He was born in Independence Township and attended the common schools in Clarkston and Detroit. He began teaching school in 1869, served as superintendent of schools in Waterford Township in 1875 and also served as principal of the school at Waterford, Michigan. He went on to study law, was admitted to the bar in 1877 and graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1878. He began legal practice in Pontiac, where for six months he worked alone with considerable success, and then formed a partnership with Judge Levi Taft and Hon. Aaron Perry. Judge Perry retired from the firm during the second year of the partnership, but the connection between Judge Taft and Mr. Smith continued until the death of the former in 1897. Smith was prosecuting attorney of Oakland County from 1880 to 1884.
