SMOTHERMAN, J.R.--The son of William and E. (Dean) Smotherman, was born in Rutherford co., Tenn., in 1826.

He made a profession of religion in 1850, and joined Elk Presbytery the same fall; he immediately commenced exercising in public by way of prayer and exhortation. Such were his gifts that twelve months afterwards he was licensed and appointed to a circuit and travelled about twelve months in supplying destitute churches with the means of grace. He as then called to supply Liberty and Union Congregations monthly with preaching, at which time he was ordained by Elk Presbytery in 1853. He continued to preach to those churches until his death, which took place at his residence, near Middleton, Tenn., Dec. 19, 1860, of Typhoid Fever. He married Miss N. Holden, who with four children survives him.

Rev. G. P. Hastings, of Middleton, Tenn., writes as follows:--"He was a good preacher; those who knew him best loved him most; he was faithful in attending the judicatories of the church; his speeches and counsels in Presbytery were generally short and pointed; indeed, but few surpassed him, taking in consideration his chances, as he was without means or education, and encumbered with a family even before he professed religion. No brother possessed a greater missionary spirit than he did. Knowing him and his circumstances so well I have sometimes almost thought he gave too liberally, but 'the Lord loveth the cheerful giver.'"
[Source: The Presbyterian Historical Almanac and Annual Remembrancer of the Church, by Joseph M. Wilson , vol. 3-4, 1861-1862, page 285]