Smathers was born on January 7, 1891, on a plantation near
Waynesville, North Carolina. He attended public school and
Washington and Lee University in
Lexington, Virginia. Smathers was graduated from the law department of the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1911 and was admitted to the bar in 1912, commencing practice in
Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he served as a judge of the common pleas court of Atlantic City from 1922 to 1932. Additionally, he served as the first assistant Attorney General of New Jersey, from 1934 to 1936. ==Legacy==