Samuel jones smitherman 

Mr. Sam J. Smitherman died at his home in Troy at 12:05 Thursday morning from rheumatism of the heart.  For ten days Mr. Smitherman had suffered from an attack of rheumatism but for three or four days previous to his death he seemed improved and had been attending to business.

Mr. Smitherman was the owner of more real property than any other man in Montgomery county, owning about 12,000 acres and considerable town property.  He was founder and president of the Smitherman Cotton Mills, of Troy, which has been operatiing successfully and continuously since 1898.  He also owned and operated several farms in the county.  His estate, real and personal were valued at about $500,000.

Mr. Smitherman was nearing his sixty-first birthday being born in Montgomery county in 1854.  In 1874 he was married to Miss Jeanette Monroe, who survives him.  The children surviving him are as follows:

Mrs. Minnie Frye, Troy; Mrs. W.R. Royal, Fayetteville; Mrs. W.M. Taft, Mount Gilead; Mrs. J. Frank Hurley,; Mrs. J.C. Turley, Troy; Mrs. W.L. Trotter, Greensboro; Mr. W.H. Smitherman, Durham; Messrs. W. Guy Smitherman, J.S. Smitherman and Misses Mary and Grace Smitherman, Troy.

Also two sisters, Mrs. A.W.E. Capel, of Troy; and Mrs. W.H. Watkins, of Ramseur.

The funeral services were conducted Friday morning by his pastor, Rev. J.T. Draper, of the M.E. Church.  Mr. Smitherman's membership dates back among the oldest of those who have held their memberships there.  He was a man of large sympathies and perhaps will be more generally missed than any man in the county.