TROUP COUNTY, GA - BIOS Rufus W. Smith Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Typed by Carla Miles Table of Contents page: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/troup.htm Georgia Table of Contents: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm Memoirs of Georgia, Vol. II, Atlanta, Ga., pages 928-930 Published by The Southern Historical Association in 1895 TROUP COUNTY Rufus W. Smith, president of LaGrange Female college, LaGrange, Troup Co., Ga., son of Ebenezer and Cynthia (Lewis) Smith, was born in Greene county, Ga., March 4, 1835. His paternal grandfather, George Smith, came from North Carolina to Georgia about 1788 in ox-carts and settled in the woods in what is now Lincoln county, when the Indians roamed the virgin forests hunting wild animals and other games with which the woods then abounded. Here he cleared a farm and made a home, encountering and enduring the privations, hardships and dangers incident to frontier life. Some years later he removed to Greene county, and lived to be one of its most substantial and respected citizens. The following interesting incident in the life of his grandmother Smith is not unworthy of permanent record here: When she was fifty years of age she gave birth to twin daughters, both of whom lived to be mothers of families, and on her one hundredth birthday were present at the family dinner. She lived to be one hundred and ten years. President Smith’s father was born in Lincoln county in 1791, where he grew to manhood. As work on the farm under the circumstances was an absolute necessity, his education was extremely limited. His maternal grandparents, Walker and Mary (Young) Lewis, were natives of Virginia, came to Georgia about the beginning of this century, and settled in Greene county, where, besides farming, he taught school many years. President Smith was reared on the farm, and what schooling he received was obtained at the “old-field” log schoolhouse of the period. When thirteen years old - in 1848 he went to school to Miss Frances A. Culver, walking three miles. It is a remarkable fact that this lady is still engaged in teaching in Hancock county, which has been her vocation during the entire interval. In 1850 he attended the Longstreet Institute in Coweta county, and in 1852 the academy at Greenesboro, Ga. In 1853 he entered Emory college, Oxford, Ga., from which he was graduated June 6, 1856, and on June 9 commenced teaching in Haygood academy, Atlanta. With the exception of one year, when he was in the Confederate service, he has been engaged in teaching ever since. He next taught seven months in Barnesville, Ga, which was followed by seven years’ service as professor at a leading college. Later he was elected to a professorship in Emory college, where he remained a term of years, and was then elected professor in Dalton Female college. In 1886 he was elected president of LaGrange Female college, an institution owned by and under the immediate control of the north Georgia conference, M.E. church south. Since his incumbency, and under his wise administration, the college has been wonderfully prosperous. When he assumed the presidency there were only seven boarding pupils, since which time the number has gone as high as 240. President Smith has devoted his entire life to teaching; no one in Georgia - if in the south - has done more for the cause of education, none excel him and none stand higher in the public estimation as an educator then he. Mrs. Smith also is a highly accomplished lady and teacher, who with her husband has an honorable and exceptionally successful experience of thirty- eight years. President Smith was happily married Dec. 2, 1856, to Miss Orean, daughter of Rev. Jeremiah D. and Mary J. (Jernigan) Mann, her father at the time one of the leading ministers in the state. Eight children have blessed this union: Euler B., professor of English in the college, possesses rare classical and linguistic attainments, has acquired distinction in Texas as a teacher and besides his profound knowledge of English and Latin, mastered the Spanish language during a year’s residence in Mexico; Cecil H., lawyer, Sherman, Tex., for many years county attorney; Hubert M., professor literary department; Alwyn M., vocal director; Clifford L., principal high school, LaGrange (for six years teacher of natural science in the college); Leon P., professor Latin and chemistry; Meidee, teacher instrumental music; Claire L., also teacher of music. Alwyn, vocal director, spent fifteen years and thousands of dollars to acquire proficiency and his wife (nee Laura B. Crain), also a teacher, took the second honor at the Boston conservatory. Euler B. has been president of the Georgia Teachers’ association, and his wife teaches geometry. The following orthographical triumph stands to the professor’s credit: At a spelling match in LaGrange a word was given out from Webster’s Blue Book Speller; he did not follow its orthography, and was called out. He seated himself under protest, afterward investigated the matter, corresponded with the publishers, and since 1886 the word has appeared as he spelled it. LaGrange Female college is now equipped equally to any in the state, is located in a city of unsurpassed healthfulness and under the administration of such eminent experienced educators as President and Mrs. Smith, aided by a family of such wonderfully endowed children and other excellent teachers, cannot but achieve the very highest success. President and Mrs. Smith are members of the Methodist church, and the school is conducted on a high religious plane.