March is designated as National Women in History month. Again this year, the Caroline Historical Society is planning to honor several outstanding Caroline women with articles appearing in The Caroline Progress.
Women’s History Month had its origins as a national celebration in 1981 when Congress passed a law establishing National Women’s History Week. After being petitioned by the National Women’s History Project, Congress designated the month of March 1987 as “Women’s History Month.” During the next several years, attention to women’s history grew. Women’s history information became part of the history curriculum in schools and colleges across the nation. Since 1995, Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama have issued a series of annual proclamations sustaining this designation.
In 2014, the Caroline Historical Society developed a project to recognize Caroline women who have become successful individuals in their careers. During the past two years, the Society has asked the public to recommend names of women they believe worthy of consideration. These women shall have demonstrated outstanding accomplishments their career fields: medicine, politics, government, education, arts, athletics, literature, technology and the Armed Forces.
Thus far more than seventy names have been collected. In 2015, Mrs. Mary Adams, Ms. Helen Hull Jacobs, Ms. Mae Brooks and Mrs. Kathy Hancock were honored with articles about each appearing weekly in The Caroline Progress.
According to the CHS historian, Dale Brittle, “collection of names with supportive documentation in on-going.” The society has prepared a book of submitted names, which can be viewed Wednesday – Saturday at the CHS Museum in the Sidney King Art Center in Bowling Green. Articles about each honoree are also included.
CLARA LEE SMITH
Clara Lee Smith was one of three children born at “Landor Plantation” near Childsburg in Caroline County, Va. on April 26, 1874. She died February 13, 1964 at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, Va.
Miss Clara’s parents were Cornelius Timothy Smith, known as C.T. Smith, and Sarah “Sallie” Collins Smith. Her great-great-grandfather was Robert Wood, Jr. born in 1774 in Caroline County. She had a brother, Cornelius Timothy Smith, Jr. who became a physician and a sister, Susie Coleman Smith, who never married.
Miss Clara was a petite woman only five feet tall. She never married. Smith grew up at “Landor Plantation,” a 367-acre estate built in 1707. Captain Smith purchased the plantation in 1865 and Miss Clara sold the estate around 1950.
Miss Clara was educated at the Bowling Green Female Seminary and graduated from the Richmond Female Institute. Miss Smith became a certified public accountant, held a post with the Southern Railway Company and worked with the Federal Government in Washington, D.C. for 18 years. Miss Clara became the fourth and last postmaster for the Croxton community, working from Dec. 31, 1937 until Oct. 31, 1948, when the post office closed after 63 years of service. Over the years, four members of the C.T. Smith family had held the position of Postmaster of Croxton.
According to Pat Morris of Ladysmith, who has researched Miss Clara, “Smith was a lady ahead of her times. She had a vision of what she wanted ‘Ladysmith’ to look like. There are different thoughts as to how Miss Clara settled on the name of ‘Ladysmith.’ She drew up plans for a small rural town where schools, libraries, shopping and recreation areas all were within walking distance. Her dream was realized: ‘Welcome to Ladysmith Village.’”
Miss Clara commissioned a church be built in honor of her mother on Route 1, called Sallie Collins Smith Memorial Baptist Church. Next to the church she built a house for herself. Miss Clara was known for helping out in Ladysmith, establishing the first telephone exchange, selling lots for new homes, working with a group to form the Ladysmith Rescue Squad and Ladysmith Volunteer Fire Department. She made the first payment for the first rescue squad ambulance. Old timers in the Ladysmith community can certainly tell more of her accomplishments.
Miss Clara loved children. She would invite children to her home for yearly Easter Egg Hunts. She was known for looking, measuring, talking and selling land, always had a purse swinging on her arm. She drove a Hudson car; in later years she drove a Packard. She could hardly see over the steering wheel so she had to sit on a pillow.
Miss Clara Lee Smith will always be remembered as a leader in her Ladysmith community and in Caroline County.
Contributing Writer: Pat Morris, Archivist, Historic Port Royal
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