Dr. John M. Smith was a physician and surgeon. He was born in Bald Hill Township, Jefferson County, in either 1870 or 1871. Prepretory to the study of medicine, he attended Southern Illinois Normal Teachers College at Carbondale and later graduated from Barnes Medical School in St. Louis in the 1890's. He practiced medicine in Jefferson County, until his death in 1900 from tuberculosis. Most of his practice was around Scheller, Illinois.