California Biographies

Source:
History of Napa and Lake Counties
San Francisco, Slocum, Bowen & Co., Publishers. 1881

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper 2011

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


WILLIAM C. S. SMITH.  Was born in Franklin, Warren County, Ohio, in 1823. He moved to Muscatine 
County, Iowa, in 1840, and to New York City in 1848. January 15, 1849, he started for California, coming 
via, Vera Cruz, City of Mexico, San Bias and Mazatlan to Cape Saint Lucas, and thence by land to San. 
Diego where he arrived June 10th of that year, and thence to San Francisco, arriving July 6th following. 
He proceeded at once to the mines at Boss Bar, on the Yuba River, where he engaged in that 
occupation for a while. He then proceeded to Slate Range, opposite the mouth of Slate Creek, where 
he spent the remainder of the summer. That fall he went to Sacramento, and ran a boat to Nyes 
Landing, now Marysville. During the winter of 1849 he established a mercantile house at Marysville, 
with several branch houses in the mountains. In 1852 he purchased a tract of land in Napa Valley from 
Salvador Vallejo, and in 1853 moved upon it April 14, 1865, he was appointed by President Lincoln to 
the position of Collector of Internal Revenue of the Fifth District of California. This appointment was 
made the day before the assassination of President Lincoln, and the signing of the document was his 
last official act Mr. Smith filled the position with honor and fidelity for twelve years, and until the Fifth 
District was merged with the Fourth. Upon retiring his accounts were examined by the Treasury 
Department and found to be correct in every particular. He is now engaged in the retail grocery 
business in Napa City. While it can not be said of Mr. Smith that he has gotten unto himself a great 
name, yet the nobler praise is due him of having always done what his hands found to do, with a 
conscientious regard for truth, honor and fidelity. He has always taken an active part in the 
advancement of all that tends to the moral and social as well as the financial advancement of the city in 
which he resides. He was married March 4, 1858, to Miss Margaret J. Hornbeck, who died July 21, 1869, 
leaving four children: Jeanetta A,, Charles G., Egbert T., and William T. In 1870 he married, secondly, 
Mrs. Alice Hinckley.