The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1934-03-02
THE NAME IS SMITH"

Indiana who was Lincoln's secre-
tary of the interior from 1861 to
1863. then Hoke Smith of Georgia
who held the same portfolio under
Cleveland from 1893 to 1896. An
other member Of the family, Charles
Emory Smith. was postmaster
general under Mckinley from 1898
to 1901 and held over in that posi-
ton under Roosevelt until 1902.
AS for the Governor Smiths, they
have been legion. Vermont has had
three; Georgia, Montana, New
Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vir-
ginia, two each; and Alabama, Con-
necticut. Maine, Maryland. New
York. North Carolina and Wiscon-
sin, one each.
Perhaps the most picturesque of
them all was William extra
Billy") Smith, twice governor of
Virginia (1S46-49, 1S63-65), briga-
der general in the Confederate
army, whose nickname of Extra
Billy" came about in this way: In
his early manhood he established a
line of stage coaches through Vir-
ginia, the Carolinas and Georgia on
which he contracted to carry the
United States mail. Because OF his
: demand for extra compensation Tor
that service he was given the sobri-
quet which chung to him throughout
his life.
Extra Billy" was not the only
Smith who became general dur
ing the War Between the States. In
fact, a pretty lively little civil war
could have been fought between the
General Smiths in the Union and
Confederate armies without the
help of anyone else. The Union
army had no less than eight Major
General Smiths and twenty-three
Brigadier General Smiths, and in the
Confederate army were three major
generals and four brigadier generals
of that name. But the most distin-
guished General Smith in either
army was Edmund Kirby Smith,
who rose through the ranks of brig
adler general, major general, lieu
tenant general to general in the
Confederate army.
An exploring trip through the
many pages devoted to the Smiths
in any encyclopedia of biography re-
yeals any number of interesting
men and women Of this family
name. There was Charles Henry
Smith, the Georgian, who made his
pen name of bill Arp" famous
with his humorous stories of the
Confederacy. There was that earlier
humorist, Seba Smith, Yankee
from Maine, who, as major Jack
Downing of Downingville" was
self-appointed adviser to Presi-
dent Andrew Jackson, and aided in
making some political history with
his satirical letters. Incidentally,
his wife, Elizabeth Cakes Smith,
was not only writer, too, but she
was the first woman in this coun-
try that ever appeared as public
lecturer"
Julia Evalina Smith and her sis
ter, Abigail H. Smith Of Connect
cut were active and early woman
suffragists, Julia becoming known
throughout the country as one Of
the five glastonbury sisters" who
resisted the payment of taxes be-
cause they were denied suffrage and
submitted to the sale of their prop
erty by the town authorities rather
than obey the law. That was near
ly century ago, in the days when
woman's place was definitely 'in
the home" and long before there
were "suffragettes."
Most of the present genera
ton Of Americans know F. Hopkin-
son Smith as novelist and author
of caleb West" Colonel Carter of
Gainesville" 1.-THE Tides of Barne-
gat,' etc., but how many know that
he also won distinction as an artist
and an engineer. and that, in the
latter role, he was the man who
built the foundation for the Statue
of Liberty in New York harbor?
And how many know that another
man named Smith added the word
telegram" to the English Ian
guage? He was Erasmus Peshine
Smith, New York journalist, edu-