Frank Conger Smith, M. D. Biography


	This biography appears on pages 85-86 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm



		FRANK CONGER SMITH, M. D., F. A. C. S.  

	Dr. Frank Codger Smith, whose ability in his chosen profession is 
attested by the liberal practice accorded him in Yankton, was born in 
the Yankton agency, now Greenwood, Charles Mix county, South Dakota, on 
the 11th of May, 1869, a son of Harvey H. and Jane C. (Ridall) Smith, 
of whom extended mention is made elsewhere in this volume. The father 
was serving as farm superintendent at the Yankton agency at the time of 
the birth of his son Frank, who in the pursuit of his education 
attended the public schools of Yankton and afterward became a student 
in the Yankton College. Determining upon the practice of medicine as a 
life work, he entered the Harvard Medical School and afterward 
matriculated in the University of New York City, from which he was 
graduated with the class of 1894. He is the first male graduate of the 
vocal department of the School of Music of Yankton College and went 
east with the intention of continuing the study of music, but later 
abandoned that plan and entered Harvard, from which time he bent his 
energies toward equipping himself for medical practice. He became 
connected with the New York Post Graduate  School, receiving an 
appointment as instructor in that school, and following his graduation 
he served an internship at St. Mark's Hospital for eighteen months. For 
two years he remained in the post-graduate college and next began the 
special study of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. He became 
an instructor in that branch in the medical department of Columbia 
University and at one time was assistant surgeon in the New York Eye 
and Ear Infirmary, while in the New York Nose, Throat and Lung Hospital 
he became surgeon and held clinics. For three years, from 1911 until 
1913 inclusive, he conducted his own clinics in New York city.  

	On the 17th of November, 1913, Dr. Smith returned to Yankton, 
where he now enjoys an extensive practice as a specialist on the eye, 
ear, nose and throat. He has carried his investigations and researches 
far and wide and his knowledge is comprehensive and exact, his ability 
placing him among the eminent representatives of this branch of the 
profession in the northwest. He holds membership in the District 
Medical Society, the South Dakota State Medical Society, in the 
American Medical Association, in the American Academy of Ophthalmology 
and Oto-Laryngology, and is a fellow of the American College of 
Surgeons.  

	On the 10th of September, 1901, Dr. Smith was married to Miss 
Kate Maud Comstock, a daughter of Walter H. and Amine (Scoville) 
Comstock, of Topeka, Kansas. They have five children, Catherine Ruth, 
Helen Esther, Mary Eleanor, Homer Comstock and Rebecca Lucile. Mrs. 
Smith possesses notable vocal powers, which have been well trained, and 
during her residence in New York she was soprano soloist in the 
Manhattan Congregational church. Dr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the 
Congregational church choir and he also was prominent as a choir singer 
in the eastern metropolis. He enjoys tennis and motoring when 
professional duties and obligations permit him leisure. He was in 
college days a well trained athlete, playing baseball on the college 
team, and he has always recognized and urged the value and worth of 
manly athletic and outdoor sports. He stands as an eminent 
representative of his calling, fully recognizing his obligations in 
that direction, and, while admired socially by many friends, his 
prominence as a practitioner has gained him a wide acquaintance over 
several states.