Izard Co., AR - Biographies - Dr. James L. Smith

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Dr. James L. Smith has acquired an enviable reputation in Izard County, Ark.,
as an able physician  and surgeon, and the extensive territory over which he
travels to alleviate the suffering of the afflicted is a sufficient proof of
his popularity. He was born near Melbourne, and is a son of S. R. and Jane
(Walker) Smith, the former a native of Tennessee, and the latter of Arkansas.
In 1849 S. R. Smith came to Arkansas, and settled on the farm with his mother,
near where he is now residing, five miles southwest of Melbourne. He served in
the Confederate army during the rebellion, and was with Price on his raid
through Missouri, but in 1864 he was severely wounded by a gun-shot, which
resulted in the loss of his left leg. He was captured and taken to Alton, Ill.,
thence to St. Louis, and received his parole from this city in 1865. He
returned to his farm in Izard County, only to find it destitute of buildings,
fences and stock, but he set manfully to work, and by good management he is now
in comfortable circumstances. He and Miss Walker were married in 1855, and
moved to the farm where he is now living, and eight of the nine children born
to them still survive: James L., Joseph M., Mary E. P., wife of J. P. Gray; W.
T. (deceased), W. A., Jeff. D., John H., Solomon and Robert L. Mr. Smith has
been constable of Lunenburg Township for several years, and is a member of the
I. O. O. F. His wife belongs to the Christian Church. The paternal grandfather
was a soldier in the Mexican War, and bore the name of James. His wife was a
Miss Orphia Byler. The maternal grandparents were Joseph and Sarah (McCubbin)
Walker. Dr. James L. Smith remained with his father on the home farm and
attended the common schools until 1876, when he engaged in farming on his own
responsibility, continuing two years, and in the meantime he was engaged in the
study of medicine under Dr. J. K. P. Black. In 1880 and 1881 he attended his
first course of lectures in the Hospital Medical College of Memphis, Tenn., and
in 1881 entered upon his practice, continuing until 1887, when he again
returned to Memphis and graduated from the same institution in 1888. He has
been very successful, and is held in high esteem by the medical brotherhood of
Izard County. The Doctor is a Democrat, a member of the I. O. O. F., and he and
wife, whom he married in 1883, and whose maiden name was Mary Croom, are
members of the Christian Church. Dr. and Mrs. Smith have three interesting
little children: Robert O., Bertha J. and Erskin. Mrs. Smith was born in Izard
County, January 28, 1865, and is a daughter of Wiley and Sarah J. (Pearson)
Croom, both Tennesseeans, and the parents of nine children: Mary, D. F., H. F.,
Ida J., wife of A. H. Colwell; Benage, Susan E., Annabel, Thomas W. and Grover.