Born in Peterborough, New Hampshire, Smith attended the public schools and New Ipswich Academy.

He engaged in mercantile pursuits in 1822 and in the manufacturing of textile goods in Northfield, New Hampshire in 1823.

He was elected enrolling and engrossing clerk of the Illinois House of Representatives in 1840 and 1842.

Smith attended an event in Greenville, Illinois in 1858 in which Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas gave speeches around the time of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

[1] This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress