HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS, E. Polk Johnson, three volumes,
Lewis Publishing Co., New York & Chicago, 1912. Common version, Vol. III,
p. 1181.  [Full page photograph of Mr. Smith included with bio.]
[Jefferson County]

WILLIAM MAYFIELD SMITH deserves consideration in this publication by reason
of his standing as one of the representative members of the bar of the city
of Louisville, as well as from the fact that he is a native son of the fine
old Blue Grass state.  He was born in Christian county, Kentucky on the 3d
of January, 1853, and is a son of Samuel R. and Mary J. (Pattillo) Smith,
both of whom were born in the state of North Carolina, where they were
reared and educated and where their marriage was solemnized, after which
they came to Kentucky, first settling in Christian county, whence they
they later removed to Graves county, when their son William M. was seven
years of age.  Samuel R. Smith became a successful farmer of this state and
both he and his wife continued to reside in Graves county until their
death.  Samuel R. Smith, Sr., grandfather of him whose name initiates this
article, was of stanch English ancestry, and the family was founded in
America in the Colonial epoch of our national history.  He served as a
soldier in the Continental army in the Revolutionary war.  In the maternal
line William Mayfield Smith traces his ancestry back to French-Huguenot
stock, and the Pattillo family likewise was early founded in North
Carolina.
     William Mayfield Smith is indebted to the public schools of Mayfield,
Kentucky, for his preliminary education discipline, and in 1871-72 he was
a student in the Louisville Law School, in which he was graduated in the
latter year, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws.  He had previously given
careful attention to preliminary reading of the law and thus came to his
profession admirably fortified for its work.  He initiated practice in
Mayfield, Kentucky, immediately after his graduation, and he soon gained
distinctive precedence as one of the successful members of the bar of
Graves county. He served four years as prosecuting attorney of that county,
and also represented the same in the lower house of the state legislature.
In 1892 Mr. Smith established his home in the city of Louisville, and
from September of that year until the following February he was assistant
United States district attorney for the Kentucky district.  In February,
1893, in recognition of his eligibility and fine legal powers, President
Cleveland conferred upon him the appointment to the office of Unites States
district attorney for the same district.  The incumbency he retained for a
period of four years, and his retirement therefrom was the result of a
change in the administration of national affairs, as the Rupublican [sic]
party then came into power.  So excellent had been his record as district
attorney that he was made special district attorney for a period of
eighteen months, at the expiration of which he retired.  He has since
given his attention to his private practice, in which he retains a large
and representative clientage, and he is known as a skilled and versatile
lawyer and well fortified counselor.  In politics, as has been intimated,
he is a stanch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party.  Mr. SMith
is identified with the Masonic order, in which he has attained the
chivalric degrees, besides which he is affiliated with the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
     Mr. Smith has twice been married.  In 1874 he was united in marriage
to Miss Augusta Anderson, daughter of Lucien Anderson, of Mayfield,
Kentucky.  She was summoned to the life eternal in 1879 and is survived
by three sons:--Harry A., Terry P. and Lucien R.  Harry A. and Lucien R.
are engaged in the practice of law at Louisville and Mayfield, Kentucky,
respectively, and the second son, Terry P., is engaged in the banking
business in Mayfield.  In 1887 Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss
Dillah Sherrill, daughter of Colonel Lee Sherrill of Ballard county,
Kentucky.  The children of the second marriage are:--Linda Lee, Ralph W.,
William Mayfield Jr. and Ludie Sherrill.  Mrs. Smith and the children are
members of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, and Mr. SMith is a member
of the Christian church.

Smith Pattillo Anderson Sherrill
=
Christian-KY Mayfield-Graves-KY Ballard-KY NC

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/jefferson/smith.wm.txt