May Riley Smith


May Riley Smith was an American poet and clubwoman.

Biography

May Riley was born on May 27, 1842 in Rochester, New York. She attended Brockport Collegiate Institute. She married Albert Smith, a bridge engineer, on March 31, 1869.
Smith belonged to several literary and social clubs during her life. She was the president of the Sorosis Club from 1911 to 1915 and the club's honorary president from 1919 until her death in 1927. She was also a member of the Poetry Club, Daughters of the American Revolution, the Meridian Club, the Barnard Club, and the MacDowell Club.
Smith published several books of poems, beginning in the 1880s. Many of her poems were devotional and were reprinted in hymn books. Her poems were also published in magazines such as Harper's Magazine.
Smith died in Manhattan on January 14, 1927.