This is a transcription of the Francina D. (Smith) Hall biography from New Hampshire Women: A Collection of Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Daughters and Residents of the Granite State, Who are Worthy Representatives of their Sex in the Various Walks and Conditions of Life, The New Hampshire Publishing Co., Concord, NH, 1895, page 249.
Francina D. (Smith) Hall
THE woman who, under the adverse conditions of restricted country life, resolutely determines to make the most of the powers with which she is endowed, and labors persistently to that end, despite all obstacles, is entitled to greater credit than many who, under favoring conditions, win fame and distinction. Francina D. Smith, born in Springfield, December 13, 1844, was one of eight children of William P. and R. Maria Spooner Smith. Ambitious for an education, endowed with a musical nature which she longed to cultivate, though encouraged by a kind father and true and loving mother, she had to depend mainly upon her own efforts. While aiding her parents largely, both in the house and on the farm, she made the best of the limited advantages of the town school, often walking miles to attend the same. At sixteen she commenced teaching, and in seven years had taught eighteen terms, meanwhile securing for herself the benefit of a few terms’ attendance at Colby Academy. During one term, while teaching, she walked three miles every Saturday to take a music lesson, practicing all day. Another term, while “boarding ’round,” she hired an instrument, moving it from place to place and practicing all her leisure time. At twenty-three she married Rufus Hall of Grantham, receiving an organ as her husband’s wedding gift, which was afterwards exchanged for a piano. When thirty-five, and the mother of three children, she took her first and only term of piano lessons, to secure which she drove ten miles to meet the class, the teacher coming an equal distance. When eleven years old, Mrs. Hall was a singer in the choir, and for more than twenty years has been organist in the M. E. Church at Grantham, and teacher in the Sunday-school, and for three years superintendent. She is the mother of four children, whom she has taught music, and has given lessons to others for many years.