SMITH, George, banker, born in Old Deer, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 8 March, 1808. He passed two years in Aberdeen college with the intention of studying medicine, but, his eyesight failing, he turned to farming. In 1833 he came to this court-try, and in 1834 settled in Chicago, where he invested largely in city lots. He also bought land where the city of Milwaukee now stands, but sold his real estate in 1836 for one quarter in cash and the balance in notes, and returned to Scotland. 'The financial depression of 1837 made it necessary for him to return to Chicago and take back the land he had sold. In 1837 he obtained a charter for the Wisconsin marine and fire insurance company, which enabled him to receive deposits and issue certificates there for to the amount of $1,500,000. Alexander Mitchell was made secretary of the company, with headquarters at Milwaukee. The certificates circulated freely, and were for many years the most popular currency in the northwest. In 1839 Mr. Smith, under the firm-name of George Smith and Co., founded the first banking-house in the city of Chicago. When, in 1854, the Wisconsin legislature suppressed the circulation of the Wisconsin marine and fire insurance company's certificates, Mr. Smith sold the insurance company, of which he had become sole owner, to Alexander Mitchell, , and bought the charters of two banks in Georgia, which together had the right to issue notes to the extent, of $3,000,000. These notes were duly issued in Georgia, sent to Chicago, and there circulated by George Smith and Co. Mr. Smith began to close up his business affairs in 1857, and in 1861 he returned to Great Britain, residing chiefly in London.