Merced County Biographies

SAMUEL A. SMITH

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

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


        A worthy representative of the second generation of citizens of Merced 
County is found in Charles P. Smith, dairyman, and road overseer of the Fifth 
district on the West Side. A native of the county, he was born at Central Point, 
September 6, 1874, the fifth child of Samuel A. and Nancy (Dollarhide) Smith, 
one of the oldest families on the West Side in Merced County.
        Samuel A. Smith was born near Rock Island, Ill., February 14, 1839. At 
the age of two he was taken by his parents to Winnebago County, Ill., where he 
attended public school. In 1856 his parents became pioneers of Fayette County, 
Iowa, and here he helped his father improve a homestead, remaining with him 
until 1862. That memorable year the young man took the long journey across the 
plains to California, hoping in this congenial climate to obtain a living from 
the soil. He looked over various parts o