California Biographies

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

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

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


CHARLES PHILLIP SMITH is widely and favorably known as a representative farmer and 
dairyman. The son of Samuel A. Smith, an honored pioneer of this part of Merced county, he is 
a native son, a business man of ability, and a highly esteemed citizen. He was born near what 
is now Los Banos, September 6, 1874, being the youngest son in a family consisting of five boys 
and two girls. A brief parental history may be found elsewhere in this volume, in connection 
with the sketch of his father, S. A. Smith. 

The early life of Charles P. Smith passed without especial incident. In common with the 
children of the neighborhood, he attended the district school, gleaning a practical knowledge 
of books, while on the home farm he labored industriously, becoming familiar with the science 
of agriculture. Wishing to enter a mercantile career, he was for two years engaged in the 
grocery business, being a member of the firm of Smith Brothers, in Los Banos. The occupa- 
tion not proving congenial to his tastes, he sold out his interest in the store, and began the im- 
provement of his farm of forty acres, which is situated one-half mile south of Los Banos. He 
was one of the first in this locality to check up and ditch his land, and has it now devoted to 
alfalfa and dairy purposes. Mr. Smith now manages his father's farm of two hundred acres, 
making a specialty of alfalfa-raising and of dairying. He has over two hundred head of 
cattle, mostly Holsteins, and milks about one hundred cows. His dairy is equipped with a 
separator, operated by steam power, and with all other needed machinery and appliances for a 
first-class dairy. He carries on a large business in this line of industry, shipping his cream to 
Oakland, where he receives the highest market prices. Politically Mr. Smith is a stanch Demo- 
crat. Until the disbandment of the Santa Rita Parlor, N. S. G. W., he belonged to the organ- 
ization, having been one of its charter members.