Dr. Henry A. Smith, physician and surgeon of St. Louis and also the president and medical director of the People’s Life & Accident Insurance Company, a Missouri corporation, was born in Madison, Jefferson county, Indiana, September 16, 1857. He was educated in the public schools of Madison and pursued his medical course in the American Medical College, an Eclectic School of St. Louis, from which he was graduated with the M. D. degree in 1905. Various experiences, however, had come to him ere he prepared for his present profession. At the age of fourteen years he started out to earn his own living and was apprenticed by his father to the drug business, which he continued to follow successfully for a decade. During the succeeding ten years of his life he was connected with the Wabash Railroad Company at Moberly, Missouri, acting as chief clerk for five years in the yardmaster’s office and later as assistant chief clerk In the office of the master car builder. When twenty-eight years of age he entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and served as an ordained clergy man in the Missouri conference. He is still active as a local elder in that church. On the 1st of August, 1898, he removed to St. Louis and became connected with the Prudential Insurance Company. While thus engaged he studied medicine and in this way was able to make his way through college. Since 1905 he has been continuously engaged in practice and his success is indicated in the large number of his patients. He is constantly reading and studying to broaden his knowledge and promote his efficiency and his ability as an able general practitioner is widely acknowledged. He is also the president and the medical director of the People’s Life & Accident Insurance Company, a Missouri corporation. He belongs to the State Eclectic Medical Association and also to the National Eclectic Association.
At Indianapolis, Indiana, on the 10th of June, 1878, Dr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Addie Ballinger, a native of Indiana. They have become parents of three children, Grace, Mabel and Ella, but the last two have passed away. Dr. Smith and family are members of the Mount Auburn Methodist Episcopal church, South, and Dr. Smith is connected with Aurora Lodge, No. 267, A. F. & A. M., of which he formerly served as chaplain. In politics he is a stanch democrat but not an office seeker, preferring to concentrate his efforts upon his professional duties. His life has been a busy one and of great usefulness and value to his fellowmen, for he has ever contributed to the physical, intellectual and moral progress of the communities in which he has lived. He deserves much credit for what he has accomplished and has been both the builder and architect of his own fortunes.