Yolo County
Biographies
HENRY H. SMITH
The genealogy of this well-known
fruit-grower of Yolo county is traced back more than
two hundred years in America, his progenitors having crossed the ocean from the
highlands of Scotland at a very early period in the settlement of our country.
In a somewhat nearer degree he also traces his ancestry to Scotland, his
paternal grandfather having immigrated to the United States from that country;
and on his mother’s side he descends from the old Scotch and English family of
Hayden. To the irreproachable honor of the one race and the sound judgment of
the other nation, he has added the enterprise that is distinctively an American
trait, and these qualities have brought him the respect of his neighbors and
associates.
His father, Solomon C. Smith, was
born in Hartford, Conn., in 1802, the only child born to his mother, who died
when he was an infant. His father married again and of that union three sons
and one daughter were born: Ashbel G. graduated from
a high school, became a lawyer and also a physician, and in young manhood went
to Galveston, Tex., becoming prominent as a pioneer; Hines S. became a noted
attorney in Memphis, Tenn.; George removed to Texas and acquired prominence in
the development of that region; and Caroline married a Mr. Kiteridge,
and had one son who is now a lawyer of Watsonville, Ca. In 1825 Solomon C.
Smith married Sarah Rebecca Hayden, who was born in Hartford in 1804. Soon
after their marriage they removed to Concord, Lake county,
Ohio. The following children were born to them: Ashbel
G., born in 1828, and now residing in Painesville, Ohio; Caroline, who was born
in 1831, married Warren Duncan and resides in Kirkwood, Warren county, Ill.;
Sarah R., Mrs. Coe, born in 1835 and now residing in Kirkwood; Hayden, born in
1837, also of Kirkwood; Henry H., of this review, Cassius M., who was born in
1841 and died in Kirkwood in 1872, and Mirabeau L., born in 1844 and residing
in Galesburg, Ill. In 1855 Mr. Smith and his family settled in Warren county, Ill., where he died March 14, 1894, and his wife,
March 15, 1884, both of them reaching advanced ages.
In Lake county,
Ohio, Mr. Smith was born June 27, 1839, and there he passed the years of
boyhood on a farm. When about seventeen years of age, in 1855, he accompanied
the family to Illinois and settled in Warren county,
where he assisted his father in the improvement of the home farm of one hundred
and sixty acres. While quietly following the occupation of a farmer the Civil
war began and he was from the first an enthusiastic supporter of the Union.
August 5, 1862, he enlisted as drummer in Company A,
Eighty-third Illinois Infantry. After a year in that capacity he was made a
bugler and later acted as regimental bugler.
He saw much of guerrilla warfare, experienced an interesting skirmish in
a running fight for about seven miles in Kentucky, received at Clarksville,
Tenn., a flesh wound in the right thigh, and under General Thomas was present
in five engagements: the last battle of Donelson,
February 3, 1863; two battles at Nashville, and at Florence, Ala., and
Campbellsville. At the expiration of the war he was honorably discharged June
27, 1865, at Nashville, and from there returned to his father’s farm in
Illinois.
Possessing not a little ability as a
mechanic, for some years after the war Mr. Smith earned a livelihood through
work of this kind. For eight years he was engaged in the manufacture of wagons
and buggies, for two years worked in a foundry and for another two years
followed the occupation of a cabinet-maker, after which he was employed in the
manufacture of patterns and models. May 25, 1875, he arrived in Sacramento,
from which city he came to Yolo county, but a few days
later proceeded to Tulare county, and in the fall of the same year returned to
Yolo county, settled in the Capay valley, and took up a tract of government
land in the hills. While living on his claim he earned a livelihood at
carpentering and similar work. Selling out his land in 1888 he went to Lake county and rented three hundred acres near Lakeport, where
he carried on farm pursuits for a short time. In 1889 he returned to the Capay
valley and bought ten acres at Brooks. Under his personal oversight the land
has been planted to fruit, including peaches, plums and apples, also almonds,
and in league with the State University he has devoted considerable attention
to experimental fruit culture. At this writing he is testing eighty-six
varieties of fruits and also experimenting with dates of several kinds. Besides
managing his fruit farm he rents an adjoining farm, owned by Mrs. Jacob Henry,
his mother-in-law, and on that property he raises farm products of various
kinds.
The marriage of Mr. Smith was
solemnized in Warren county, Ill., and united him with
Miss Emeline Henry, who was born near Buchanan,
Mich., and is a daughter of Jacob Henry (mentioned elsewhere in this volume).
The children born of their union are as follows: Ivy, who at this writing is at
Hubbard, Hill county, Tex.; Avery G., who is employed as a carpenter in the
electric car shops of Los Angeles; Earl, who remains with his father and is now
postmaster at Brooks (the postoffice (sic) being at
their residence); Clyde, who is a musician of unusual ability; and Willard, at
home. The young people of the family possess more than ordinary ability and
fully justify the pride which their parents feel in their talents. In politics
Mr. Smith has voted the Republican ticket ever since casting his first ballot
for Abraham Lincoln in 1860. However, his views are liberal, and in respect to
currency his ideas are somewhat different from those of the Republican party. In fraternal matters he holds membership at Woodland
with the Saywood Post of the Grand Army of the
Republic.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: "History of the State of
California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento
Valley, Cal.," J. M. Guinn, Pages
617-618.
The Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago, 1906.
© 2017 Cecelia M. Setty.
Golden
Nugget Library's Yolo County Biographies