Santa
Clara County
Biographies
EDWIN S. SMITH
Of the different branches of agriculture the
dairy business, properly carried on, represents the surest and quickest returns
for the money and labor invested, a fact that is
appreciated by Edwin S. Smith, of San Jose, the leading dairyman of the Santa
Clara valley. For forty consecutive years he has been engaged in his present
occupation, and by long experience has gained a thorough knowledge of the
business, which he is carrying on with marked success. Taking great sanitary
precautions, and dealing in pure milk only, he has won the confidence of his
many customers, who realize that an honest milkman is a boon to humanity, and
not to be found every day. Like many others of our most valued and respected
citizens, Mr. Smith was born in the British Isles, his birth having occurred
April 15, 1832, in County Cavan, Ireland, which was
also the birthplace of his parents, John and Catherine (Smith) Smith.
Being left fatherless when young,
Edwin S. Smith came with his widowed mother to the United States, settling in Mobile,
Ala., being then a boy of six years. After completing
his education, he served an apprenticeship at the baker’s trade, and
subsequently was employed in the butchering business for awhile. Industrious
and economical, he accumulated some money, and in 1852, having enough capital
on hand to pay for his passage, he came by way of Panama to California, walking
across the Isthmus. Spending but a few days in San Francisco, Mr. Smith went
first to the Tuolumne gold region as a prospector, but not successful in his
operations he proceeded to the Fraser river diggings, and from there went into
British Columbia in search of the shining mineral. Not at all satisfied with
the result of his labors, he returned to California, locating in Jacksonville,
where, with others, he twice dammed the river, but to no purpose. After twelve
years of prospecting and mining, years of unsatisfactory labor, Mr. Smith
decided to turn his attention to dairying. Coming to San Jose in 1864, he
formed a partnership with William Quinn, and established a dairy across the
river from the city. Three years later, in 1867, Mr. Smith purchased the Ira
Jones residence and property, which was then in an unpopulated neighborhood,
there being no houses near. A part of the land he devoted to the raising of
hay, and the reminder he rented. Subsequently platting the land, he sold it for
house lots, on which fine residences have been erected, the community round
about being now thickly settled. For awhile thereafter, Mr. Smith rented land
near Alviso, on the Alviso road, for pasturing his cattle. His business
increased so rapidly, and to such magnitude, that he disposed of his cows, and
began purchasing milk from other dairymen, farmers in whom he had confidence,
and buying the product of tested cows only. Mr. Smith has thus built up a very
large and profitable business, handling the milk of three hundred cows, and in
addition to having two regular wagons on the deliveries employs an extra wagon
almost all of the time.
Mr. Smith is also interested to a
considerable extent in horse breeding and raising, and owns many valuable
horses, including the stallions, Baywood and Dr.
Swift, the latter of whom has a record of 2:13, and
several fine brood mares. His horses have appeared on all the noted tracks of
the state and have won many races.
Mr. Smith married Mary Moore, a
native of Wisconsin, and they have four children, namely: Catherine, deceased;
Helen; Edward C., engaged in the dairy business with his father; and Charles
M., engaged in newspaper work in New York, where he married Rose Raymond. Mr.
Smith is a member of the Santa Clara Pioneers Society.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast
Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page 1196. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.