Lucius Ernest Smith’s Papers and Photographs: Held in the Presbyterian Church Historical Society’s Archives
Dr. Lucius Ernest Smith: 1878-1955 (Maternal Granduncle)
I was thrilled to discover that Lucius Ernest Smith’s papers, including family photos and correspondence, have been preserved in the archives of the Presbyterian Church’s Historical Society in Philadelphia. I now have a reason to visit Philadelphia!
So who was Lucius, and why were his papers important enough
to be preserved by the Presbyterian Church?
Lucius, known to his siblings as Ernest, was Rev. Willis
Smith’s third son. He was born in Owensboro, Kentucky on October 6, 1878. In an
earlier blog post, I wrote about his adventure driving a six-horse team back to
Kentucky from Ashville, North Carolina after his mother’s death from
tuberculosis. He crossed the Appalachians in February--a fool-hardy but brave
endeavor.
He followed his father and some siblings to the Oklahoma
Territory where Willis served as a missionary. Ernest apparently tried to
homestead in Oklahoma, but ended up returning to Kentucky to assist his
brother, who was a teaching missionary in the mountains. He completed college
at age thirty-three and then entered Johns Hopkins Medical School, graduating
as an MD at age thirty-seven.
He served as a medical missionary in Africa for six years
under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church, He served as a lecturer and
fundraiser for the church for a few years after he returned to the United
States from Spanish Guinea (now known as Equatorial Guinea).
Due to his service to the church, the Presbyterian Historical
Society was a logical place to donate his papers and records. There are seven
boxes of materials, and the collection includes some of his diaries. Ernest
kept a diary during his wagon journey from North Carolina. I would love to discover
whether that particular diary is in one of those boxes.
The materials held in the Presbyterian archives would all be
fascinating, and would provide amazing details about Ernest’s incredible life.
I will write a more comprehensive biographical sketch about Ernest in a future
blog post.
Sources:
https://researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/archiveComponent/16835766
Guide to the L.E. Smith Papers. Smith, L. E. (Lucius
Ernest), 1878-1955. Call No. RG 216. Inclusive Dates 1898-1959. Presbyterian
Historical Society, 425 Lombard Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147-1516 USA. https://pcusa.org/historical-society/collections/research-tools/guides-archival-collections/rg-216
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