Morning journal and courier., 1884-05-10
The Late Truman Smith.

The Late Truman Smith.
The obsequtss-A Large COncOurse of
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Men In Attend
ance-Mr. Smiths Congressional Life
His InteErtty-Ris Ancestry.
The funeral of the late Truman Smith took
place on Wednesday afternoon from the
Presbyterian church in Stamford Rev Dr.
Lathrop and Rev. Mr.. Scoville officiated, the
former reading the service and appropriate
passages of Scripture. An efficient quartstte
choir sang appropriate selections of sac red
music. In the funeral party were ex-Gov-
ernors Minor and Andrews; Hon. George H.
Yeamens, ex-Minister to Denmark; General
L. A. Dickinson, postmaster of Hartford;
Horace Wells, Esq, Of Hartford; Nathaniel
Smith, Esq, brother of deceased, New
Haven; s. Hubbard Smith, eldest son
of deceased, New York; Hon. j. B. Ferris
Stamford; Hon. Samuel Fessenden, State at
torney for Fairfield county; Senator Edwin
l.. Scofield. Borough Judge Keller, Hon. J.
B. Curtis, Hon James H. OImstead, ex-State
attorney; Messrs. Nathaniel r. Hart, Clar-
ence L. Reid, George A. Hoyt, president
Pennsylvania Coal company, and Messrs.
Charles Nettleton and Cephas Brainard, at
torneys, New York; Hon. Levi Warner, of
Norwalk and many ladies and other personal
| relatives and friends of the deceased. The
| interment was made in Woodland cemetery.
The lineage of the late Senator Smith on
the mother side is easily traceable to Thomas
Leavenworth, who emigrated to this country
| from England about the year 1910. His
father was Phineas Smith, the oldest son of
| family, two of whose members became
| very distinguished at the bar and in public
life in Connecticut. One of them, the Hon.
Nathaniel Smith, of Woodbury., was a mem
Der of Congress from 1895 to 1889, and
Judge of the Supreme court from 1906 to
1919. Another brother. the Hon. Nathan
Smith, of New Haven, was a lawyer of high
distinction, and at the time of his death in
1886 was a member of the United. States
Senate from Connecticut. The eldest BROTH
er, Phiness, was farmer, and noted for his
intellectual ability. He married Deborah
Ann Judson in 1888, and they had six chill
dren of whom Truman, born in 1871, was
the oldest.
Clay and Webster were in the height of
their fame when Truman Smith sat with
them in the United States Senate. Mr..
Smiths notable speeches in Congress, aside
from his frequent participation in the debates
on less important matters, were as follows:
l. On removals from office, delivered March 81
2. On the compromise measures proposed by the
committee. of which Henry Clay was chairman, de-
g. On the French spo1iation-February 16 and IT,
1851.
A. On the proposition of Mr. Douglass to authorize
duties States
provement Of rivers and harbors-August %, 1852.
s. On the construction of a railroad from the Mis-
souri, to the Pacific coast-February II, 1850.
6. On the repeal CT the Missouri compromise-Feb-
ruary 10 and II, 1854.
All these speeches were marked by accu-
rate information, good sense and sound logic.
On the Pacific railroad question he said in
conclusion: ST demand the construction of
this railroad as asgreat American measure, as
one which is called for by many weighty
considerations, as necessary to enable this
government to exercise its proper functions
in time of peace, and Indispensable to both
sides of the continent in time of war, and as
adapted in a high degree to promote the sta
bility of our glorious Union and the prospect
ty of the whole people. Speaking on the
Missouri compromise, he pronounced the ut
ter impracticability of all attempts to per-
manently maintain an equilibrium between
the free and slave States, Thus was William
II. Stewards 'firrepressibIe conflict" antici-
pated by five years.
Again, in regard to civil service reform, of
which we hear SO much nowadays as if it
| were new political principle just conceived,
Mr. Smith early took stand in Congress
against the Jacksonian theory of ''to the VIC
| tors belong the spoils'' He declined the
Cabinet appointment profered by President
TAYLOR expressly on the ground that it might
| be popularity regarded as reward for politi-
cal services. Undoubtedly he was in posi-
ton at the time to make politics pay.
He had been chairman of the Wing
national committee, and con-
fessedly an influential leader and organizer.
His high sense of duty would not permit him
to make his relation to the public service the
means of personal aggrandizement In this
as in other respects his career furnishes a
worthy example to the young and aspiring
politicians of the present day.
Mr. Smith did not cease to take an active
interest and comprehensive views on public
questions especially those relating to moral
reform, until within few years
when his great age made serious
inroads upon his mental and physical forces. ]
For the last year or SO he has been conf1n-
ed to his house, his powers gradually but
surely Welding to the infirmities of advanc-
ing age, until the end came, Saturday even
ing May 8.
Mr.. Smiths private life was without blem-
ish, and his domestic relations fortunate and
happy, apart from the inevitable bereave-
ments of death. He was married June 2,
1882, at Litchfield to Maria Cook, by whom
he had three children, two of whom died in
infancy The survivor married Geo. A.
Hoyt ESQ of Stamford. November II, 1855
Mr. Hoyt is president of the Pennsylvania
Coal Co of New York, and the largest hold
er of real estate in Stamford. Mrs Hoyt is
noted not only in Stamford, but throughout
the State for her genuine Christian philan-
thropy, and her careless activity IN enter |
prises designed to promote the physical and |
moral welfare of others. MIR. Smiths first |
wife died at Litchfeld in the spring of 1S49. |
In November of the following year, he mar |
ried Mary Ann Dickinson, by whom he had |
six children. all boys. The two last were |
twins born August Z, 1868. One lived Ok. |
actly twelve months and the other twenty /
days. The eldest child died in 1856 at the /
age of four years. The three surviving |
children, now grown to manhood are Sam
uel Hubbard, Edward Dickinson and Robert |
Shufeldt. One is graduate of West Point, |
and now in the army with the rank of Second
Lieutenant; one lawyer in New York. and
one in business in the Lake Superior copper
mining region.
The Security Fire Insurance company of New Ha-
ven hAve appointed Fred n Tan their agent for
Gk.va R-wI luSNS HSrv