US Congressman. He was born in Saint Cloud, Minnesota, to Civil War Veteran and one of Minnesota's pioneer residents David Smith and his wife Catherine Smith on May 28, 1864. He was educated locally and attended the common public schools and later at the prestigious Sauk Centre Academy in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. Following his education, he taught school in rural areas of Polk County, Minnesota, and Stearns County, Minnesota, for awhile. He then studied law at the University of Minneapolis in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he graduated from in 1893. He was admitted to the bar in 1893 and commenced his practice of law in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He then entered politics and was elected and served a term as a Member of the Minnesota State House of Representatives from 1903 to 1905. He also served as a Judge of the Probate Court of Hennepin County, Minnesota, from 1907 to 1913. He then decided to run for a seat in the United States Congress and was elected. A Member of the Republican Party, he then served Minnesota's 3rd District while representing the Sixty-Third Congress and Sixty-Fourth Congress in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1913, to March 3, 1917. He was an unsuccessful Candidate for reelection to the Sixty-Fifth Congress. During his time in the United States Congress, he was a Member of the House Banking Committee which introduced the bill which helped set up the federal reserve bank system. After his term in the United States Congress expired he was succeeded in office by United States Representative Ernest Lundeen. After leaving the United States Congress he resumed his practice of law and taught law classes at the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, until his death. He passed away following an illness in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 7, 1952, at the age of 88. His funeral was held at the Gill Brothers Mortuary where a rosary was said and he was buried in Saint Mary's Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was married to Margaret Ryan Smith and the couple had five children together. His wife Margaret predeceased him and passed away on November 16, 1910, at the age of about 40 or 41, and she is buried in Saint Mary's Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her husband. He was a Member of the Hennepin County Bar Association, the Minnesota State Bar Association, and the American Judicature Society. He also held an interest in raising purebred cattle and prize Holsteins on his farm in Payneville, Minnesota, for which he was the recipient of several awards. He was also honored by the Volunteers of America for his fifty years of service as a legal advisor in 1950.