My Genealogy Hound

RUSH B. SMITH, for many years a citizen of Norristown, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, is a native of Berwyn, in Chester county, where he was born February 15, 1854. He is the son of Joseph C. and Mary (Blackfan) Smith, both of whom were born in that vicinity, and both descended from old families of Friends who settled in colonial times in Delaware county, Pennsylvania. Joseph C. Smith had three children, Rush B., Frank L. and J. Cloude Smith, all of whom now reside in Norristown.

Rush B. Smith lived in Berwyn until he was fourteen years of age, his family then removing to Norristown, where he continued his school studies. Having completed these, he entered the drug store of Charles Ellis & Co., Philadelphia, and studied pharmacy, continuing with that firm for a number of years. Later he entered the establishment of Hance Brothers & White, who were engaged in the same business, and remained with them for twenty-three years. Mr. Smith is a Republican, and believes in the party and its principles. In 1884 he was elected a member of the school board of Norristown, and in 1887, on the retirement of Judge Weand, he was elected its president. He has always occupied an advanced position in everything pertaining to the public school system, and it is through the efforts of the school board presided over by him that the public schools of Norristown have been brought to such a high standard of excellence that private institutions of learning have not flourished in the borough of late years. The efforts of Mr. Smith in behalf of educational progress were promptly appreciated by his fellow members of the school board, and he has held the presidency of that body continuously to the present time by successive annual re-elections. He has guided its deliberations with rare sagacity and discrimination, his decisions on all matters relating to the business before the board being accepted without question by its members. In everything relating to the welfare of the community in which he lives Mr. Smith takes the most active interest. The rising generation owes much to his attention to school needs, to his earnest and effective work in behalf of educational progress, and his good judgment in shaping the business of the school board, through the appointment of its committees and otherwise.

Mr. Smith resides at the old homestead, No. 1349 Powell street, Norristown, with his two aunts, Misses Sarah and Emma Blackfan. Aside from his connection with the school board, Mr. Smith has never sought or held office.