A long-time Dorchester resident, Smith was moved by the sufferings of animals she saw roaming the streets and used her wealth to establish the Animal Rescue League in 1899.
Under her leadership, such improvements as the installation of water basins around the city where dogs and cats could drink and the founding of the Horses Aid Association, which provided health care for the city’s horses free of charge, were implemented.
A descendant of the Clapp family, who were among Dorchester’s earliest European residents, she was married to publisher Huntington Smith and listed her occupation as a journalist in the federal census of 1900. She is one of the women celebrated in Francine Trester’s 2021 musical composition “A Walk in Her Shoes.”
