James H. Smith, M. D. The original American progenitors of the family of which Dr. James Harrison Smith, of Wirt, Carter County, Oklahoma, is a scion, settled in the Carolinas in the colonial era of our national history, and in later generations representatives of the family have been worthily concerned with civic and material progress in various other states of the Union. Doctor Smith first came to Oklahoma Territory in 1901, and since 1907, the year that marked the admission of this state to the Union, he has been established in the successful practice of his profession at Wirt, a thriving little town attractively situated on the Cimarron River, about 150 miles distant from the City of Guthrie, the former territorial capital. He has won secure prestige as one of the able and successful physicians and surgeons of Carter County, and at Wirt he is one of the interested principals in the Smith-McKnight Company, which here conducts a well equipped and appointed drug store, the same having been established in September, 1914.

Doctor Smith was born at Cumming, the judicial center of Forsyth County, Georgia, on the 6th of November, 1878, and is a son of William E. and Julia (Kemp) Smith, both natives of that state. William E. Smith continued his residence in Georgia until 1892, when he removed with his family to Texas and established his residence at Snow Hill. In 1902 he removed to Floydada, Floyd County, that state, and he now resides on his well improved stock ranch in that county, where he has achieved excellent success both as a stockgrower and as a farmer, his vocation in his young manhood having been that of a mechanic. He is an uncompromising advocate of the principles of the democratic party, is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and both he and his wife are zealous members of the Baptist Church, in which he holds the office of deacon. Of the children Doctor Smith of this review is the firstborn; Alvis is a prosperous farmer and stock-raiser of Floyd County, Texas; Nora is the wife of Joseph Sparks, a substantial farmer in the vicinity of Henryetta, Okmulgee County, Oklahoma; Vige is a farmer in Floyd County, Texas; Jasper is engaged in the hardware business at Farmersville, Collin County, that state; Flora is the wife of John Pennington, a farmer near Lockney, Floyd County, Texas; and Zora remains at the parental home.

Doctor Smith acquired his early education in the public schools of his native county and was about fourteen years of age at the time of the family removal from Georgia to Texas, in 1892. He was associated with his father in the work and management of the home ranch in the Lone Star State until he had attained to the age of twenty years. After formulating his plans for entering the medical profession he attended the Dallas Medical College, in the City of Dallas, Texas, for three years, and he left that institution in 1903, with a standing in his advanced studies and work that practically entitled him to graduation. In 1901 Doctor Smith had established his residence at Comanche, Stephens County, Oklahoma, and there engaged in the mercantile business. In 1906 he was licensed to practice medicine in Oklahoma Territory, and he continued his residence at Comanche until the following year, when he removed to Wirt, Logan County, where he has since continued his successful and unremitting labors as a physician and surgeon and where he commands high esteem both as a representative of his profession and as a liberal and public spirited citizen. The drug store at Wirt in which he is associated in the ownership was the first here established and controls a large and appreciative patronage. At Healdton, Carter County, Doctor Smith is the owner of residence property, and he also has a well improved farm near that place. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Church of Christ.

Doctor Smith is actively identified with Healdton Lodge, No. 23, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, of which he is past junior warden; with Healdton Camp, No. 333, Woodmen of the World; and with Ardmore Lodge, Improved Order of Red Men. He is a member of the Logan County Medical Society, the Oklahoma State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.

At Blue Ridge, Collin County, Texas, in the year 1896, was solemnized the marriage of Doctor Smith to Miss Clarinda Driggers, daughter of the late Thomas Driggers, who was a representative farmer and stockgrower of that section of the Lone Star State. Dr. and .Mrs. Smith have five children, namely: Ethel, Charles, Jarrett, Elmer, and Velma.

Doctor Smith maintains his office in the drug store at Wirt and since the spring of 1915 he has had as a valued coadjutor in the work of his profession Dr. P. R. Davis.