My Genealogy Hound

Dr. James L. Smith has acquired an enviable reputation in Izard County, Ark., as an able physician and surgeon, and the extensive territory over which he travels to alleviate the suffering of the afflicted is a sufficient proof of his popularity. He was born near Melbourne, and is a son of S. R. and Jane (Walker) Smith, the former a native of Tennessee, and the latter of Arkansas. In 1849 S. R. Smith came to Arkansas, and settled on the farm with his mother, near where he is now residing, five miles southwest of Melbourne. He served in the Confederate army during the rebellion, and was with Price on his raid through Missouri, but in 1864 he was severely wounded by a gun-shot, which resulted in the loss of his left leg. He was captured and taken to Alton, Ill., thence to St. Louis, and received his parole from this city in 1865. He returned to his farm in Izard County, only to find it destitute of buildings, fences and stock, but he set manfully to work, and by good management he is now in comfortable circumstances. He and Miss Walker were married in 1855, and moved to the farm where he is now living, and eight of the nine children born to them still survive: James L., Joseph M., Mary E. P., wife of J. P. Gray; W. T. (deceased), W. A., Jeff. D., John H., Solomon and Robert L. Mr. Smith has been constable of Lunenburg Township for several years, and is a member of the I. O. O. F. His wife belongs to the Christian Church. The paternal grandfather was a soldier in the Mexican War, and bore the name of James. His wife was a Miss Orphia Byler. The maternal grandparents were Joseph and Sarah (McCubbin) Walker. Dr. James L. Smith remained with his father on the home farm and attended the common schools until 1876, when he engaged in farming on his own responsibility, continuing two years, and in the meantime he was engaged in the study of medicine under Dr. J. K. P. Black. In 1880 and 1881 he attended his first course of lectures in the Hospital Medical College of Memphis, Tenn., and in 1881 entered upon his practice, continuing until 1887, when he again returned to Memphis and graduated from the same institution in 1888. He has been very successful, and is held in high esteem by the medical brotherhood of Izard County. The Doctor is a Democrat, a member of the I. O. O. F., and he and wife, whom he married in 1883, and whose maiden name was Mary Croom, are members of the Christian Church. Dr. and Mrs. Smith have three interesting little children: Robert O., Bertha J. and Erskin. Mrs. Smith was born in Izard County, January 28, 1865, and is a daughter of Wiley and Sarah J. (Pearson) Croom, both Tennesseans, and the parents of nine children: Mary, D. F., H. F., Ida J., wife of A. H. Colwell; Benage, Susan E., Annabel, Thomas W. and Grover.