Mary Stuart Harrison Smith (February 10, 1834 – December 8, 1917) was an American author, translator, and women's advocate. Her Virginia Cookery Book (1885) is one of the country's early modern cookbooks. In addition to other original works, she published over fifty translated compositions, primarily from the German to English. She was a descendant of the Harrison family of Virginia, and also authored numerous book reviews for various periodicals.
In 1893, Smith attended and spoke on behalf of Virginia women at the Chicago World's Congress, which was designed to highlight women's rights. In 1895 she was among the women invited by the Virginia governor to represent the commonwealth's female workers at the Board of Women's convention at the International Exposition in Atlanta.
Smith is prominently memorialized at the University of Virginia chapel—she was likely a participant in the funding and creation of the chapel as a resident of the campus at the time.
Early life and family
Smith was born at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, on February 10, 1834. She was the second child of Professor Gessner Harrison and wife Eliza Lewis Carter Tucker. Professor Harrison was the son of Dr. Peachy Harrison and Mary (née Stuart). Dr. Harrison was a physician and politician in Harrisonburg, which was founded by his grandfather, Daniel Harrison. Eliza Tucker was the daughter of Prof. George Tucker and Maria Ball Carter.
Smith’s education was provided by family and private tutors—her grandfather and father taught philosophy and ancient languages, respectively. She studied Latin, German, French, Italian, and Greek, and she demonstrated a proclivity for poetry beginning at age 13.
On July 31, 1853, she married Francis H. Smith (1829–1928), son of Daniel Grove Smith and Eleanor Buckey. He was a Professor and Faculty Chairman at the university and they made their 69-year residence on the Lawn in Pavilion V there.
The Smiths had eight children in addition to four who died in infancy: Eliza Lewis Carter—died 1880; married William W. Walker Eleanor Annabel—married 1st, Fielding Miles, married 2nd, Dr. Charles W. Kent Lelia Maria—portraitist; married Lucien Cocke Gessner Harrison—1861–1892 George Tucker, M.D.—Rear Admiral, U.S.N; died 1939 Mary Stuart—died 1900 Eleanor Rosalie—1870–1956; married Isaac Carrington Harrison, M.D. James Duncan—1879–1934; portraitist
Career
Original works
After the American Civil War, Smith's nascent interest in writing began to flourish with her Art of Housekeeping in 1878, which first appeared as a series of papers written for the New York Fashion Bazar. Her first original book Heirs of the Kingdom was published in Nashville in 1880, for which a prize of $300 was awarded by a select committee.
Smith's Virginia Cookery Book was one of the early modern efforts made of that genre in America, in 1885. In the preface, Smith provided her principal motivation for the book, as one of “expediency” in light of “old domestic institutions being done away with.” She then gave reverence to her forebears in cookery, saying, “Enough it will be for the Virginia Cookery Book to take its place on the housekeeper’s pantry-shelf alongside the similar works of Miss Leslie, Marion Harland, Mrs. Henderson, and Mrs. Hale.” Smith further emphasized the role of her book as “a memento of the past, as well as a help in the present,” extolling Mary Randolph‘s Virginia Housewife (1824), of which there was then no authorized edition extant. Smith then reproduced the introduction to Randolph's book, which was written for that lady by Smith's grandfather, Professor Tucker.
Smith's Lang Syne, or the Wards of Mt. Vernon was published on the occasion of the Washington Centennial, held in New York in April 1887. Her series of Letters from a Lady in New York was published (date unknown) in the Religious Herald.
Translations
Critics thought Smith had a special gift for translating German poetry, including her Chidhe in the Overland Monthly. She authored many translations for leading periodicals and publishing houses. From Ernst Werner, she translated A Hero of the Pen, Hermann, Good Luck, What the Spring Brought, St. Michael, A Judgment of God, and Beacon Lights. Her translations from other German writers were Lieschen, The Fairy of the Alps, The Bailiff's Maid, Gold Elsie, Old Ma'amselle's Secret, The Owl House, The Lady With the Rubies, Serapis, The Bride of the Nile, and Lace by Paul Lindau, and others. She also translated from the French, The Salon of Mine and Necker.