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  • Story: Edward Smithwick & Family - History Of Orange County, California By Samuel Armor

    <span style="font-family: arial"><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px"><p style="font-family: serif; text-align: ; text-indent: 1em">&nbsp;</p><p>EDWARD&nbsp;SMITHWICK.&mdash;Among the interesting and highly-esteemed pioneers of Santa Ana must be numbered Edward&nbsp;Smithwick,&nbsp;a native of Austin, Texas., where he was born on September 2, 1840, with the distinction of being a Texan before the Lone Star State became one of the United States. His father was Noah&nbsp;Smithwick,&nbsp;a pioneer of Texas pioneers, having come there from Tennessee in 1828; and he had married Miss Thurza Blakey, a native of Hopkinsville, Ky., whose family migrated to Texas in the thirties.</p> <p>Edward was educated in the district schools of his locality, and came to California with his father and mother, who started from Texas in a prairie schooner drawn by oxen, the day upon which Fort Sumter was fired upon. There were five families, numbering thirty-five persons, in the train, and they arrived in San Diego County in the fall of 1861, and remained there for the winter, for the season was so wet that it was deemed best not to attempt travel. In the spring&mdash;1862&mdash;Mr. and Mrs.&nbsp;Smithwick&nbsp;moved north with their family to what was then Tulare County, and there they lived until 1881. In the meantime, Kern County was formed out of a part of Tulare and a part of Los Angeles counties, and the Smithwicks became residents of Kern County.</p> <p>Edward&nbsp;Smithwick&nbsp;pastured sheep on what is now the rich Kern River oil fields, and at Linns Valley, on November 15, 1871, he was married to Miss Rebecca Reid, a native of Bell, Texas, who was brought to California by her parents in 1853, when she was only three months old. Her father was John C. Reid, and he had married a Miss Glen. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs.&nbsp;Smithwick&nbsp;engaged in general farming, and for eleven years lived in Linns Valley. When they sold their ranch of 150 acres, they went to Bakersfield. and came to Santa Ana in the spring of 1881, and here they have made their home ever since.</p> <p>Until 1895 Mr.&nbsp;Smithwick&nbsp;engaged in the livery business, and then he was judge in the justice&#39;s court, having been appointed in 1903 to fill the balance of Judge Freeman&#39;s term after his death. He was re-elected and served a second term, which expired in January, 1911.</p> <p>In 1909 Mr.&nbsp;Smithwick&nbsp;purchased a half-acre home place on North Broadway, and then, while still holding his Santa Ana property, he lived near Harper on a five- acre ranch devoted to the raising of apples. When he sold out, he came back to Santa Ana.</p> <p>Eight children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs.&nbsp;Smithwick,&nbsp;and six are living: Sidney married Miss Elizabeth Sidell, of Santa Ana; Effie is Mrs. Benjamin Jerome, and lives on the San Joaquin ranch; Mattie is Mrs. William Brodhag, of Los Angeles; Charles married Miss Ruby Spencer, and lives at Randsburg, Cal.; Bertha is Mrs. Olaf Warling, of Santa Ana; Laura lives at home. Eddie passed away at the age of six, in Kern County, and May, who had become Mrs. Kribbs, was a victim of the influenza while living in Los Angeles in 1919.</p> <p>In national political affairs a straight Republican, Mr.&nbsp;Smithwick&nbsp;has always been too good an American citizen to allow partisanship to obscure the issues of a local campaign, or to interfere with his duty in supporting the best men and the best measures for the community&#39;s good.</p><p>&nbsp;</p></div></span>

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