Smith, Stuart Robertson (1867–1937)

Stuart R. Smith, lawyer and Democratic politician, the son of Edward Willis and Jonnie (Robinson) Smith, was born in Tyler on October 6, 1867. He attended school in Smith County and was admitted to the bar in 1890. He served one term as district attorney for the Seventh Judicial District before moving to Beaumont about 1901, just before the oil boom transformed that town from a regional lumbering center to an oil-refining metropolis. There Smith built up a strong legal practice and rose to prominence in Democratic politics. He married Ida Jarvis on December 18, 1901. Smith served as a member of the Texas delegation in the 1912 Democratic national convention, which nominated Woodrow Wilson. He was also a delegate to the Democratic national conventions of 1916, 1920, and 1932. In addition he served as chairman of the 1926 state convention. Among his legal partners was Walter J. Crawford. Smith was a director of several businesses and of the First National Bank of Beaumont. He died at his Beaumont home on September 14, 1937.