Bolton Smith
{{Short description|American lawyer, investment banker, and philanthropist (1861–1935)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Bolton Smith
| image = Bolton Smith (1861-1935).jpg
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = July 25, 1861
| birth_place = Indianapolis, Indiana, US
| death_date = March 27, 1935 (aged 73)
| death_place = Washington, D.C., US
| resting_place = Elmwood Cemetery (Memphis, Tennessee)
| resting_place_coordinates =
| other_names =
| known_for = Boy Scouts of America
| occupation = Lawyer, Banker, Philanthropist
| title =
| networth =
| boards =
| spouse = Grace Carlile
| children = 2
| signature =
| footnotes =
}}
Bolton Smith (July 25, 1861 – March 27, 1935) was an American lawyer who was an early pioneer in the U.S. Scouting movement.
Personal life
Born in 1861 in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Francis Smith and Sarah Smith, received his early education in Germany and Switzerland. After the death of his mother, he was raised by his maternal grandmother, poet Sarah T. Bolton. {{Cite book |last1=James |first1=Edward T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0IUYAAAAIAAJ |title=Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary |last2=James |first2=Janet Wilson |last3=Boyer |first3=Paul S. |publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |year=1971 |isbn=9780674627314 |volume=1 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=191–92}} He graduated from American Central Law School in 1882, and also studied law at University of Virginia.
In 1889, he married Grace Carlile. They had two children, Louise Bolton-Smith (1891–1914) and Carlile Bolton-Smith (1902–2001). {{Cite news |title=Carlile Bolton-Smith Lawyer for Federal And Hill Offices |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2001/10/12/carlile-bolton-smith-lawyer-for-federal-and-hill-offices/950a7898-b0ec-4016-89ad-0fa748f95519/}}
Professional life
Professionally, Bolton Smith practiced law with the firm Caldwell & Smith. He was a trustee for George Peabody College, a teachers college in Nashville, Tennessee.
He was a mason; and a member of the Nashville Business Men's Club, the Tennessee Law and Order League, {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Fl68-GFNsYC&dq=Camp+Bolton+Smith+tennessee&pg=RA9-PA31 |title=Christian Advocate |date=1920-03-05 |volume=81 |page=319}} and the Episcopal church.
Scouting
File:FDR Congratulates Boy Scouts on the 25th Anniversary of their Founding.jpg (seated), Colin H. Livingstone and James E. West, 1935]]
On February 22, 1916, with Scout Executive Edward Everett, Smith led the effort as Council President to organize the Chickasaw Council of the Boy Scouts of America. {{Citation |last=Chickasaw Council |title=Gordon Morris Biography |url=http://www.kiakimaalumni.org/historical-resources.html |year=1959 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305131333/http://www.kiakimaalumni.org/historical-resources.html |publisher=Dalstrom Papers, Special Collections, University of Memphis |access-date=2016-04-22 |archive-date=2017-03-05 |url-status=dead}} On April 11, 1916, Smith purchased the land which would become Camp Kia Kima. {{Cite web |title=On this date 100 years ago ... |url=https://www.facebook.com/kiakima/photos/a.745486242146853/1256774451018027/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220528050553/https://www.facebook.com/kiakima/photos/a.745486242146853/1256774451018027/ |archive-date=May 28, 2022 |access-date=2016-04-11 |website=Kia Kima Scout Reservation |via=Facebook |url-status=live }}
Based on his work in Memphis, Smith was influential in the creation of the BSA's "National Committee on Inter-Racial Activities." This committee coordinated the creation of African American Scout troops. For this he was elected a national vice-president. {{Cite book |last=Dowdy |first=G. Wayne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NuV2CQAAQBAJ&dq=Bolton+smith%2C+Memphis+biography&pg=PA26 |title=On This Day in Memphis History |date=2014-03-18 |isbn=9781625845917}} For his contributions to Scouting, he was awarded the Silver Buffalo Award. {{listref|a}}
Camp Bolton Smith operated by the Piedmont Area Council was named after Smith, in honor of his work to promote expanding Scouting in the African American community. {{Cite web |title=Segregated Scout Camps |url=https://scoutinghistory.org/lynchburg-council-piedmont-area-council/segregated-scout-camps/ |website=ScoutingHistory.org |date=February 16, 2018 |publisher=Scott Smith}}
See also
Notes
{{listref/reflist|liststyle=lower-alpha
|id1=a |ref1={{Cite web |title=Silver Buffalo Award Winners 1929–1926 |url=http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/awards/silverbuffalo/previouswinners/1929-1926.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622110117/http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/awards/silverbuffalo/previouswinners/1929-1926.aspx |archive-date=2011-06-22 |publisher=Boy Scouts of America}}
}}
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{Cite web |last=Goldberg |first=Barry |date=2020-02-25 |title=Who Belongs in the Boy Scouts? Philanthropy's Support for Black Scouting |url=https://resource.rockarch.org/story/who-belongs-in-the-boy-scouts |website=RE:source |publisher=Rockefeller Archive Center}}
- {{Cite book |last= Macleod |first=David I. |title=Building Character in the American Boy: The Boy Scouts, YMCA, and Their Forerunners, 1870-1920 |publisher=The University of Wisconsin Press |year=1983 | isbn = 978-0299094041 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fo2pyMMOejIC | page = 213}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{Cite web |title=Smith, Bolton |url= https://tngenweb.org/whos-who/smith-bolton |website=Who's Who in TN}}
- {{cite web |url= https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2021/02/23/black-boy-scout-troops-joined-in-scoutings-earliest-days-though-the-first-troop-is-difficult-to-pinpoint |title= Black Boy Scout troops joined in Scouting's earliest days, though the first troop is difficult to pinpoint |work = Bryan on Scouting|date= February 23, 2021 }}
- [https://histclo.com/youth/youth/org/sco/country/us/race/uss-race.htm United States Boy Scout: Race]
{{Scoutorg BSA}}
{{Scouting|founders}}
{{Authority control}}
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