Santa Clara County
Biographies
WILLIS
SMITH
WILLIS SMITH.
Established in San Jose in 1902, the enterprise of the Smith Meat & Grocery
Company would seem to command a trade out of all proportion to the length of
its association with the community. The cause of its success is found in the
character and attainments of its president and proprietor, Willis Smith,
one of the most widely experienced merchants and cattle men who have made the
west their field of business activity. While living in many frontier towns and
associating with men of inspiring fearlessness and daring, Mr. Smith has
added to his natural powers of activity which, applied to this promising and
responsive town, have brought him success, and caused him to be regarded as a
man of energy, progressiveness and thrift.
Born in Independence,
Jackson county, Mo., February 1, 1855, Mr. Smith is of southern ancestry,
claiming military renown, and representing old-time traditions. His father,
M. T., was born near Lexington, Ky., and his grandfather, Willis, though a
native also of the Blue Grass state, was of Virginia parentage, and an early
settler in Jackson county, Mo. M. T. Smith is a graduate physician,
and still makes his home in Raytown, near Independence, where he was one of the
foremost practitioners for many years. He is a veteran of both the Mexican and
Civil wars, and in the former was wounded twice in the same leg. In the Civil
war he served on the Confederate side, being captain of a Missouri regiment. In
politics he is a Democrat, fraternally a Mason, and in religious convictions he
is a Baptist, and has been identified with that sect since early manhood. His
wife, formerly Mary Ellen Beckham, also was born in Kentucky,
the daughter of James Beckham, for many years engaged in the drug business in
Independence, Mo. Mrs. Smith died in Missouri, leaving ten children, one
of whom is deceased.
The oldest in his
father’s family, Willis Smith found it to his financial advantage to leave home
at the age of sixteen, and in 1871 located on a cattle ranch near Cañon City, Colo. There he gained his first knowledge of
the far west, became an experienced cow boy, and from the first liked the
bracing air, freedom and out-door existence incident to the occupation. Eventually
he branched out into a cattle business of his own near Fremont, and in 1884
sold his ranch and stock and removed to Grand Junction. Engaging in a general
merchandise business, he became prominent in various lines of activity in the
town and county, and became especially interested in the irrigation problem,
the solution of which has made that region one of the most famous fruit centers
in the United States. He supplied the contract for the first irrigating ditch
in the state of Colorado, pushed its construction, and at the same time took a
keen interest in the political situation. He served as county commissioner and
deputy sheriff, positions invested with much anthority
and great responsibility in those frontier days. In 1885 Mr. Smith sold
his business at Grand Junction and going to Texas bought cattle, trailed them
to Colorado and wintered them near Huerfano. The following summer he again
located at Grand Junction, engaging in the cattle, grocery and butchering
business, and remained there until selling out in 1897.
Desiring an all-around
change, Mr. Smith moved to the City of Mexico, and a few months later started a
grocery and meat market business, which he conducted with fair success for four
years to a day. In April, 1902, he located in San Jose, and the following
December bought the G. W. James grocery, which he has since enlarged
and improved, until he now has double the room of the former owner, and
covering two floors. At the same time he started a butchering and general meat
store, engaged in the manufacture of baking powder, and has worked up a large
and remunerative family trade. In January, 1903, he incorporated the Smith Meat
& Grocery Company, of which he is president, his wife treasurer, and his
son Arthur secretary. His two other sons, Willis and William Calvin, are
also in business with him. Mrs. Smith was formerly J. May Hopkind, a native of Ohio. Mr. Smith is a believer in fair
play and good goods as means of maintaining patronage, and of courtesy and
consideration in dealing with the public. He is highly regarded for honesty and
genuine worth, having a thorough dislike for the shams and pretensions of life.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
04 May 2015.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page 557. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Marie
Hassard.