Husband of Theodosia Burr Smart.

The Directory of Deceased American Physicians, 1804–1929 (database on-line) gives this information:

Samuel J. Smart was born 1851 and died on March 9, 1925, in Logansport, Louisiana. He was an allopath practicing in Logansport. He graduated from Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans: University of Louisiana Medical Department, 1873. Cause of death was diabetes.


The 1900 federal census lists in Kimble County, Texas: Sam J Smart, 58 b LA in Nov 1841, physician; Theodosia Smart, 50 b LA in Dec 1849; John R Smart, 24 b Nov 1875, farm laborer; and Edmund E Smart 21 b May 1879, at school. Samuel and Theodosia had been married 25 years, and all 3 of their children were living. Also listed with the Smarts in the 1880 census, Vernon Parish, Louisiana, was son Murry B Smart, born in Louisiana about 1877.

By 1910, Dr. Smart, 58, druggist in a drugstore, was married to a much younger woman, Cora Wallace Smart, age 23, born in Texas. Her brother, Ked Wallace, 26, also lived with them and was a salesman in the drugstore. In 1930, the widowed Cora Smart, merchant, drugstore, continued to live on Second Street in Logansport.


From Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana: Comprising a Large Fund of Biography of Actual Residents, and an Interesting Historical Sketch of Thirteen Counties, Chicago: The Southern Publishing Company, 1890, pp. 283–284:

"S. J. Smart, M. D. Seventeen years devoted to the service of humanity sums up in a line the career, thus far, of Dr. S. J. Smart, who is one of the most successful and best known physicians of this section. He was born in Vernon Parish, La., in September, 1851, being a son of John R. and Louisa (Coward) Smart, the former of whom as a native of Georgia, born in 1807. When a child he was taken by his parents to Mississippi, where he was reared, after which he removed with them to St. Landry, now Calcasieu Parish, La., then to Vernon, where he has since lived. The father served as a member of the police jury here many years ago, was a representative of Sabine Parish in the State Legislature, and also in the Constitutional Convention of 1856, and was also State senator for a number of terms, during which time he held permanent positions on committees and made an enviable record for himself. Having been an extensive planter he lost heavily in slaves and otherwise during the war. He worked for wages when twenty-one years of age. Since the war he has regained much of his lost wealth. His views on nearly all subjects were decidedly original, and being of a fearless disposition he expressed his views boldly on all matters of importance, and carried his point, not only on the stump, but in the halls of the Legislature, being known as "the bull-dog of the treasury." He still takes an active part in politics as an advocate of democracy, but not as a candidate for office, and in 1886 "as chairman of the convention that nominated N. C. Blanchard for Congress. He is a son of John Smart, a Georgian, and in 1828 rode 100 miles from Bigwoods to Apolansas, to vote for Andrew Jackson. The family furnished several soldiers during the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Smart, our subjects's mother, is a Mississippian by birth, and is still living at the age of seventy-seven years. They have been married over fifty years, in fact married life has extended over sixty-one years and resulted in the birth of twelve children, two of whom died when quite young. All the sons have become well known men, and have been exceptionally successful in their different callings: ... Dr. S. J. Smart received the most of his education in Pleasant Hill High School and College, and afterward turned his attention to teaching, and during the time he was a pedagogue he devoted his leisure time to the study of medicine, but afterward became salesman and book-keeper for Smart & Cooper, at Leesville, La. In 1871–72 and 1872–73 he attended the Louisiana University at New Orleans, and was graduated as an M. D. in the latter years. His early preceptor was Dr. E. E. Smart, his brother. He commenced practicing in Leesville, continuing until November, 1889, when he came to Logansport, and has since been associated in his practice and in the drug business with Dr. W. J. Headrick. He was married November 21, 1873, to Miss Theodocia Burr, a daughter of Murray Burr, of Vernon Parish, an old and prominent family of that section. The Doctor and his wife have three sons: John R., Jr., Murray B., and Edmund E., Jr. Mrs. Smart is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. The Doctor has, like the balance of the family, always worked for the success of democracy, but not as a candidate for any office."


Biography compiled by Sheron Smith-Savage.