According to Ernest B. Fisher's Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan, Riley Smith was born in Jefferson County, New York, on May 18, 1833. The 1850 federal census lists a 17-year-old Riley Smith living in the Jefferson County home of Oslow and Harriet Smith. In 1854, the younger Smith moved to Nelson, Michigan, where he owned a 160-acre farm, worked as a practical surveyor, and taught school. He also served as justice of the peace in 1861. On May 10, 1861, Smith enlisted in Company K, 3rd Michigan Infantry. He mustered in with the regiment on June 10, as a fifth sergeant and later rose to the rank second sergeant, though later records list his rank as private. Smith remained with his regiment while participating in the battles of First Bull Run and Yorktown. Following the Battle of the Wilderness, he became ill and was hospitalized at Satterlee General Hospital in Philadelphia for three months. He appears to have joined Company F, 5th Michigan Infantry on June 10, 1864. Other records suggest that he was taken prisoner on Boydtown Plank Road, Virginia on October 27, and held at Libby Prison, Richmond, until February 17, 1865. Following his discharge on June 22, 1865, Smith returned to Kent County and married Caroline Gilman (1844-1911) on July 9; the couple had one son. In addition to farming, Smith served as clerk of Nelson Township in 1866; as county surveyor from 1867 to 1868 and as county superintendent of the poor from 1875 through 1878. Riley Smith died on August 21, 1897, and was buried in Elmwood Cemetery, Kent County, Michigan.