Butte County Biographies

GEORGE ADAMS SMITH

Transcribed by:  Betty Wilson

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

Of the election of Judge Sherwood�s successor, Judge Sexton says:  �In 1852 came 
on the first popular election for district judge.  George Adams Smith presented 
himself as a candidate for the position from Butte, and William P. Daingerfield 
as a candidate from Shasta.  The convention met at the town of Tehama.  J.E.N. 
Lewis marshaled the forces of Mr. Smith, and Mr. Watson (the immortal Col. Jack, 
of legislative memory) those of Mr. Daingerfield.  The rooms of the hotel where 
the convention was held were separated by cloth partitions, and the several 
caucuses were held under the shade of the spreading oaks.  The convention came 
to a deadlock, and neither candidate would give way, or their friends would not 
let them; and finally Watson, with the friends of Mr. Daingerfield, withdrew, 
formed a convention of their own and unanimously nominated Mr. Daingerfield.  
The other portion of the convention unanimously nominated Mr. Smith.  A third 
party came into the field from Colusa, as a Whig�Col. G.W. Bowie.  George Adams 
Smith was elected by a fair majority. * * * In 1853, he died of consumption.  He 
was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, and learned the trade of his father, a 
brick-mason.  He was too weak physically to labor at that, and, quitting it, 
commenced the study of law.  With only an ordinary common-school education, he 
made rapid advances in his profession and, had he lived, would have attained 
eminence in it.  He was an indefatigable student, a clear and logical thinker, 
and exulted in the acquisition of knowledge, especially in that of his 
profession.  He was a good, pure, honest and high-minded man.  The people of 
Butte lost one of their brightest ornaments, and every member of the bar a 
friend, when they were compelled to murmur their farewell over his grave.�
            The vacancy was filled by the appointment of Hon. Joseph W. McCorkle 
by the governor.  He was succeeded by William P. Daingerfield, elected the 
following year for the unexpired term.  In 1857, the legislature created a new 
judicial district, called the fifteenth, with Butte, Colusa, Tehama and Plumas 
counties, and Hon. C. E. Williams was
appointed judge until the election that fall.  This was a hard-fought struggle 
between Hon. Warren T. Sexton and Hon. J.E.N. Lewis.  They were both democrats, 
but Mr. Sexton had been successful in securing the nomination, and Mr. Lewis ran 
independently.  It is said that $15,000 were spent in conducting this exciting 
contest, which resulted in the election of Judge Sexton.  In 1863, Butte, 
Plumas, Tehama and Lassen were formed into the second judicial district, and Mr. 
Sexton was again chosen judge.  In 1869, Hon. Charles F. Lott was elected judge. 
 J.E.N. Lewis, who had received the nomination of the democratic party, died of 
heart disease the night after securing it.  Of his death Mr. Sexton says:  �He 
died sitting in his chair, enjoying a beautiful summer eve, in front of the 
house, so quietly, so noiselessly, that a lady, sitting near enough to touch 
him, continued her conversation to him a few minutes after his death, until 
finding he did not answer some question, she touched him and discovered that 
life was extinct.�  Judge Lott held the position until 1875, when he was again 
succeeded by Mr. Sexton, who presided until his death, August 11, 1878.  Hon. P. 
O. Hundley, the present superior judge, was appointed to succeed to the vacancy, 
and held the position until the abolition of the court, January 1, 1880.
 
History of Butte County, California: From its Earliest Settlement to the Present 
Time - Vol. II -  Harry L. Wells & W. L. Chambers - 547 Clay Street, San 
Francisco, Cal., 1882.


	George A. Smith, a grocer of Fresno, was born in Georgia in 
1860. His father was a planter by trade, and moved to Jacksonville, Illinois, in 
1864, and there bought 440 acres of land, where he carried on general farming 
and stock-raising. Young Smith was  educated at Jacksonville, (Illinois) 
Business College, after which he clerked in a grocery store and gathered further 
knowledge for his later business enterprise. In 1883 he came to California, 
settling on King's River, where he engaged in the breeding of trotting horses 
with D. J. McConnell, an old resident of that locality. They continued in 
business about two years, when Mr. Smith sold his interest and came to Fresno, 
and for two years acted as clerk for W. T. Riggs in his grocery store on 
Mariposa Street. In 1888 he bought out Mr. Riggs, and after about one year sold 
the stock to Messrs. McConnell & Hague. After a few months Mr. Smith bought the 
stock and good-will of Messrs. King, Harris, & Struder, at 1213 and 1215 K 
Street where he continues to carry on a successful business, keeping a full line 
of groceries, provisions and tinware. Mr. Smith was married in Fresno in 
October, 1889, to Miss Alice Daley, a daughter of Judge Daley, a former Judge of 
Mariposa County. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have one son, James Daley, born January 7, 
1891. 

Source: "The Memorial and Biographical History of the County of Fresno, Tulare 
and Kern, California," Lewis Publ. Co., 1892, pp. 477-478. 

Submitted by Sally Kaleta, June, 2007