Ralph Parsons Smith

As printed in 1904

REV. RALPH P. SMITH.

Rev. Ralph Parsons Smith, rector of St. Thomas church (Episcopal) at Sioux City, was born in Granville, Licking county, Ohio, July 10, 1868. His paternal grandfather, David Smith, came from Yorkshire, England, to America in early life, and Charles B. Smith, father of Rev. R. P. Smith, was born in New York city. He became an attorney at law and practiced his profession until 1863, when, responding to his country's call for aid, he enlisted at Springfield, Illinois, for service in the Union Army, becoming a member and second lieutenant of the Sixty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He won promotion from time to time and when mustered out was serving with the rank of colonel. He was captured while serving on detail duty after the battle of Vicksburg and was sent to Andersonville, where he remained until exchanged. He died in September, 1874, at the age of thirty-five years. He adhered to the faith of the Church of England, to which his ancestors had belonged, and his wife was also a member of the Episcopal church. She bore the maiden name of Caroline Parsons and was a descendant of one of the passengers on the Mayflower. Her father, Ralph Parsons, was a merchant and married Laura Case. There was but one child born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Ralph Parsons. Ten years after the death of her first husband Mrs. Smith became the wife of Benjamin F. Thomas, head professor of physics in the Ohio State University, and by that union there were three children.

In early boyhood Rev. R. P. Smith attended a private school in Granville, Ohio, continued his studies in the academy there, of which he is a graduate, and afterward entered Denison University, in which he was graduated on the completion of a classical course in iSSS. He spent a year in the engineering service of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company in Washington and afterward became connected with the Associated Press, acting as correspondent in the house of representatives at Columbus, Ohio. He then turned his attention to educational work as assistant superintendent of a Young Ladies' Academy at St. Joseph, Missouri, where he remained for two years, after which he taught in the Morgan Park Academy, at Chicago, Illinois, for a year. At the same time he studied for the ministry in the University of Chicago. In that city he founded the South Side Academy, which he conducted for three years, teaching dead languages and natural sciences. At the same time he pursued post-graduate work in the University of Chicago.

In 1894 Rev. Smith went abroad, spending a year in Europe, during which time he was largely engaged in study in Leipsic and other centers of learning. While there he was offered an assistant professorship in German in the University of Illinois, at Champaign, and accepting this served in that capacity for three years. Mr. Smith was pursuing his studies with the intention of entering the medical profession or the ministry, and deciding upon the latter he was confirmed by Bishop Vincent in 1897 and became a candidate for holy orders. He entered the Episcopal Theological School at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was graduated in 1898. He took his canonical degrees at Columbus, Ohio, and was ordained to the priesthood in St. Paul's church, at Cincinnati,

As printed in Past and present of Sioux City and Woodbury County, Iowa (1904). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.