Jeanne C. Smith Carr

Jeanne Caroline Smith Carr (1825–1903) was a prolific American newspaper correspondent and an educator who served as Deputy California State Superintendent of Public Instruction. An expert in botany and horticulture,

At her home, "Carmelita", in Pasadena, California, Helen Hunt Jackson is said to have written many pages of her masterpiece, Ramona. Carr was a good friend of Helena Modjeska; and among well-known people who partook of Carr's hospitality were Charles Dudley Warner, Bret Harte, Ole Bull, and Paul Du Chaillu.

She was educated at Castleton Seminary (now Castleton University). It was here that she met Prof. Ezra S. Carr. Jeanne and Ezra eloped,

Personal tragedy struck the Carrs during this time period (one son died in a railroad accident, and another of a gunshot — some said murder, others said suicide ), and Ezra's health declined. As a result, he retired from active life, and in 1880, they moved into the newly formed Indiana Colony, the forerunner of Pasadena, California. Jeanne served as the Principal of the Indiana Colony's Central School in 1880–81.

Her home, "Carmelita", became an intellectual center in Southern California. Here, they laid out their property, a tract of , located on the northeast corner of Colorado Street and Orange Grove Avenue. In the course of years, it became noted for its over 200 fruit and ornamental trees and plants as well as the personalities of its owners. In a log cabin on these grounds, it is said that Helen Hunt Jackson, while visiting the Carrs, wrote part of Ramona. Her articles appeared in California Horticulturist, California Teacher, Home Journal, Illustrated Press, Los Angeles Daily Times, Pacific Rural Press, Pasadena and Valley Union, Western Farmer, Wisconsin Farmer, and Wisconsin State Journal. In 1892, Carr was again offered a position on the State Board of Silk Culture and accepted the appointment.

In 1890, when the Pacific Coast Women's Press Association was established, she was elected First Vice-President. In the same year, she served on the first board of directors of the Pasadena Library and Village Improvement Society. Previously, in 1885, when a Citrus Fair was held in Pasadena, one of its objects being to raise funds to assist the public library enterprise, Carr contributed much toward its success.

Death and legacy Jeanne C. Smith Carr died at the home of her brother-in-law in Templeton, California, on December 14, 1903.

The Jeanne C. Smith Carr Papers are held by the Huntington Library.

Selected works Articles "The Genesis of Crime", Souvenir Nineteenth Annual Congress, by Association for the Advancement of Women (Washington, D.C. : Todd Brothers, 1877) "Pasadena - The Crown of the Valley", Annual Publication of the Historical Society of Southern California, Volume 3 (1893) (text)

Book chapters "Trees, shrubs, and wild flowers of South California", in California of the south; its physical geography, climate, resources, routes of travel, and health-resorts -- a complete guide-book to South California, by Lindley, Walter & Widney, J.P. (New York, Appleton, 1888)