said for several years he had a hard time and would have gone to the wall when the father of John and Frank Holder, of Jackson county, loaned him two thousand dollars on his unsecured note. By the time he got in a position to properly provide for a wife the first and only girl he ever loved had married a fine man and prosperous farmer in Wilkes county. Colonel Smith said from that time on he never gave women or marriage a thought, devoting his time to making a success of his business and which he did, leaving a fortune of two and a half million dollars. Colonel Smith added that he advised every young man to select some good and industrious girl, marry early and not emulate his example. The young man who worked for Colonel Smith looked after his farm and died in the prime of life was not the son of his old sweetheart, but the son of a half brother, George Smith. Bob Smith married a Miss Heard of Wilkes county, and in a will found among Colonel Smith's old papers Bobbie Smith's wife and daughter inherited the greatest part of Colonel Smith's fortune. Colonel Smith had another favorite nephew, who lived and died at his home, named John Smith, son of another half brother. If we are not mistaken, the husband of his old sweetheart left a handsome property." File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/madison/newspapers/romancei999gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 7.0 Kb