Mishew Edgerton Smith

Mishew Ellen Edgerton Smith (May 29, 1935 – September 1, 1981) was an American debutante and socialite. In 1953, she was selected by the Terpsichorean Club to lead the North Carolina Debutante Ball.

Early life and family Smith was born Mishew Ellen Edgerton on May 29, 1935, in Raleigh, North Carolina, to Mishew Ellen Rogers Edgerton and Norman Edward Edgerton. She grew up at Tatton Hall, her family's palatial mansion on Oberlin Road. Her father was a prominent businessman who owned the Raleigh Bonded Warehouse and served as president of the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, president of the Raleigh Kiwanis Club, and president of the Raleigh Shriners. Her grandmother was a niece of the philanthropist Richard Stanhope Pullen of Pullen Plantation. She wore a gown designed by Willie Otey Kay for the occasion.

On April 20, 1956, she married Alton Battle Smith, the grandson of Senator Willis Smith, at Edenton Street United Methodist Church. The ceremony was officiated by Bishop Paul Neff Garber of the North Carolina Annual Conference and Rev. Dr. Howard P. Powell.

She had a son, Alton Battle Smith Jr., who inherited her father's company, and a daughter, Mishew Edgerton Smith, who followed in her footsteps as a lead debutante at the North Carolina ball.