Born in Cheshire, Massachusetts, Smith was employed by the U. S. Armory service from 1824 to 1842, when he moved to Newtown, Connecticut.

The Smith & Wesson Company was renamed Volcanic Repeating Arms in 1855, and was financed largely by Oliver Winchester.

In 1856, the partners left Volcanic Repeating Arms to begin a new company and to manufacture a newly designed revolver-and-cartridge combination.

Volcanic Repeating Arms was reorganized as the New Haven Arms Company and eventually as the Winchester Repeating Arms Company In 1857, Smith and Wesson formed another Smith & Wesson company, this time to produce a pistol with interchangeable parts, a repeating action, a revolving magazine, metallic cartridges, and an open cylinder.

His will apportioned amounts to relatives and institutions and stated that the balance should be used for public purposes at the discretion of his executors.