Background
Smith was born on October 15, 1827 in the township of Spafford, Onondaga County, New York, United States. He was descended from John Smith, one of the founders of Milford, Connecticut; his grandfather, Job Smith, and his father, Lewis Smith, served as officers in the Revolution; the latter was also active in the political life of Onondaga County and was a member of the state legislature in 1829. He married Chloe Benson, a descendant of a Massachusetts Puritan, and she bore him five children, one of whom, Stephen Smith, was later a distinguished surgeon in New York City. Job Lewis Smith was the youngest child.
he boy passed the early years of his life on his father's farm.