SMITH, M. D., M.D. This family of Smith is of French origin. The emigrant from France to this country was the sixth generation removed from the doctor. Amos Smith, son of the emigrant, lived in Cheshire, Mass. He raised a family of nine children, four sons and five daughters, of whom Henry Smith was the eldest child. He was born on October 6, 1769, in Cheshire, Mass. He married, on February 7, 1790, Anna Blanchard, of Cheshire, Mass. She was born on November 13, 1770. In the same year of his marriage he moved from Cheshire and settled in Addison township, Addison county, Vt., on the place now owned and occupied by his son, Truman T. Smith. He filled the offices of justice of the peace for many years, and also held other town offices. He represented his town in the Legislature of the State in 1833 and 1834. He was a prominent anti-slavery man, when it cost something to be one. He was, for all the years he was a leading resident of the town, a leading member of the Addison Baptist Church. He died in April, 1849. His wife died in March, 1850. Their children were: Henry Smith, jr. (born on July 31, 1790, and died on April 17, 1793); Harty (born on October 17, 1792, wife of Dyer Westcott; lived in Charlotte, Chittenden county, Vt., thence removed to Canton, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., and died at Malone, N. Y., leaving a family of children); Amos (born on December 17, 1794; married Barbara Westcott on March 30, 1819). The latter was a daughter of Stukely and Lydia Westcott, and was born on August 27, 1797. The children of Amos and Barbara were: Cordelia C. (born on June 6, 1821, wife of Alfred Collins, both of whom are now deceased); Alden A. (born on March 21, 1823, married Kate Thompson, of New York city; he was an architect in that city, and died in Addison in 1865; his wife and two children survive him); Stukely W. (born on February 19, 1836; married Maria O., daughter of Wilda and Aurilla (Squire) Dorwin). She was born in Hopkinton, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., on September 27, 1825. Stukely W. Smith was born on the old homestead, which is now owned by Truman T. Smith. He has lived on the place where he now resides since he was three years of age. This place was formerly owned by Eli Squire, grandfather of Mrs. Smith. Stukely W. Smith is a prominent farmer in the town of Addison, Vt.; has filled the important offices of the town, and was its representative to the Legislature of the State in the years 1858 and 1859. The children of Stukely W. and Maria O. Smith were: Melvin D. (subject of this sketch), Hermon H. (born on December 5, 1854, died on Tannary 24, 1833), Sarah B. (born on October 15, 1866, now resides at home). Amos Smith died on November 27, 1874, and his wife, Barbara, died on March 29, 1877. Amos and his father, Henry, were at the battle of Plattsburgh, and received a land warrant as soldiers of the War of 1812. Justus (born on December 13, 1796, married Anna Rogers, and by her had a family of nine children; he died in 1876, and his wife survived him but a few years); Polly (born May 20, 1800, wife of Warham Brown, who was a farmer of Panton Vt., both of whom died, leaving a large family of children); Truman T. (born on May 15, 1803, married Urana Rogers on December 25, 1828; by her has had a family of eight children, six of whom are now living and married; his wife died on March 26, 1885; Truman T. now owns and occupies the old homestead where he was born).
Dr. M. D. Smith was born in the town of Addison, Vt., on April 27, 1848. He was educated in the common schools and also in the select ones of the county, under the tutoring of L. F. Benton, principal of the Vergennes and Bristol schools. His taste for scientific reading was early developed. At the age of seventeen years he engaged in the study of medicine, and in 1868 he associated himself with Dr. James C. Jackson, of Dansville, N. Y., where he remained for one year and then entered the Eclectic Medical College, of Pennsylvania; and from here he graduated in the spring of 1871. He at once associated himself with Dr. A. B. Woodard, of Tunkhannock, Wyoming county, Pa., where he practiced his profession for two years, when he was called to his native town to take charge of the practice of his old friend and family physician Dr. Hinds, who was in failing health. He remained in Addison, Vt., for nearly seven years, when, feeling the desire for more clinical instruction, he gave up his practice and went to New York, matriculated in the Eclectic Medical College there, and availed himself of the privilege of the Bellevue Hospital lectures, receiving the degree of M. D. from the E. M. C. in the spring of 1880. He then opened an office in West Cornwall, Vt., where he remained but a few months, after which he went to Chicago, Ill., to resume his study in Hannemann Medical College of that city, from which college he received the degree in 1884. The same year he located in Middlebury, Vt., and has practiced his profession in that and surrounding towns since.
Dr. Smith was married on April 27, 1868, to Nellie F., daughter of William and Martha (Murray) Hanks. Mrs. Smith was born in Addison, Vt., on December 18, 1849. Her parents are now living in Addison, Vt. Their children are: Kate L., Carlton M., Nellie F., Murray B., Belle M., Jesse F., and Martha W. Levi Hanks, Mrs. Smith’s grandfather, was one of the early settlers of Addison, and was a captain in the War of 1812.
Dr. and Mrs. Smith have had one child born to them-Hermon E. (born on July 21, 1877).