Thomas Jefferson Smull Family: Dr. T. J. Smull, Jr.

HENRY SMULL > THOMAS JEFFERSON SMULL > THOMAS JEFFERSON SMULL, JR, PhD m Cora Anita Kemp

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T J Smull is third from right, back row
ONU Football

Henry Smull was one of the Brothers Smull from Centre County, Pennsylvania. His son Thomas Jefferson Smull taught school and then decided he had a passion for the "mercantile life" and opened a general store in Mackeyville, Pennsylvania, a few miles from Mill Haven and Lock Port. He and his wife Harriet Transue had two children who survived to adulthood. Their son James Leroy "Roy" took over the family store and son Thomas Jefferson, Jr. went on to other things.

Thomas Jefferson Smull, Jr., was born 22 Sep 1875 in Mackeyville, Clinton County. He attended Central State Normal School in 1897 and 1898 in Lock Haven, playing on the baseball teams. In 1900 he entered Susquehanna University in Selingsgrove and also played baseball there. In winter of 1901, he entered Ohio Normal University which would later become Ohio Northern University. He was a standout in both baseball and football. In a football game against the famous Fielding Yost "Point a Minute" teams of the University of Michigan, Yost convinced Smull to come to Michigan on scholarship to play. Smull played five games of the U of Michigan's 11 games in 1904, but finished the season at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. He had found that the academic schedule at Michigan just wasn't working for him and while he loved athletics, he wanted to get his education completed. In 1905, he returned to Ohio Northern as the Dean of the College of Engineering.

Dr. Thomas J. Smull, Jr.

Smull was instrumental in developing athletics teams at the University. He was fully in charge of all athletics from 1905-1908 until he asked that an Athletics Board be organized. He chaired that board for several years and was then named Honorary President and Advisor and served in that position until 1922. A good bit of what Smull did was to keep the play "amateur" by ending subscriptions by businessmen and ensuring that players were matriculated students. He helped in getting the school into the Ohio Athletic Conference in 1916.

He ably served as Dean of the College of Engineering and was fiercely devoted to the University. He and his engineering students were the driving force behind the change of the university name from Ohio Normal to Ohio Northern, to ensure that the engineering degrees didn't seem diluted by being issued by a mere Normal School. That change happened in 1903.

According to "Who's Who in America," was dean of Ohio Northern University's College of Engineering from 1905-17, executive secretary of the university from 1917-29, and business manager from 1929-42. He was also faculty manager of athletics. Additionally, Dr. Smull was a member of the Board of Examiners of the State Civil Service Commission from 1914-16, an appraisal engineer with the State Utilities Commission in 1915, and the senior member of Smull and Unger architects from 1912-30.

He was chairman and chief examiner for the Board of Registration of the Ohio Professional Engineers and Surveyors, a member of the Ohio Society of University Business Officers (president in 1941), the Ohio Athletic Conference (president in 1943), the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers (president in 1918), the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, the National Society of Professional Engineers, and Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

In light of his many contributions the T J Smull College of Engineering was named in his honor.

After his retirement from the University in 1942, Dr. Smull was employed as materials engineer for the Ohio Department of Highways. He was also city engineer at Ada from 1906-23.

Miriam Smull Parkhill

He married Cora Anita Kemp 28 Mar 1894. She was born 29 Dec 1879 in Ada. Her father owned Kemp's Drug Store in Ada. Mrs. Smull died 12 May 1946 in Ada. Dr. Smull died 15 Feb 1962 in hospital in Lima, Ohio.

The couple had two children:

Miriam May Smull was born 08 Jul 1913 in Hardin, Ohio. She married Edwin Parkhill on 04 Oct 1935 in Ada, but they divorced. She headed the catalog department of Ohio Northern University's library. She resided in the home of her parents after their deaths. She had a bachelor's from ONU and a master's in English from OSU and a master's in library science from the University of Michigan. She worked in several Ohio communities prior to returning to Ada. She worked at ONU from 1959-1978 and then held the title Associate Professor Emeritus. She had a boy and a girl with Parkhill. She died 25 Mar 2001 in Columbus, Ohio.

TLK Smull &
Ruth Rhyne Smull

Thomas Leland Kemp Smull was born 04 Aug 1916 in Hardin. He first married Roberta Spidel of Chevy Chase, Maryland 22 Apr 1944 in Washington DC. They had one daughter and divorced. He then married Ruth Rhyn Hoover Kiertzner in 1964. Tom died 31 May 1999 in Alexandria, Virginia. You can read about Thomas and his career with the precursor to NASA and then NASA and his second wife, here.