Gaston, Joseph. "Portland, Oregon Its History and Builders." Vol. 2. Chicago and Portland, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911. p. 204 MILTON W. SMITH Milton W. Smith, for twenty-nine years a practitioner at the Portland bar, has gained prominence and success in his profession and his record is in contradistinction to the old adage that a prophet is never without honor save in his own country, for Mr. Smith is a native of the state in which he has so directed his labors as to win an enviable position as a representative of the profession to which life and liberty must look for protection. He was born on a farm where the town of Aurora, Oregon, now stands on the 15th of July, 1855, and manifested special aptitude in his studies as he pursued his education in the public schools and in the Pacific University, which conferred upon him the Bachelor of Arts degree at the time of his graduation, and three years later made him Master of Arts. His literary course completed, he at once entered upon the study of law with Judge Deady, of the United States district court at Portland as his preceptor, and under the direction of that eminent jurist continued his reading until he was admitted to the bar in March, 1881. A brief period of rest and of preliminary preparation for his life work brought him to August of the same year, when he opened an office and entered upon active practice. There has been nothing spectacular in his professional career. It has been devoid of those dazzling and meteoric qualities which claim the attention and rivet the gaze of the public but only for a brief period. His salient qualities have been rather those characterized by continuity and manifest in continuous progress, each year finding him further in advance than he was in the preceding year, his talents and abilities gradually unfolding and growing. He is conspicuous among lawyers for the wide research and provident care with which he prepares his cases. In no instance has his reading ever been confined to the limitations of the question at issue. He has gone beyond and encompassed every contingency and provided not alone for the expected but also for the unexpected, which happens in the courts quite as frequently as out of them. His logical grasp of facts and principles of the law applicable to them has been another potent element in his success and the remarkable clearness of expression and precise diction, which enables him to make others understand not only the salient points of his argument but his every fine gradation of meaning, may be accounted one of his most conspicuous gifts and accomplishments. In 1890 Mr. Smith was chosen treasurer and one of the directors of the Portland Library Association and so continued for eighteen years, acting also as chairman of the book committee, managing the library. Since 1894 he has been a director of the Multnomah Law Library and through much of this period has served as its president Deeply interested in the cause of education, he has labored earnestly to promote the interests of his alma mater and to this end accepted the position of secretary of its finance committee and also became a director of the university. He was at one time president of his alumni association, and he has been vice president of the Portland free kindergarten. His labors have been most effective as a champion of education and he has done much to secure the adoption of high ideals in that field. Aside from his efforts for educational progress and his activity in the field of law practice, he has served as a director of the Columbia & Northwestern Railway extending between the town of Lyle and Klickitat in the state of Washington. Mr. Smith was married in Washington county, Oregon, in 1881, to Miss Alice Sweek, a native of that county and a daughter of John and Maria Sweek, who in 1852 came from Missouri to Oregon. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are parents of three children, Ruth, Josephine and Marion. Theirs is a hospitable home and the center of a cultured society circle. Mr. Smith belongs to the Arlington and the University Clubs and also holds membership with the State Bar Association. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and, while he has never been a politician in the sense of office-seeking, he keeps in touch with the issues of the day and is abreast with the best thinking men of the age on sociological and economic questions. His opinions are never hastily formed but are rather the conclusion of deep consideration and earnest thought so that in matters of public concern as well as in the law he is able to give wise and valuable counsel. He is a man of earnest purpose, inflexible in his adherence to what he believes to be right and yet he accords to others the same privilege of honest opinion. ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in February 2009 by Diana Smith. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.