Alameda County Biographies

JUDGE GEORGE SMITH

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

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

        Honored and respected by all, Judge George Smith occupies an enviable 
position in the regard of his fellow citizens of San Leandro and Alameda county, 
where he has made his home since 1867. He was the sixth in order of birth in a 
family of seven children, his natal day being April 5, 1822. He comes of Holland 
ancestry, his grandfather, George Schmidt, having been born in Holland in 1730. 
When a boy of ten years he accompanied his parents to America and while serving 
in the French and Indian war sustained a wound that caused his death twenty-five 
years later. He married Katrina Van Alstine, and they occupied the old stone 
tavern in Esopus, New York, which the English army, under Sir Henry Clinton, 
failed to destroy when the town was burned, October 17, 1777. In that house the 
wife lived for one hundred and three years and there the father of Judge Smith 
was born, June 14, 1785. In 1810 he married Anna Ellis, who was born in Dutchess 
county, New York, October 20, 1793, a daughter of Noah Ellis, who was born in 
1763 and was of English lineage. When sixteen years of age he volunteered for 
service under General Washington and participated in the Revolutionary war to 
its close, acting a part of the time as one of Washington's life guard. In 1784 
he married Amelia Graham, of Highland Scotch descent. Noah Ellis was the pioneer 
settler of Rensselaerville, New York, he and his wife riding through the 
unbroken forest to their new home. He died in Middletown, Delaware county, New 
York, in 1859. For some time George Smith, father of the Judge, followed farming 
in Delaware county, but in 1822 he returned to the old stone tavern at Esopus. 
On the 1st of May, 1823, the family started for Chautauqua county, New York, 
arriving there thirty days later.
        Judge Smith was reared and educated in his native state, attending the 
Fredonia Academy, from which he was graduated in 1839, after which he took up 
the profession of teaching. In 1846 he became a teacher at Coldwater, Michigan, 
and afterward became one of the pioneer settlers at Hales Corners, Wisconsin, 
not far from Milwaukee. While there he strongly supported the state constitution 
and urged the admission of Wisconsin into the Union. In 1848 he returned to New 
York and followed farming and teaching at South Stockton. On the 24th of July, 
1850, he married Eliza M. Fenner, and they became parents of six sons and three 
daughters. Mrs. Smith was the eldest daughter of C. C. Fenner, who was born 
December 5, 1801, and in 1825 married Lucinda Fross, who was born January 9, 
1807, and was the eldest daughter of Rufus Fross, who settled in Chautauqua, New 
York, in 1810. C. C. Fenner, a pioneer of South Stockton, built the first 
sawmill and the first grist mill of that section.
        On the 1st of December, 1855, Judge Smith and his wife, after having 
tried dairy farming in New York, removed to Michigan and resumed teaching, which 
both had previously followed. In 1857, however, they once more took up dairy 
farming at Stockton, New York. Suffering from rheumatism, Mr. Smith was advised 
by his physician to make an overland journey to California, and on the 15th of 
April, 1861, left home for the far west, accompanied by his brothers-in-law, P. 
C. and Wallace Fenner, and his nephew, Alonzo Putnam. On reaching Toledo, Ohio, 
they learned that Fort Sumter had been fired upon and on arriving at Chicago saw 
two companies armed and equipped leaving for the front. The company with which 
they were traveling soon joined with others, some from Illinois, Indiana, 
Wisconsin and Michigan, until there were one hundred men and nineteen women in 
the party. It was perhaps because of the large number in the party that they 
were not attacked when crossing the plains, for many other parties suffered as 
the result of the unrest among Indians at the time of the war.
        After reaching California Mr. Smith spent the winter with Sid Griggs at 
Sid's Landing, Colusa county, and that fall voted for Leland Stanford, 
republican nominee for governor. In April, 1862, he engaged in teaching school 
at Fairfield and was appointed deputy county assessor and later deputy county 
clerk of Solano county. Pleased with California and its prospects, he sent for 
his wife to join him, and she started on the 1st of January, 1863, as a 
passenger on the ship Ariel. In May of that year Mr. Smith was one of the 
pioneers in the Washoe territory, where he engaged in teaming, and while there 
voted for the second time to convert California into a state. On the 17th of 
March, 1867, he and his wife took up their permanent abode at San Leandro, where 
he purchased a house and three blocks of ground from Socrates Huff. On this land 
was an orchard of cherry and pear trees, the cherry trees being some of the 
first planted in this county, and two of them are still standing and bearing 
fruit.
        In 1869 Mr. Smith was elected justice of the peace, the position being 
an important one, for San Leandro was the capital of the county. In 1871 he was 
reelected, but at the next term, the courts having been removed to Oakland, he 
did not seek the position. In 1872 San Leandro was incorporated and he was 
elected police judge, filling the position for four years. Twice he has been 
elected one of the five trustees of San Leandro and has taken an active and 
helpful interest in promoting the progress and upbuilding of the place.
        Neither the Judge nor his wife ever joined a religious organization, yet 
were active in the work of the Presbyterian church, which they attended, and 
several times he served as a trustee of the church. He was also elected and 
served for seven years as superintendent of the Sunday school and did much to 
further the growth and promote the progress of the church. He also served for 
three terms of three years each as trustee of the schools in San Leandro. On the 
24th of July, 1900, he and his wife celebrated their golden wedding, 
entertaining one hundred guests. Their home, Rose Cottage, was decorated in 
exquisite and tasteful style, all in the color of gold, and refreshments were 
served in a vine-covered arbor near the house. It was a happy occasion, not only 
for the judge and his wife, but for all who were present. Judge Smith has 
considerable talent as a writer of verse and on the occasion of the golden 
jubilee read one of his original poems. His wife died December 14, 1906, at the 
age of seventy-eight years, after they had traveled life's journey together as 
man and wife for fifty-six years.
 
Past & Present of Alameda County, California � Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 
1914, p. 436