“the true secret
of a useful
and honorable
and successful life.”
~ Richmond
College Messenger
John H. Smith was a “student of Richmond College.” He
was born in Georgia on July 18, 1858 and died in Lynchburg on July 20, 1880. He
is buried in Spring Hill Cemetery in Lynchburg, Virginia.
 |
The pencil marks located to the left of the star.
|
What struck me about
the grave is that Smith died young, which was not unusual for the time. He was
just 22 years old, and he passed away just two days after his birthday. Someone
actually worked out the math in pencil on the White Bronze grave. I’ll insert
my own eye-roll here. Don’t write on graves, people!
Had he been buried under any
other type of memorial, I probably would not have noticed the epitaph but I almost
always walk over to "white bronze" or zinc markers. This one has the
mark of the Monumental Bronze Company in Bridgeport, CT. These memorials were
marketed as being superior to stone in terms of durability; and even today, nearly
a century and a half later, they are easy to read and have lasted quite well
here in Virginia.[1]
Another part of the grave that struck me is that Richmond College is over 100
miles away from the grave and the University of Richmond is quite near my own
home so all that I learned from the grave led me to a bit of a mystery.
Attending Richmond College in the late 1870s and early
1880 would have been quite different from attending the university today. The
college opened in 1843 and during the American Civil War, the student body
formed a regiment for the Confederate army. The campus buildings were used for
war hospitals. And, like so many places in the South, Richmond College invested
in Confederate war bonds and was completely broke by the end of the war. Even more unsettling was that 1/5th
of the alumni and the student body had died in the war.[2]
I visited Spring Hill Cemetery and met John H. Smith, or rather his grave, a few weeks ago. Yesterday, I
sat down to write about one of the women buried there when I just could not
stop thinking about John H. Smith. Who was he? Why was he buried there when all the information on his grave mentioned nothing of him belonging in Lynchburg, Virginia?
I spent about four hours searching for
information yesterday and with such a common name and so little clues on the marker, I
could not find much at first. I could not find an
obituary or even a death notice on Newspapers.com; there was hardly any information on Ancestry,
except his parents' names. Find A Grave also was not much help.
I was about
ready to give up when I thought about the amazing archival collection at the
University of Richmond. I attended their graduate certificate program in Public
History and was fortunate enough to take courses with their archivists who have some of the coolest jobs around. I decided
to search the college's school paper, Richmond
College Messenger, from 1880... and thanks to "G." (I'm not
being secretive. This is how the piece was signed) who wrote the life story of the
young John Henry Smith who died far from home and away from school, I know how
he died and a bit of his character.
John Henry Smith was the son of Alfred Tate Smith and
China Ward Gregory Smith. He was the youngest son born on July 18, 1858 in
Gordon County, Georgia just before the American Civil War. He had one older
brother and four sisters. His father was a Major in the Confederate army. After
the war, the family moved to Titus County, Texas where the family would
cultivate a farm.
John Henry Smith attended Furman University, a private
liberal arts university in Greenville, South Carolina that was founded in 1826,
and then attended Richmond College beginning in September 1877. His academics
were recognized and “he gained promotions in the intermediate classes of Latin,
Greek and English, and the Second Junior Class of Mathematics” after just one
session at the school. By his second session, “he was a graduate in
Chemistry and Greek and promoted in Intermediate Mathematics.”[3] On June 17, 1880, Smith
earned diplomas in the schools of Latin, English, Moral Philosophy, and earned
a Bachelor of Arts or artium baccalaureus.[4]
While a student, he was described as having an active
mind. He was a member of the Philologian Literary Society and was known as a
great speaker. He was a member of the Kappa Alpha Fraternity. He was seen as a
faithful and good friend who encouraged his peers. “Pure in thought, word and
deed, he did not appear to suspect others of being different from what they
seemed.”[5] It was noted that he was
not impulsive but “calm and deliberate.”[6]
The evening of June 17, 1880, after receiving his diplomas,
he was struck with a fever. He had planned to visit with a friend in Prince Edward County,
which is between Richmond and Lynchburg, but since he was not feeling well, he
continued on to his brother’s home in Lynchburg arriving on June 22nd.
For a month, he remained sick at his brother’s home. Rev. W. R. L. Smith had
called a doctor and there were some instances where it appeared Smith was
improving. He had been a member of Clay Street Baptist church in Lynchburg and
continued to be in good spirits and faith while ill. He also did not appear to fear his death. He spent
his 22nd birthday in bed and then passed away on Tuesday morning,
July 20, 1880. His final words were reported:
“Yonder is Jesus opening the gates wider and wider for me to enter in…”
[7]
The author G. who wrote the description of John Henry
Smith concludes, “may we learn from him the true secret of a useful and
honorable and successful life.”
I am just so appreciative of archivists who scan
historical documents and make them available digitally. While some doubt anyone
else would want these old documents, here I am being so grateful to an unknown
archivist for saving the story about a student that many people loved a great
deal in July 1880. When we walk by monuments in cemeteries, we must remember
that they were not only intended as places for loved one to visit to grieve but
they were intended for us as reminders that these lives were significant. There
are so many stories in our cemeteries and I’m glad I have learned part of this
one.
[1] Rotundo,
Barbara. Monumental Bronze: a representative American company. In Cemeteries
and gravemarkers: voices of American culture, ed. R. E. Meyer. Ann Arbor,
Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1989. 263-291
[3] “John
Henry Smith.” Richmond College Messenger, Vol. VI, No. 2, Richmond, VA: November
1880), 15.
[4] “John
Henry Smith.” Richmond College Messenger, 15.
[5] “John
Henry Smith.” Richmond College Messenger, 16.
[6] “John
Henry Smith.” Richmond College Messenger, 16.
[7] “John
Henry Smith.” Richmond College Messenger, 17.
During the last full moon, the Buck Moon,
as summer was at its peak was the time to consider all that has been making me
anxious and blocking me from moving forward. I asked my life-long friend of 36
years and counting to come over during the full moon for us to make spell jars
to help with all my feelings about the pandemic and returning to face-to-face
work, which I absolutely do not want to do. During the last 515+ days, I have
llllooooovvvveeeeeddddd staying home. I have felt safer and more connected than
ever before. While I venture out to old cemeteries that are socially isolated
from humans, and I walk miles away from our home for exercise and renewal, I do
not encounter many people…and I prefer it that way. I think I would make a
pretty good hermit actually. 
