SMITH, Thomas Rutland, Catahoula Parish, Louisiana Submitted by Mike Miller Source: Date: Aug. 2001 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Smith, Thomas Rutland, of Crowley, La., president of the Louisiana Oil & Mineral Co., and a prominent lawyer, was born Nov. 26, 1861, in Harrisonburg, Catahoula parish, La., and is a son of the late Judge Randolph G. Smith. The latter was a native of Savannah, Ga., born in 1821. Having been left an orphan, at an early age he came to Louisiana, where his guardian lived at New Orleans. His parents were from New York state, and were people of means and influence, the father being interested in a line of vessels plying between New York and Savannah. It was at the winter home of the family that Randolph G. was born. After a fitting preliminary education he finished his schooling at Centenary college at Jackson, La., in which so many prominent men of this state were fitted for the duties of life. He entered on the practice of law at New Orleans, but soon located at Harrisonburg, in Catahoula parish, where he became a leading lawyer. The only political office he filled was that of district judge for the district composed of the parishes of Catahoula, Franklin, Winn, Caldwell, and Jackson. He was associated at different times with such eminent jurists as Judge Oren Mayo, Judge William B. Spencer, of the Louisiana supreme court, and Hon. Charles J. Boatner. Randolph G. Smith married Miss Mary Rutland, of Caldwell parish, and they became the parents of 4 children: Howard, who died in infancy; Lulie, who passed away at the age of 15; Oren Mayo, cotton planter in Caldwell parish, and Thomas Rutland. In 1892 Judge Smith retired from his professional business, and thereafter lived in retirement on his plantation home until his death in 1902. His wife passed away Nov. 29, 1861. The Rutlands came to Louisiana in the early part of the 19th century from North Carolina. Thomas Rutland, whose wife was a Grayson, was a cotton planter in Caldwell parish and the estate, now owned by Thomas and Oren Smith, has been in the family for more than a hundred years. Thomas Rutland Smith was educated by private tutors and at Cooper institute, Lauderdale, Miss. He entered the University of Mississippi in 1878, was a classmate of United States Sen. Joseph Bailey, of Texas, and graduated in 1882 with the degree of bachelor of science. Next he matriculated in the law department of a branch of Transylvania university, at Lexington, Ky., and graduated in 1885. During 2 years subsequent to graduation he traveled in the West to recuperate his health, which had been impaired by too close application to his studies. Returning to Harrisonburg in 1887, he became associated with his father in the practice of law. In 1898 he moved to Crowley, and has resided there ever since. Mr. Smith was one of the organizers of the Crowley Oil & Mineral Co., of which he has been a director since its formation, and which for several years paid no dividends, but since 1906 has prospered and has divided among the stockholders the sum of $1,080,000. Mr. Smith is interested, also, in the Caddo oil fields. He organized the Louisiana Oil & Mineral Co., capitalized at $150,000, and of which he is president. Also, he is secretary of the Bisteneau Co. of Caddo and Webster parishes, which owns and controls 15,000 acres of land. In 1903 he formed a law partnership with W. J. Carmouche, the firm being Smith & Carmouche. In politics, Mr. Smith is a democrat, but has never sought nor held a public office. Feb. 24, 1903, he married Linda Lee Hill, daughter of F. B. Hill of Crowley. The children are four, named: Linda Lee, Thomas Rutland, Jr., Oren Mayo, and Sargent Prentiss Smith. Source: Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form, volume 3, pp. 739-740. Edited by Alcée Fortier, Lit. D. Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.