Sacramento County
Biographies
MRS. ANNA SMITH
It
has been the privilege of Mrs. Smith to witness remarkable changes in the
appearance, condition and population of the west since the time when she first
arrived in California
sixty years ago. The excitement caused by the discovery of gold had not
yet faded before the more important enterprises pertaining to the upbuilding of the great western empire. The entire trip
from her native commonwealth of Ohio, where she was born near Columbus in 1835
and where she had been reared, made an indelible impression upon the mind of
the young girl of seventeen, and she recalls the interesting fact that, after
disembarking from the ship at the Isthmus of Panama, she was put on the back of
a mule for transportation across to the Pacific ocean, whence she sailed up to
San Francisco on the ship Blond in 1852. Arriving at Sacramento
she found a small village of rude shacks and tents,
crowded with a populace whose principal topic of conversation was that of
mining and whose favorite vice was gambling. Prices of all commodities were
high and the cost of living, an interesting theme of conversation in the
present era of the world, offered a problem as serious to the poor of that
period as to those of the twentieth century. Even the smallest articles brought
a quarter instead of a nickel as they would in the present day, while no one
seemed to recall that pennies were in existence. A church stood on K
street at that time and
there the young girl became the wife of John White, a native of England,
and a pioneer of substantial traits of character. The following year, 1853, was
made memorable to the couple, not only by reason of the birth of their first
child, John A., at the family home on the corner of Third and O streets,
Sacramento, but also because of the disastrous flood and even more calamitous
fire of that season. When the eldest child was three years of age the family
removed to Folsom and there remained for a considerable period. Besides the
child mentioned four others were born to the couple, but only two of the entire
number now survive, those being John A., of Sacramento, and Emma, Mrs. Lowrey, of San Francisco. Mr. White, who was an interested
worker in the blue lodge of Masonry and a contributor to movements for the
public welfare, was deeply mourned when he passed away in 1861, but he left to
the community the example of disinterested service as a pioneer and a true
champion of his adopted country. During 1890 his widow was united in marriage
with Daniel Smith, a native of Scotland,
who was a physician in Sacramento county. His death in 1902 left Mrs. Smith once again alone,
but with the companionship of her surviving children to gladden her declining
days. In her quiet home at No. 723 Seventh street,
Sacramento, surrounded by the comforts made
possible by years of energetic work and cheered by the friendship of other
pioneer women of the city, she passes the twilight of her useful existence in
tranquil contentment.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento County,
California, Pages 924-925. Historic
Record Company, Los
Angeles,
CA. 1913.
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.