Anna Clapp Harris Smith was the daughter of William and Anna Clapp Harris, two children of prominent local residents. William was the son of Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris, minister of the First Parish Church on Meetinghouse Hill from 1793 to 1836. Anna Clapp was the daughter of David Clapp, the noted printer whose Pleasant Street land had been owned by his family almost since the founding of Dorchester in 1630. (1843-1937) was born at 65 Pleasant St. at the foot of Jones Hill, the house she lived in her entire life.The young Anna Harris, imbued with family connections and born to a world of comfort, was christened at the First Parish Church by her paternal grandfather.

As a child, she was intelligent and developed both a flair for music and a deep abiding feeling for animals and nature. It was said that her father was a strict and religious man and that these values, instilled in his daughter, gave a deep spiritual devotion to her great cause of later years.

Anna Harris completed her education in Boston, after attending Miss Pope's School on Meeting house Hill. She became an accomplished musician, and taught music, giving informal recitals with her brother Samuel who was a talented violinist. She also composed music for several songs. The Harris family, comfortable and well-established, were among the leaders of local society.

In 1884, Anna Harris married Huntington Smith of Boston; he was the editor of the Boston Beacon, later to become its owner and publisher. The Smiths lived in Anna's family home, which had been built on the stone foundations of the Thomas Jones House, reputedly built in 1636.

The Clapps had purchased the original house from Jones' heirs and rebuilt it after a disastrous fire in 1804. The five-bay Federal house, while not pretentious, was surrounded by lands that were not just extensive, but valuable. The Smiths subdivided their estate over the years into house lots.

Undoubtedly, Anna Smith was a compassionate person, and tried to do the right thing concerning animals. But according to her biography, she was deeply shocked when a neighbor told her that, when her cat became too old to catch mice, she would have it taken to the woods and left there. This apparently fueled Smith's desire to form some sort of protective circle for animals.

As a member of the First Parish Church's Benevolent Society, then headed by Emily Fifield, Smith visited the sick and the poor. Apart from the human misery that she was, she was overwhelmed by the conditions of animals in back alleys and beasts of burden on the main streets of Boston. This concern became a driving force for Smith, and culminated with the incorporation of the Animal Rescue League of Boston on March 13, 1899.

Smith coined the phrase 'Kindness Uplifts the World,' which is still the League's motto. Throughout her long life, she had a great concern for all animals that she was able to combine with practical means to reduce suffering. True, her wealth and position enabled her to devote her activities to better the conditions of animals, but it was her never-ending sense of duty that sustained her when it became her life work.

Today, the Animal Rescue League of Boston takes in stray animals, most of which it spays and neuters, and tries to find them homes. In addition, the group has trained agents who will rescue those animals in peril such as those who are caught in trees, for example.

In 1899, when women did not have the right to vote, Mrs. Smith had the vision, courage and determination to establish the Animal Rescue League of Boston. Anna Harris Smith founded the League in 1899 because of the mistreatment of horses in Boston. Her legacy is a vibrant humane organization that values the power and beauty of the animal-human bond and recognizes that this bond is integral to larger efforts underway to stop the escalating violence in our communities.

She put a call in the newspapers, asking those who were interested in the subject to attend a meeting and form a league for the protection and care of lost or deserted pets. The response was immediate and generous. The Animal Rescue League was formed with several hundred members, and in a short time the house at 68 Carver Street was rented, and a man and his wife put in charge.

Here were brought both cats and dogs from all parts of Boston and the suburbs, where they are sure of kind treatment and care. "If they are diseased they are immediately put out of existence by means of the lethal chamber; otherwise they are kept for a few days in order that they may be claimed by their owners if lost, or have homes found for them whenever it is possible. During the first year over two thousand cats were cared for, and several hundred dogs. This home is maintained by voluntary contributions and by the annual dues of subscribers. These are one dollar a year for associate members and five dollars for active members. It is an excellent charity, and one that may well be emulated in other cities."

Anna Harris Smith believed that "kindness uplifts the world" and in order to help create a kinder world, she started Kindness Clubs for children. Each week children would record every kind act completed in a note book and at meetings they would read aloud their good deeds.

Anna Harris Smith started Christmas for Horses event. This event embodies the essence of The Animal Rescue League of Boston's mission as an animal welfare organization. Begun in 1912 by the Animal Rescue League of Boston’s Founder Anna Harris Smith as a way to recognize the plight of working horses in Boston, Christmas for Horses has grown beyond this special day to recognize working horses at over 30 stables throughout Greater Boston who are visited with holiday treats by members of the ARL of Boston Law Enforcement Department at Christmas.

Anna Harris Smith is buried in the Dorchester North Burying Ground at the corner of Columbia Road and Cushing Avenue. This burial ground was created in 1634, the same year that the Boston Common was set out. It represents the initiative of a band of settlers from Dorset County, England. The Old North was Dorchester's sole cemetery until as late as 1819 and attests to the primacy of northern Dorchester over its central and southern sections for two centuries.