TROUP COUNTY, GA - BIOS  Rufus W. Smith

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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.