Jefferson-Marion County IL Archives Biographies.....SMITH, June C. March 24, 1876 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
J. Robison normadeplume@wmconnect.com June 10, 2008, 4:06 pm

Author: J. H. G. Brinkerhoff

From 'Brinkerhoff's History of Marion County, Illinois by J. H. G. Brinkerhoff 
1909
JUNE C. SMITH
     There is no profession more exacting and trying than that of the law, and 
those who achieve a conspicuous place in this field are men of superior mettle, 
Consequently the fact that the subject of this sketch has made a brilliant 
record as an attorney-at-law while yet a young man speaks well of his innate 
ability as well as his properly trained mind and personal attributes.
     June C. Smith, one of the most popular of the younger generation of 
lawyers in Marion county, was born in Irvington, Washington county, Illinois, 
March 24, 1876, the son of Isaac C. and Alma C. (Maxey) Smith.  The subject's 
father, who was of Scotch-Irish descent, died in December, 1875, before June 
was born.  Miller Smith, the grandfather of our subject, was one of the pioneer 
settlers of Walnut Hill and for many years he conducted a general store there, 
spending the last years of his life in that place and dying there.  He had 
seven sons and three sons-in-law in the Union army, all of whom came out 
unscathed. Isaac C. Smith enlisted in Company H. Eightieth Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry, a regiment organized at Salem, with James Cunningham of that place as 
colonel and John R. Cunningham, now of Dix, Illinois, as captain.  According to 
Civil war history, this company was in more engagements that any other, having 
taken part in forty-five battles and skirmishes, among which were the great 
engagements of Gettysburg and Lookout Mountain, also in Sherman's march to the 
sea.  Our subject carries a watch-charm he prizes very highly, for it was made 
of laurel wood by his father in 1863 at Lookout Mountain, the memento being 
from a deceased soldier-his father, whom he never saw.  The mother of our 
subject, now Mrs. Alma C. Watts, is still living in Tonti township on a farm, 
four miles north of Salem, Illinois.  When he was only a boy June's mother and 
grandfather Maxey moved with him from Clinton county, Illinois, to the state of 
Washington, where he attended school in the country for about three months in 
the year.  School privileges at that time were very limited.  He spent his time 
working on a ranch until 1886, when he came to Marion county, Illinois, and 
labored on a farm in Raccoon township in the Bundyville neighborhood and 
attended school at Bundyville until he was seventeen years old.  The following 
year he went to school one year at Walnut Hill.  He continued to farm until 
1898, when he took a tow years' course in the Southern Normal University at 
Huntington, Tennessee, from which school he graduated with high honors from the 
classic and law courses, receiving the degrees of Bachelor of Art and Bachelor 
of Laws.  In the meantime he read law with McCall & McCall, of the same city.  
J.C. R. McCall is in 1908, the Judge of the Federal Court for the Western 
District of Tennessee.
     With a desire to be fully equipped for his life work, he attended the 
Northern Illinois College of Law, at Dixon, taking a post graduate course.  Mr. 
Smith said it then became necessary for him to replenish his somewhat depleted 
exchequer, which he did by returning to the farm for a short period.
     Mr. Smith was happily married on September 30, 1900, to Metta A. Bates, 
daughter of Francis M. and Mary A. (Martin) Bates, both pioneer settlers of 
Jefferson county, Illinois, having come to this state from Tennessee.  The 
subject's wife's mother was born in Shelbyville, Bedford county, Tennessee, and 
came to Illinois when ten years old.  Metta (Bates) Smith is the third from the 
youngest of a family of fourteen children.  Her education was received at 
Walnut Hill, in the district schools.  One daughter has been born to the 
subject and wife, named Edna Ruth, born September 19, 1902, at Walnut Hill.
     Immediately after his marriage Mr. Smith went to Tennessee, where he at 
once began the practice of law, but he finally returned to Illinois.  He was 
admitted to the bar in this state April 6, 1904, and has been practicing 
continuously in Centralia ever since.  He was successful from the first, and at 
present enjoys a liberal patronage throughout the county, being a tireless 
worker and cool and calculating, unerring and painstaking in his legal work of 
whatever nature.
     In August, 1904, Mr. Smith was nominated on the Republican ticket for 
State's Attorney of Marion county, and was subsequentley elected the following 
November, being the first State's Attorney to be elected by the Republicans in 
this oucnty for twenty years. and the second one ever elected in Marion 
county.  This speaks well for his high standing here.  He certainly deserves a 
world of credit for what he has accomplished, being practically a self-made 
man.  He was left fatherless to struggle for an education as best he could, and 
to obtain unaided a place in the great business world.  His success stands for 
that type of energy, pluck and perserverance that go t make nerve and the brawn 
of the nation's great men.  While in college he worked at carpentry in order to 
pay his board and room rent.
     Our subject is a member of the Modern Woodmen, the Knights of Pythias, the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, also the Dramatic Order of Knights of 
Khorasson, all of Centralia.  He was reared in the Methodist faith, and he and 
his family attend that church.  He is now the junior member of the well known 
law firm of Noleman & Smith, of Centralia, who enjoy one of the largest 
practices in Southern Illinois.  Because of his genuine worth, his integrity 
and pleasing address, he is held in high favor by all who know him, and his 
many friends predict a future replete with honor and success for him.

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