Background
Inman was born in Dandridge, Tennessee, in Jefferson County. He was the son of H. W. Inman and Jane Martin Inman.
Inman was born in Dandridge, Tennessee, in Jefferson County. He was the son of H. W. Inman and Jane Martin Inman.
Inman is also commemorated in the name of the Samuel M. Inman Middle School in the Virginia-Highland neighborhood. He went to college at Princeton College and at the age of 18 he joined Company K of the Confederate Army"s First Tennessee Cavalry during the American Civil War. During the war he served as a lieutenant of his company and was present at the surrender of the army.
In 1886, Inman moved to Augusta, Georgia, and became a businessman.
He joined with Joel Hurt that year to form the East Atlanta Land Company with the purpose of developing Inman Park, a residential then-suburb of Atlanta. They also formed Atlanta & Edgewood Street Railroad to provide adequate transportation to the area.
He moved permanently to Atlanta in 1867 to establish the South. West. Inman & Son cotton house with his father. In 1869, they changed the title of the company to South. West. Inman & Company and by 1889, it was the largest cotton business in the city and it had a branch house in Houston, Texas.
Some estimated at that time that Inman was worth about $750,000 to $1,000,000, a sum that would have been much larger if not for his charitable donations.
By 1889, Inman was on the directory for what was known as the Inman System, a group of nearly all of the railroads covering from Richmond, Virginia, to Montgomery, Alabama, and from Bristol,, to Savannah, Georgia. Inman came from a very wealthy and successful family. Several other family members were also extremely successful including William H. Inman and Walker Inman who was a part of South. M. Inman & Company
Inman was instrumental in the early days of the, now known as the Georgia Institute of Technology.
First, he secured funding for the school in the amount of $5,000 of his own money and $75,000 plus an annuity of $2,500 from the city.
He also helped secure the land for the school and was appointed to the board of commissioners to help oversee some of the construction. Some stated that the school was better equipped than any other technical school at the time.