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HORACE A. SMITH
Vol. 5, p. 1840

Since his arrival at Perry, in 1893, Horace A. Smith has been continuously engaged in practice, and during a large portion of this time has served in positions of trust and public responsibility, of a county, civic and judicial nature.  As a lawyer he bears a reputation for legal information and acumen, and in the capacity of county attorney of Noble County is serving faithfully the interests of the people who placed their confidence in his integrity and fidelity.

Mr. Smith was born near Waukegan, Lake County, Illinois, January 6, 1858, the son of Charles H. Smith.  His father, who served in an Illinois volunteer infantry regiment during the Civil war, was engaged in farming in Illinois for some years and then removed to St. Clair County, Missouri, where he located on new land.  In 1881 or 1882 he moved to Eldorado Springs, Cedar County, Missouri, where he is still living in retirement.  He is one of the well known and influential citizens of his community and has served as circuit clerk of Cedar County and as a justice of the peace for several years.
The boyhood of Horace A. Smith was passed on a farm in St. Clair County, Missouri, near Appleton City, where he secured his early education in the public schools and Stahl Academy.  He had decided upon a career in the law, but lacked the means to secure a university training, and in order to supply this deficit began teaching school while still in his teens, thus working his way through college.  He attended the University of Missouri, at Columbia, during 1880 and 1881, and received his diploma and was admitted to the bar in the latter year.  Mr. Smith at once engaged in practice at Eldorado Springs, Missouri, but in 1885 removed to Coldwater, Kansas, at that time a new town.  Two years later he was elected county attorney of Comanche County, Kansas, an office in which he served for two terms, or four years, and during this time he secured some valuable experience in the carrying of the old county bond case to the Supreme Court, as well as in several notorious murder trials.

In 1891 Mr. Smith came from Coldwater, Kansas, to El Reno, Oklahoma, and practiced at the latter place until September 16, 1893, when he made the run for land, and choosing the vicinity of Perry, secured 160 acres southwest of this city.  This he proved up as soon as permitted.  In the meantime he opened a law office at Perry, where hundreds of attorneys had hung out their shingles, and some remained for several years, but only three of the original lawyers are still here, these being Henry S. JOHNSTON, H. A. JOHNSON and Mr. Smith.  Mr. Smith continued to be engaged in practice until 1901, when he was elected county judge of Noble County, and acted in that capacity during that and the following years under the territorial government.  He was mayor of Perry at the time of statehood, and during his administration the city secured the Carnegie Library as well as the valuable city waterworks, and the city's finances were placed upon a substantial basis.  In the fall elections of 1914 Mr. Smith was elected county attorney of Noble County, and since assuming the duties of that office, January 1, 1915, has administered its affairs in an expeditious, capable and conscientious manner.  He has always been a stanch republican, and at various times has been a delegate to state, county and congressional conventions of his party, where he is in much demand as a speaker.  In fraternal affairs Mr. Smith is an Odd Fellow and a Mason, and was one of the organizers of the Odd Fellows Lodge at Ponca City.
On June 6, 1897, Mr. Smith was married in Kay County, Oklahoma to Miss Mabel A. DEAN, of Arkansas City, Kansas, who until the time of her marriage had been a teacher in the public schools.  She is well known in social circles of Perry, and a valued and popular member of the Tuesday P. M. Club.  Mr. and Mrs. Smith are the parents on one son:  Horace Adrian.

SOURCE: Thoburn, Joseph B., A Standard History of Oklahoma, An
Authentic Narrative of its Development, 5 v. (Chicago, New York: The
American Historical Society, 1916)

Transcribed for OKGenWeb.