J. Gregory Smith

J. Gregory Smith was a Vermont lawyer, politician, and businessman. He was first a lawyer. His law firm was Noble and Smith. He served in a variety of elected political positions, culminating in his election, in 1863, to the governorship of Vermont. He also became president of the Central Vermont Railroad and then later president of the Northern Pacific Railway. He was eventually forced out of the NP presidency in early 1873 by Jay Cooke and other backers of the road because he tended to use NP money to prop up the failing finances of the CV (See Lubteken, Jay Cooke's Gamble).