Oct. 26, 1904
GEO. C. SMITH, OF MACON HAS HAD A NOTABLE CAREER
Macon, Ga., October 25 (Special)
The handsome new Presbyterian church at Milledgeville, Ga.., would probably have never been built, certain it is, so attractive a temple of worship could not have been reared, but for the handsome gift of George C. Smith, of Macon.
Mr. Smith was for four years mayor of Milledgeville. he has always taken and active interest in Sunday school work, and while a resident of that city was for 15 years superintendent of the Presbyterian Sunday school. he took quiet and active interest in the young men and women students at the Georgia Military college and the Georgia Normal and Industrial Institute for Girls. being impressed with the necessity for the solid groundwork of Christian education in character building, he sought to contribute in as large a measure as he was capable, to the moral and religious instruction of the youth of the state.
Though for a year Mr. Smith has been a resident of Macon, he still has an interest in the city that was for so man years his home, and though the headquarters of his cotton exporting house is here, he has a branch office in that city.
When the builders of the new Presbyterian church were encountering dark days in the zealous efforts to rear an ornate temple for divine worship, he came to the rescue very handsomely with a cash donation of $5,000 that insured the satisfactory completion of the handsome edifice.
Though the thirteenth child and born on the thirteenth day of the month, Mr. Smith has not only been very lucky himself, but has brought luck to others. He has crossed the Atlantic twelve times in the interest of his business, and will make the thirteenth voyage next summer, so he declares.
He was born in Charleston, S.C., May 13th, 1856. His forefathers there were English people, landowners of Bermuda, and settled in Charleston, S.C., in 1786. Mr. Smith's father, William J. Smith, was born in 1798 and was, therefore 68 years of age at the time of his thirteenth child's birth. In 1812 George C. Smith's grandfather was a leader of the forces that opposed the British army, and was publicly thanked by the city council of Charleston. In 1889 George C. Smith was married to Miss Charlotte Rudolph Smith, of Charleston.
He is a large exporter of cotton, handling something like 50,000 bales annually, is one of the largest stockholders of the Exchange bank of Macon, and one of Georgia's most progressive and successful business men.