My Genealogy Hound

Hon. Samuel W. Smith, who represents the Sixth Congressional District of Michigan in the United States Congress, has attained high distinction as a member of that august body, and is one of the foremost Republicans of Michigan. For many years he has been prominent as a lawyer of Pontiac, and enjoys the reputation of being one of the best criminal lawyers in Eastern Michigan. He was born in Independence township, Oakland County, Michigan, August 23, 1852, and is a son of Nicholas B. and Mary (Phillips) Smith.

Nicholas B. Smith was born in Monroe County, New York, and came to this locality in 1841, buying 80 acres of raw land in Brandon township, which he cleared and improved. He soon sold this and purchased 120 acres in Independence township, where he resided some years. He then removed to the village of Clarkston, where he conducted a general store until his death. His wife was born in New York in 1825, and was a daughter of Bildad Phillips, a native of New England. In girlhood she accompanied her parents to Oakland County, Michigan, where she was married some years later. She died in 1856, leaving two children, namely: Ann Eliza, wife of Lawrence Clarke; and Hon. Samuel W.

Samuel W. Smith first attended the public schools of Clarkston, then pursued a higher course of study in Detroit, after which he entered the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, from which he was graduated in 1878. He had been admitted to the bar in 1877, and after graduation he began practice at Pontiac, continuing alone for a period of six months. He then formed a partnership with the late Judge Levi B. Taft and Hon. Aaron Perry, the latter continuing as a member of the firm for one year, then retiring. Mr. Smith was associated with Judge Taft in a very extensive practice until the latter’s death. From early manhood he was an enthusiastic worker in the ranks of the Republican party, and he has frequently been called upon to fill offices high in the public trust. In 1880 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Oakland County and served until 1884, when he was elected State Senator from the Fifteenth Senatorial District. He took an active part in the discussion and passage of a law regulating the sale of oleomargerine to protect the interests of farmers and dairymen, and in the bill for the coupling of freight cars, introduced for the protection of railway employees. In all important matters he was to be found fighting for the best interests of the public, and he became prominent as a champion of the people. His rise in public favor was steady and rapid and a few years later, he was elected to represent the Sixth Congressional District in the halls of Congress. In this great body of distinguished men Mr. Smith has gained a place in the front ranks, and the important bills which come up for passage and discussion find in him either a stanch friend and advocate or an untiring worker in its defeat. He is a strong, forcible speaker, well informed on the questions of vital importance to the government, and he looks zealously to his country’s interests as well as to those of his constituents.

Mr. Smith was married November 16, 1880, to Alida E. DeLand, who was born near, Grass Lake, Michigan, and is a daughter of Edwin and Susan DeLand. To this union have been born four sons, as follows: E. DeLand, Ferris N., Wendell and Harlan S.