George Cornelius Smith (Coahoma County)
State Senate: 1874-1875
Born: October 5, 1847 in Independence, MO
Served briefly in the 1st Regiment of Kansas Infantry. Graduate of Oberlin College. Married Jennie E. Coburn in Lorain County, OH, in 1874. Preceded Blanche K. Bruce as Bolivar County’s superintendent of education (1874-1878). Resigned his seat in the Senate in June 1875 and had to flee the state in October because of violence.
Spent later career working at the Treasury Department. Listed as white on the 1900 census in Washington, DC with Jennie and a daughter, Pearle. Jennie is listed as a widow on the 1910 census and died in 1924. Pearle worked as a clerk and stenographer in government offices. Jennie and Pearle were always recorded as white women on the census.
This page was last updated on January 16, 2026.