Frank Henry Smith was the second of four sons born to Frank Thomas Smith, a New Orleans native, and Emma Watkins, born in Great Bolton, Lancaster, England. In his youth, he apprenticed as a machinist in his father's machine shop in Berwick on the banks of the Atchafalaya River. As a young man, his maternal uncle George Watkins helped him secure a position with J.N. Pharr, owner of several sugar cane refineries, or "sugar houses" as they were called at the time. He was named Asst. Engineer at Pharr's largest operation, Glenwild Sugar Refinery, located about three miles west of Berwick.

Frank married first Hester Maud Hébert on 28 Mar 1894 at the Canal Street Presbyterian Church in New Orleans, the city of her birth. They made their home in Berwick where Frank was employed. They had two sons and two daughters, one of whom died in infancy. In 1908, Maud died giving birth to her 5th child which was stillborn. About two years later, Frank met and married second Marie Adele Provosty, a native of New Roads, Point Coupeé Parish. They were married 37 years, having five children, all born in St. Mary and Iberia Parishes. Shortly after their youngest son was born, they moved to New Orleans.

Frank was a sugar house engineer most of his working life. After the Civil War and end of slavery, the sugar industry in Louisiana survived by going global in the early 20th century. Frank, chief engineer for the Coloradas Sugar Company, served as a senior consultant to the emerging sugar enterprises in Cuba and Central America. He traveled extensively to those regions, often taking his second family with him. By 1930, he stopped traveling and was employed in New Orleans as a construction engineer.

Frank and Adele were living on Garfield St. in New Orleans when he died at the age of 77. Adele remained in New Orleans with a large contingent of her family there until her own passing at age 85.