Montgomery-Humphreys County TN Archives Biographies.....Smith, Samuel L, 1875 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tn/tnfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com October 27, 2005, 1:37 am Author: Will T. Hale SAMUEL L. SMITH. The present superintendent of the Clarksville public schools is a school man who has been active in his work for twenty years, an experienced educator, with practical and progressive ideals, and keenly alive to the needs of modern education, and possessed of the ability to make the school serve its proper ends in the scheme of a twentieth-century society. The profession of the educator was never more important than at the present time, and it is the fortune of men like Mr. Smith to contribute no small share in the training of a new generation for the responsibilities of the coming years. Samuel L. Smith was born in Humphreys county, Tennessee, October 10, 1875, and his family has been identified with this state from the pioneer period. His parents were John and Ida P. (James) Smith, who were also natives of Humphreys county, the former born in 1852 and the latter in 1856. The paternal grandfather, Thomas Smith, was born in North Carolina, from which state early in life he came into Tennessee, where he spent the remainder of his career as a farmer. The maternal grandfather, Aaron James, a lifelong resident of this state, began his career as a teacher, later studied medicine, and for fifty-two years devoted his professional services to the young and old of Humphreys county. His death occurred at the advanced age of eighty-six. He served as a surgeon in the Civil war, and was held in one of the northern prisons for sis months. John Smith, the father, was educated in the public schools and his wife attended school at Charlotte, this state. He has been a substantial farmer all his life. He is a member of the Christian church, while his wife, who died in 1894, was a Methodist. Their family of eight children are named as follows: A. J. Smith, principal of the Tremble school in Nashville; Samuel L.; Calvin and Elmer, deceased; Anna, the wife of James Walsh, a resident of Kansas; Lena, a teacher in the Clarksville schools; Bertie, the wife of A. Murphy, of Bakerville, Tennessee; Tommie, the wife of A. Pinkerton, of Dickson. The teaching profession has thus recruited a number of its members from this family. Samuel L. Smith began his work as a teacher in summer schools in 1893 at the age of eighteen, and by private study and normal and university training has been constantly advancing his ability. His early education in the home schools he has supplemented by study in the normal at Dickson, at the Southwest Presbyterian University of Clarksville, University of Nashville, at Nashville, and later by special work in the University of Chicago, where he received a degree representing advanced pedagogic attainments in 1905. In 1900-01 he was principal of the McEwen College, was in the Petersburg schools a year, and was then principal of the Montgomery Academy at Clarksville five years. In 1907 he became the first principal of the new high school of Clarksville, and from that position was advanced by election in 1909 to his present important post as superintendent of the city school system. His present term expires in 1914. In 1895 Professor Smith married Miss Rosa E. Beasley. Her father, Riley Beasley, a native Tennesseean and long a prosperous farmer, is now living retired at Tennessee City. He is a veteran of the Civil war, in which he saw hard service and was several times captured. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two children, Marie and John B. The family are members of the First Christian church of Clarksville. Fraternally Mr. Smith affiliates with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being past grand of the Odd Fellows and past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias. He has taken an influential part in Democratic politics, and was manager of the campaign of Joe Byrns for congress, electing his man by a big majority. By his able work in the educational field his career would deserve all the praise to be bestowed upon successful effort, and it is pleasing to record the additional fact, not always true of the educator, that be has acquired a fair share of material prosperity. He is the owner of a farm in Humphreys county, and is also a stockholder in the Southern Trust Company of Clarksville. Additional Comments: From: A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans : the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities by Will T. Hale Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1913 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/tn/montgomery/bios/smith251nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/tnfiles/ File size: 5.0 Kb