Smith (Elizabeth) is born in Massachusetts.

The daughter of Common Councilor John and Georgiana Smith and granddaughter of a state legislator, Elizabeth Smith attends the Wells School and graduates from Girls High and Normal School and the State Normal School at Salem. She becomes the first African-American teacher in an integrated Boston public school in 1869,* subsequently teaches at other schools, and retires in 1899. Smith dies in Dorchester on December 18, 1899.