When he was orphaned at eleven, Dan was sent to live with an uncle who forbade scholarly pursuits. He ran away from the uncle's home at the age of fourteen with a dime in his pocket but determined to make a life of his own. At the age of twenty, Smoot married Betty Evans, his 16-year-old childhood sweetheart, who became the mother of his two sons, Barney and Larry. Later divorced, he married his secretary, Virginia McKnight who preceded him in death by some seven years.