SMITH, J. A.--The son of W. H. and M. A. Smith, was born in Jackson co., Alabama, Jan. 23, 1833. He made a profession of religion in his fifteenth year, and he commenced his studies with a view to the ministry. He was educated at Lebanon, Tenn., and was licensed and ordained by Tennessee Presbytery in 1858.

He preached for some time in Selma, Alabama, and in view of the demand for ministers he emigrated to Texas. He preached for Dr. T. B. Wilson, of Marshall, and also for Rev. B. Spencer, at Henderson. He designed settling in Starville, and some other congregations in Smith county, but he was taken ill, and after a short illness he died, in Jamestown, Texas, Dec. 11, 1860, of Typhoid Fever.

Rev. B. Spencer, of Henderson, Texas, writes as follows;--"In his appearance he combined the elegance of the polished and educated gentleman, with one of the meekest, gentlest, and most devout of Christian spirits. His pulpit exhibitions were fervent, chaste, and imposing, much beyond what is usual for one of his experience. He was a fine socialist, a warm-hearted, congenial spirit; and without wishing to pen an unmerited enconium, as my humble testimonial of the worth of Brother Smith, I may, however, be permitted to submit that he possessed by far more excellencies than fall to the usual lot of men. He was one of the rare specimens of his race, who seemed to be born to be good, and whose chief element was to do good."
[Source: The Presbyterian Historical Almanac and Annual Remembrancer of the Church, by Joseph M. Wilson , vol. 3-4, 1861-1862, pages 284-285]