History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests / compiled from the official records of the county, the newspapers and data of personal interviews, under the editorial supervision of Thaddeus D. Seeley.

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

145

HON. GEORGE W. SMITH
Hon. George W. Smith, judge of the sixth judicial district since
I896, and one of the more prominent citizens of Pontiac, was born at
Warsaw, New York, on March 27, 1850, and is now in the prime of life.
When he was five years of age Judge Smith accompanied his parents from their eastern home in Michigan, and he was reared in Commerce, Oakland county. He is the son of Orson H. and Jeannette
(Armstrong) Smith. Finishing the public schools, Judge Smith carried
on his law studies in the University of Michigan, and was admitted to
the bar in I874, beginning the practice of law in Pontiac on May I,
1876. In 1877 and 1878 he served as circuit court commissioner of Oakland county, and in I879 and I880 he was city attorney of Pontiac. In
November, I888, he was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney
of Oakland county and served six years in that position, discharging
the duties of the office with all fidelity and fixity of purpose, displaying
a splendid ability meanwhile. On January I, I896, Judge Smith entered
upon his first term as judge of the Sixth judicial circuit, and in the
years that have passed with him as the incumbent of the office, he has
made a splendid record upon the bench. He is recognized as a learned.
fearless and impartial jurist, and no hint of suspicion has ever been cast
upon his integrity.
ROBERT J. LOUNSBURY
Robert J. Lounsbury, mayor and a well known attorney of Pontiac
and the representative of large real estate interests here and in the east,
was born in Putnam county, New York, where his father, a prominent
farmer of that district, died in I88I.
Mr. Lounsbury was prepared for college at Andover, Massachusetts,
and was a student at Dartmouth, afterwards graduating from the
Columbia Law School of New York City in 1875. Immediately thereafter he came to Pontiac in the interests of certain eastern capitalists
who were operating in Michigan, Illinois and adjoining states, and he
has had their interests in charge since that time. During the first few
years he was able to devote a considerable time to general practice on
his own responsibility, but for the most part the demands on his time
by his eastern clients has precluded the possibility of making progress
as a private practitioner. In recent years he acted as receiver for the
P. 0. & N. Railway, and he made a record for efficiency that was commended by both factions of the defunct road.
In I9II Mr. Lounsbury was elected mayor of Pontiac under the
commission form of government, which provides for three commissioners
only, of which the mayor is one, and he has made a distinct success of
his administration as chief executive of the city, his term being marked
by a straightforward business administration of the affairs of the city.
He is a thoroughgoing Pontiacker, has the best interests of the city at
heart at all times, and is held in high esteem throughout the city and
county.
Vol. 1-1 0