Charles Ackley Chapin Smith was born in New York State in 1848 to Charles Smith Sr. and his wife, Mary Jane Brown (Jane), born in England. His sister Mary Jane had been born in 1846.

Sometime around 1870 he married Liday Smith, daughter of Obadiah and Livonia Smith, and they homesteaded and raised their family in Dighton, Michigan. Their children were:

Leslie D. (1874-1948)
Vernie D. (1876-1948)
Lillie M. (1880-1950)
Bertha Celette (1882-1970)
Leonie L. (1884-1910)
Herbert (1886-1887)

The Smith children had their photo taken as a group in abt. 1898.