Judge Smith represents the fourth generation of his family after they settled in Hudson (then Bergen) County. He is the son of Abel I. Smith, Sr., and Prudence Cary, his wife, and was born in North Bergen, N. J., June 12, 1843, on the land conveyed to the original Abel Smith in 1732 by a deed describing him as " a gentleman." There he received his preliminary educa- tion in the public schools. He was for eight years under the able tutorship of the Rev. William V. V. Mabon, D.D., later a professor in the New Brunswick Theological Seminary. In 1462 he was graduated with honor from Rutgers College, and the same year began his legal studies in the office of J. Dickerson Miller, of Jersey City, being admitted to the New Jersey bar as an attorney in June, 1866, and as a counselor in June, 1873. He has practiced his profession in Hoboken since 1868, coming there from the Town of Union, Hudson County, and by the exercise of great natural ability has achieved eminent success and a high reputation.

He has also filled several important positions. In 1869 he was elected as a Republican to the Legislature from the old Eighth Assembly District, comprising Bergen, West Hoboken, Weehawken, and the Township of Union, and served in the session of 1870. He was the first Republican elected from that district and the only Republican from Hudson County in the session of that year. He declined a renomination. In 1888 he was appointed Judge of the District Court of the City of Hoboken by Governor Green and served until April 1, 1891, and in 1898 he was again appointed to the same position by Governor Griggs. A fact of special interest in connection with his first term on the bench is that, of the many cases which he decided, few were taken to higher courts for review, and all but two so taken were affirmed. His present term expires in 1903.

Judge Smith has been a life-long resident of Hudson County, and for more than thirty years has been actively identified with the growth of the City of Hoboken. He is an able and talented lawyer, one of the acknowledged leaders of the Hudson County bar, a learned, fair-minded, and conscientious jurist, and a public spirited, progressive citizen. His practice has been largely confined from the first to civil suits in the Court of Chancery, in the Circuit, Supreme, and Orphans' Courts, and in the Court of Errors and Appeals, and also in the United States Circuit and District Courts of New Jersey, to the bar of which he was admitted in 1894. He was counsel in the matter of the crossing of the new county road by the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, and also for three of the most important and noteworthy improvements in Hudson County, namely the " Bull's Ferry Road," the "Bergen Line Road," and the "Bergen Wood Road." For ten years he was counsel for the Township of North Bergen; for three years he was counsel for the Jersey City, Hoboken, and Rutherford Electric Railway Company; and in a legal capacity has also been connected with many large estates and interests in the County of Hudson. For four years he served as President of the Hudson County branch of the State Charities Aid Association of New Jersey, being also a member of the Committee on Laws of the State Association.

Few men have achieved the distinction in both professional and public life which Judge Smith enjoys. He has long been an active and influential Republican and a recognized leader of the party, and in the various positions which he has filled he has displayed great executive ability, sound judgment, and commendable foresight. At the bar and on the bench he has gained a merited eminence. Well versed in the science of the law, and firmly grounded in the loftiest principles of practice, his untiring efforts and legal attainments have placed him among the foremost lawyers of East Jersey, and in the possession of an extensive and successful practice. Since 1885 John S. Mabon, a son of his early tutor, has been his law partner, the firm name being Smith & Mabon. Judge Smith is also an antiquarian of no little reputation, and at his home has a large and valuable collection of continental money, rare old coins, etc., several of which have been in the family since their settlement in America. His collection includes gold pieces of various countries from 1632 to 1800 and a number of continental coins which were exhumed a few years ago at or near the site of the Smith homestead in Secaucus. He also has a large library, which includes the old family Bible containing the date of the birth of Mary Bailey, one of his ancestors, in St. Philip's Parish, Bristol, England, in 1653. He is a member of the Palma and Union League Clubs of Jersey City, and for years has been identified with many of the leading institutions of his county.