CHARLES SMITH

Sacramento County

Biographies

CHARLES SMITH

CHARLES SMITH.--A successful poultryman whose experience has not only enabled him to build for himself, but has permitted him to point the way to those who would emulate and follow, is Charles Smith, of the Don Ray Colony, situated southeast of Dillard Station. A native of England, he was born in Manchester on November 1, 1873, the son of Robert and Ann (Berry) Smith, worthy folks who lived and died in their native country. Robert Smith was a pattern-maker, and few enjoyed a better reputation for superior workmanship. He lived to see his sixtieth year, as did also his wife, the mother of twelve children. Agnes and William are both deceased; Harry and Charles are in the Don Ray Colony; Fred and Ernest are also deceased; Frank is in England; Anna and Percy lived to be only six months old; and Albert, Harold and Robert are in England.

Charles Smith went to school for a while at Hyde, in England, later supplementing his studies through courses at the excellent evening schools, and when ten years old he started to work, getting employment in a spinning mill. When fifteen years of age, he started to learn the trade of fitter and turner, and served his apprenticeship as a machinist; and he worked at his trade and studied the poultry business until he came to California. On March 1, 1904, he reached Los Angeles, and for a year he worked in that city at this trade; and in 1905 he came to Sacramento County and was one of the first to purchase in this section of the Don Ray Colony, selecting ten acres and engaging in both general farming and the poultry business, as he had always wanted to do from young manhood. He has remained on that ranch ever since, adding to his land until he owns thirty acres. He built a home and poultry houses, sufficient to enable him to keep at least 1,000 laying hens, and to carry on a very successful business. He has also dealt in all kinds of feed, representing San Francisco houses. He is a member of the Poultry Producers’ Association, and at present is a trustee of the Don Ray Colony district school and clerk of the board.

At Hyde, the interesting suburb of Manchester devoted almost entirely to the manufacture of cotton, on September 2, 1897, Mr. Smith was married to Miss Katherine Brooke Cook, a native of Cheshire and the daughter of Samuel and Eliza (Brooke) Cook, the former a foreman in a cotton mill and the father of eight children, bearing names as follows: Harry, Alice, Ada, Katherine B., Anna, Emma, Maggie and Rachael. Katherine attended the same school at Hyde as did her husband, so that they have schoolday memories as a part of their pleasant recollection of Old England. The bride’s father lived to be eighty-five years old; the mother breathed her last at the age of sixty-one. Three children blessed this union, Hilda, Frank, who is at home, and Robert. Hilda married James Dent Webb, of Paradise, Butte County; and she is now the mother of two children, Muriel and Charles Walter. Mr. Smith became a citizen at Sacramento on June 12, 1911, and supports the best men and measures.

Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.

Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches, Pages 896-897. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.