Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/425

 SMITH

SMITH

Chapel Hill, N.C., conducted by his father; re- moved with the family to Georgia in 1872 ; taught school at Waynesboro, Ga., and studied law in Atlanta, where he was admitted to the bar in 1873, when less than eigliteen years old. He was chairman of the Democratic exe- cutive committee of Fulton county, Ga., and advocated the lo- cation of the state capitol at Atlanta. He was a delegate to the Democratic state convention of 1883, where he secured the repeal of the two- (MMju \f^ynMC f |[ds rule in that body. His success at the bar was marked as is evidenced by his having been employed at the time he entered the cabinet on one »side of nearly every important case in At- lanta, both in the state and federal courts. In June, 1887, he organized a company to publish the Atlanta Evening Journal and served as presi- dent of the company, 1887-1900, making the paper the leading organ of tariff reform, and gaining for Grover Cleveland a victory in Georgia in 1893. He was president of the Young Men's Library of Atlanta, 1881-83, and of the Atlanta board of education for many years. He was married, Dec. 19, 1883, to Birdie, daughter of Oen. T. R. R. Cobb (q.v.). He was a delegate from Georgia to the Democratic national conven- tion of 1893, and led his delegation to support the ■candidacy of Ex-President Cleveland, Senator Patrick Walsh and Editor Howell being sup- porters of David B. Hill. President Cleveland made Mr. Smith secretary of the interior in his ■cabinet and he entered upon llis office March 7, 1893. Up to this time, Mr. Smith was scarcely tnown beyond the borders of his own state, and the country was surprised when his name was an- nounced for a cabinet officer, and the inquiry " Who's Hoke Smith? " was used by the opposite party to discredit the choice of the President. After a successful direction of the affairs of the department of the interior. Secretary Smith re- signed his portfolio, August 33, 1896. He did not differ with President Cleveland on vital princi- ples of legislation, but felt called upon, on account of the local condition in the South, to vote for William J. Bryan. He resumed his law practit'^e in Atlanta, extending his practice to important litigation in the South and elsewhere.

SMITH, Hosea Hildreth, educator, was born in Deerfield, N.H., Feb. 17, 1820 ; son of William

True and Martha (Ambrose) Smith ; grandson of William and Anna (True) Smith and of Jonathan Ambrose. He was graduated from Bowdoin col- lege, A.B., 1843, A.M., 18^45, and was president of Catawba college, N.C., 1850-56. He was married, May 19, 1853, to Mary Brent, daughter of Michael and Frances Hoke of Lincolnton, N.C. He was professor of modern languages in the University of North Carolina from 1856 until 1868, when the university was broken up by the provisional government and he removed in 1873 to Atlanta, Ga., where for several years he was connected with the public schools. He was called to organ- ize public schools in Houston, Texas, in 1877, and in 1879 lie was made president of the Sam Hous- ton Normal college at Huntsville, Texas, by Dr. Sears, manager of the Peabody Education fund. In 1888 he became literary editor of the Atlanta Journal which position he resigned in May, 1900. The honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by Baylor university, Waco, Texas, in 1880.

SMITH, Israel, senator, was born in Sheffield, Conn., April 14, 1759. He was graduated at Yale in 1781, removed to Rupert, Vt., and was ad- mitted to the bar. He was a representative from Rupert in the Vermont legislature 1785 and 1788- 91 ; a commissioner to close the controversy with New York in 1789; a member of the Vermont commission that ratified the Federal constitution; removed to Rutland in 1791 and was a repre- sentative from the western district of Vermont in the 2d, 3d and 4th congresses, 1791-97, being defeated in 1796 by Matthew Lyon (q.v.). He was elected a representative in 1797, and was appointed by the legislature chief justice of the supreme court of Vermont, serving one term. He was defeated in 1799 and re-elected in 1801, but declined to serve. He was the unsuccessful candidate for governor in 1801, was a representa- tive in the 7th congress, 1801-03, and U.S. senator from Oct. 7, 1803, to March 3, 1807, when he resigned to become fourth governor of Vermont, serving, 1807-08, and was defeated for re-election in 1808. He was a presidential elector in 1809. He died in Rutland, Vt., Dec. 7, 1810.

SMITH, James, signer, was born in Ireland about 1730. He came with his parents to the United States in 1739 ; worked on his father's farm on tlie Susquehanna river in Pennsylvania, and gained a fair education. He practised law in Shippensburg and York, Pa., and later engaged extensively in the manufacture of iron in York county. In 1774 he organized the first company of volunteers raised in Pennsylvania to oppose the government; was a member of the convention that refused to import goods from England, and a member of the committee of three that prepared instructions for the representatives to the general