Thomas Elzeberry (NONG) SMITH


1877-1953

Smith_TE

T. E. (Nong) Smith was born January 29, 1877. He died April 17, 1953. He received little formal schooling in Lincoln County, Mississippi, around Brookhaven, but he was a self-made man. He read what he could find, and he was very conversant. He was excellent in figures, and he did much study of the Bible. He obeyed the gospel as a young man under the preaching of N. L. Clark. He soon became a deep student of the Word and became a good preacher. He was one of the early preachers to whom we owe so much, those who went from place to place holding meetings and establishing churches with very little or no support. Early in life he became interested in music. He attended many singing schools and normals of traveling singers and teachers. He soon excelled in this study and began teaching his own. He was in demand over the community as a singer and teacher. In his later years he wrote songs that are used throughout the nation in song books. Some of the songs written by him are "A Rest For The Soul," "The Coming Judgment," and "The Open Fountain For Sin." M. Lynwood Smith, noted song writer and publisher, attributes much of his early training and interest in music to his grandfather, T. E. (Nong) Smith.

T. E. Smith is buried in the New Salem Church of Christ Cemetery, Lincoln Co., MS.

Our Garden of Song, 446-48.