businessman, politician, governor, b. near Inverness, Scotland. He migrated with his parents to the U.S. in 1835, eventually settling in Commerce, Mich. In 1849 he moved to Wisconsin, settling at Fox Lake where he operated a store. Originally a Whig, Smith was state assemblyman (1851), and in 1854 helped to organize the Republican party. He was state senator (1858-1859, 1864-1865), state treasurer (1866-1870), and was again state assemblyman (1871). In 1872 Smith moved to Milwaukee, where, with J. A. Roundy and Sidney Hauxhurst, he founded the wholesale grocery firm of Smith, Roundy and Co. In 1877 he was elected governor, although receiving less than the combined vote of the Democratic candidate, J. A. Mallory, and Greenback candidate, Edward P. Allis (q.v.). Smith was re-elected in 1879, and devoted his two terms (Jan. 1878-Jan. 1882) to promoting the business interests of the state; in 1881 he utilized the state militia to suppress a labor disturbance in Eau Claire. He was for many years a regent of the state normal schools, and was also a trustee of Milwaukee Female College, Wisconsin Female Academy at Fox Lake, and the Univ. of Chicago. He was a director of the First National Bank of Milwaukee, and a member of the executive committee of the Northwestern Life Insurance Co. Wis. Blue Book (1927); Portrait and Biog. Record of Sheboygan Co. (Chicago, 1894); Madison Wis. State Journal, Feb. 14, 1883; WPA MS.Learn More
Dictionary of Wisconsin History
Explore more than 1,600 people, places and events in Wisconsin history.
[Source: Blue book]
