Excerpt from "Notable Men of Alabama: Personal & Genealogical, Vol 2", 1904.
MILTON McGRATH SMITH, M.D., a distinguished physician and surgeon, of Tuskegee, is a descendant of the Old Scottish family, whose Gaelic name was McGowan, the English equivalent of which is Smithson. This Highland family belongs to Rothesay, Isle of Bute, and can be traced back to an unbroken line to Duncan Smith, of Rothesay, who lived in the early part of the eighteenth century. His only son, Neil, married Isabella Black, of Douglas, Isle of Man, and to them were born five sons and two daughters. The eldest son, John Smith, was a Baptist preacher of great eloquence and power. He married Euphemia Campbell, and early in the nineteenth century came to America, settling at Camden, S.C. From this couple the American branch of the family have descended. The children of John and Euphemia Smith were Neil Cassius, who settled at Tuskegee; Daniel and Peter went to Arkansas, the latter living at Hot Springs; Mary, afterwards Mrs. Slaton, and later Mrs. Graham, of Texas. Euphemia Smith died in South Carolina in 1820, and John Smith married for his second wife, Margaret White. To this marriage were born James, of Memphis, Tenn.; Joseph, of Texas; Thomas Lyde, of Little Rock, Ark.; and Elizabeth, of Alabama. Neil Cassius Smith, in 1833, married Caroline Hennessey, of Columbia, S.C., and while still a young man migrated to Alabama and located at Tuskegee, where he died in 1857, at the age of forty-six. He was the father of eight children, viz.: John Cassius, George H., Ellen, Camuel [Campbell] Edward, Harriet Euphemia, Charles Alexander, James Daniel and Milton McGrath. Four of these children are still living. Dr. Milton M. Smith was born in Tuskegee, Dec. 23, 1852. After attending the common schools and graduating from the Park high school of his native town, he became a clerk in the drug store of Hunter & Alexander. He remained with this firm for five years, at the end of which time he entered the Louisville Medical College, at Louisville, Ky. After attending lectures for one year he returned to Tuskegee and bought a half interest in the drug business of J. W. Hunter, the firm being known as Hunter and Smith. Later he became the sole proprietor... In 1889 he again went to the Louisville Medical College, and graduated from that institution in 1890. Since that time he was actively engaged in the practice of his profession at Tuskegee, where he acquired a high standing and enjoyed a large practice. Since beginning his professional career he took post-graduate courses in the School of Medicine, of New York City, and has done considerable hospital work. The old Gaelic motto of "Macte," which means "to grow," and which was the motto of the McGowans in early days, is particularly applicable to Doctor Smith. By his own energy and industry he has grown to his present prominent position in the medical profession, and whether by the bedside of his patient, or behind the counter in his drug store, or in the deliberations of the Macon County Medical society, of which he is an honored member, the evidences of his intellectual growth are always apparent. On Jan. 7, 1879, Doctor Smith and Sue Magruder were married at Mobile, Ala. She is a native of Tuskegee, a daughter of W. R. and Mary Ann (Perry) Magruder, and on of a family of eight children. Her mother, who still lives in Tuskegee, is a second cousin of Commodore Perry, who fought with such distinction in the American navy during the War of 1812, and who opened the ports of Japan to the commerce of the word. Doctor and Mrs. Smith have had two children born to them: Milton Neil and Olive. The daughter is living, and with her mother is an active member of the Missionary Baptist Church.