Born in Wilson County, Tennessee, George Washington Smith came to Texas in 1834 with his wife Elizabeth Briggs. He fought in the Texas War for Independence from 1835 to 1836 as a private in Capt. Clendennin’s Company 1st Regiment Artillery. In the Mexican War from 1846 to 1848, he served as a sergeant in Company K 1st Regiment of the Texas Rangers under Col. John Coffee (Jack) Hays. The Smith family settled in Collin County in 1852. When Smith died about 1876, he was buried near the entrance of the present Blue Ridge Cemetery, and later his grave was moved to the Grounds Cemetery northwest of there.