SMITH, BENJAMIN WILSON: 1830-1921.
Benjamin Wilson Smith , son of Abel Timothy and Deborah Spencer Wilson Smith, was born in Harrison County, Va. (now W. Va.) on January 19, 1830. He was educated in the common schools and in 1846 moved to Indiana , where he began teaching school in White County. He later taught in Jasper, Warren, and Fountain counties. In 1851 he entered De Pauw University, receiving the A.B. degree in 1855 and the A. M. in 1858.
For two years after his graduation he taught at Cornell College in Iowa , then returned to Indiana as head of Manchester Collegiate Institute. From 1858 to 1860 he was superintendent of schools at Aurora, Ind., and during this time was licensed to preach by the Methodist Church. In 1862 he became professor of ancient languages in Valparaiso Male and Female College and two years later was made president of the institution. From 1867 to 1869 he was a Methodist pastor in Terre Haute , being forced to retire because of ill health.
He moved to Brookston, Ind., in 1877, where he took charge of the academy and preached. For several terms he served as a member of the Indiana State Legislature, and from 1890 to 1893 he was postmaster at Lafayette, Ind. In 1909 he was state examiner of public accounts.
Mr. Smith married Ruth Ann Rankin of Greencastle, Ind., on Nov. 27, 1855.
Information from Representative Men of Indiana, Vol. 11, and De Pauw University's Alumnal Record, 1920.
page: 293[View Page 293]- Sketch of the Battle of Tippecanoe, Fought Nov. 7,
1811. Indianapolis, 1911.
