Contra Costa County Biography

FRANK X. SMITH

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, December, 2006.

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
                 Prominent among the representative men of eastern Contra Costa 
County is Frank X. Smith. He was born in San Francisco on December 3, 1868, son 
of Andrew and Catherine (Kelly) Smith. Mr. Smith's father was a native of County 
Cavan, Ireland, where he was reared, and at the age of seventeen he came to 
America, and located in Illinois. Later he went to Utah and then to California. 
He found employment in Los Angeles at different vocations for a time, and later 
worked in the mines of Knoxville. He remained here for a time and then decided 
to engage in ranching. In 1868, he bought a settler's right to one hundred and 
sixty acres of land, which he improved and put out an orchard and vineyard. Ten 
years later he bought another quarter-section of land; a little later he 
purchased another quarter-section, and again one hundred and seventy acres, 
until he owned at the time of his death, which occurred in 1906, about eight 
hundred acres. For twenty years he rented and farmed five hundred acres of land 
on the Marsh ranch. The parents of Frank X. Smith were united in marriage in San 
Francisco, and to this union were born three children - Frank X., the subject of 
this review; Andrew J., identified with the home ranch; and John W., physician 
and surgeon, who died in 1908. Dr. John W. Smith was a graduate of the Cooper 
Medical College of San Francisco, and was one of the prominent physicians of  
San Francisco. He assisted and did much professional work during the big fire in 
San Francisco. Andrew J., was born in 1870, educated in the public schools of 
Contra Costa County, and later attended the Stockton Business College. He has 
always been identified with agricultural pursuits. Frank X. acquired his 
education in the public schools after which he took a business course. Frank X. 
Smith was united in marriage to Mary A. Lynch, a native of San Francisco, 
daughter of Philip and Ellen Lynch, May 22, 1900. Their two children are Mary 
Alberta, attending high school in Brentwood, and Clarence F., attending school. 
Fraternally, Mr. Smith is a member of the Eagles lodge of Antioch and the Young 
Men's Institute. The family are members of the Catholic church of Antioch.
 
Source: "The History of Contra Costa County, California," Elms Publ. Co., 1917, 
pp. 580-581.