{"id":174,"date":"2018-07-10T18:48:03","date_gmt":"2018-07-10T23:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/?page_id=174"},"modified":"2026-02-03T09:57:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T15:57:51","slug":"smith","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/smith\/","title":{"rendered":"George Cornelius Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-133\" src=\"http:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/gcsmith.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"284\" height=\"407\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/gcsmith.png 284w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/gcsmith-209x300.png 209w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 284px) 100vw, 284px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>George Cornelius Smith (Coahoma County)<\/h2>\n<p><strong>State Senate:\u00a0<\/strong>1874-1875<\/p>\n<p><strong>Born:<\/strong> October 5, 1847 in Independence, MO<\/p>\n<p>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&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5049\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5049\" style=\"width: 499px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5049\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/georgesmith.png\" alt=\"Signature of George C. Smith\" width=\"499\" height=\"131\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/georgesmith.png 811w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/georgesmith-300x79.png 300w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/georgesmith-768x202.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 499px) 100vw, 499px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5049\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Signature of George C. Smith from an 1875 letter to A. K. Davis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6048\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6048\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/smith\/smithmar\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6048\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6048\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/smithmar-150x150.png\" alt=\"Marriage license, September 3, 1874\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/smithmar-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/smithmar-100x100.png 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6048\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marriage license, September 3, 1874\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6340\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6340\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/smith\/g-c-smiths-education-report\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-6340 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260114_095504-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Report on education in Bolivar County\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260114_095504-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260114_095504-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6340\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bolivar education report, 1874<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5052\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5052\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/smith\/smithletter-3\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5052\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5052\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/smithletter-150x150.png\" alt=\"Resignation letter, June 26, 1875\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/smithletter-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/smithletter-100x100.png 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5052\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Resignation letter, June 26, 1875<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2143\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2143\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/a-a-rogers\/rogers-2\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2143 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/rogers-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/rogers-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/rogers-100x100.png 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2143\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daily Mississippi Pilot, August 1, 1875<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2130\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2130\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/j-w-randolph\/resolution\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2130 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/resolution-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/resolution-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/resolution-100x100.png 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2130\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daily Mississippi Pilot, August 1, 1875<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2257\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2257\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/smith\/smith-2\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2257 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/smith-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/smith-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/smith-100x100.png 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2257\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daily Mississippi Pilot, October 10, 1875<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5079\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5079\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/smith\/smithletter-4\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5079\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5079\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/smithletter-1-150x150.png\" alt=\"Letter from George C. Smith to Governor Ames, Jan 29, 1876\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/smithletter-1-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/smithletter-1-100x100.png 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5079\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Letter to Governor Ames, Jan 29, 1876<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2259\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2259\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/smith\/smith2\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2259 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/smith2-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/smith2-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/smith2-100x100.png 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2259\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Canton Mail, February 5, 1876<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6055\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6055\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/smith\/smithaud79\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6055\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6055\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/smithaud79-150x150.png\" alt=\"Civil service record, 1879\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/smithaud79-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/smithaud79-100x100.png 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6055\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Civil service record, 1879<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6038\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/smith\/caldwellletter\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6038\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6038\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/caldwellletter-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"The People's Advocate, August 16, 1879\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/caldwellletter-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/caldwellletter-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">People&#8217;s Advocate, August 16, 1879<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6057\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6057\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/smith\/smithtreas\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6057\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6057\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/smithtreas-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Civil service record, 1885\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/smithtreas-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/smithtreas-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6057\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Civil service record, 1885<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6059\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6059\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/smith\/smithtreas2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6059\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6059\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/smithtreas2-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Civil service record, 1903\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/smithtreas2-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/smithtreas2-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6059\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Civil service record, 1903<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6043\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6043\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/smith\/smithbio\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6043\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6043\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/smithbio-150x150.png\" alt=\"Oberlin catalogue bio, 1908\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/smithbio-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/smithbio-100x100.png 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6043\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oberlin catalogue bio, 1908<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>George Cornelius Smith (Coahoma County) State Senate:\u00a01874-1875 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&#8217;s superintendent of education (1874-1878). Resigned his seat in the Senate in &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/smith\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;George Cornelius Smith&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":53,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"no","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-174","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6344,"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/174\/revisions\/6344"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}