George W. Smith (1858-1891)

George W. Smith (1858-1891). The above photograph was taken in September of 1877, possibly at Redding, California, at the age of 19-years-old. The photographer is unknown. From the collection of Jeremy Tuggle.

This short blog chronicles the life of George W. Smith who was born in 1858 in California, his father, Gottlieb George Kaylor Smith, was 46 and his mother, Elizabeth Jane (Lamberson) Smith, was 25 at the time of his birth. He had three brothers and six sisters during his parents' union. George W. Smith was raised at Horsetown, a son of a local farmer in Shasta County, and he attended school in the area as shown in the 1870 U.S. Census. He later became a mill worker at the Eagle Creek sawmill near Eagle Creek, (now Ono). Smith was accused of poisoning the livestock of a local rancher named George Fenwick whose ranch was on the South Fork of Cottonwood Creek. 

On May 23, 1891, George W. Smith was caught by Fenwick trespassing on his property, and Fenwick charged at Smith in which a fatal quarrel took place with Fenwick shooting and instantly killing Smith on his land with a loaded gun. Smith died on May 23, 1891, at the Fenwick Ranch on the South Fork of Cottonwood Creek at the age of 33. The local sheriff was called to the scene and a coroner's inquest report was held by the local coroner the shooting was documented as suspicious and the sheriff took Fenwick into custody it was later determined that there was not enough evidence to hold George Fenwick for murder. Fenwick was discharged from custody and released from the Shasta County Jail in early June of 1891. George W. Smith (1858-1891) was my maternal great-great-great granduncle. He is supposedly buried on Rainbow Lake Road on land that is now private property. He is one of two burials at this small cemetery on Rainbow Lake Road the other burial is that of his younger brother Issac Jonas Smith (1870-1876) who died young.

Sources:

1870 U.S. Census

1880 U.S Census

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 30, 1891

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 6, 1891

WILLIAM B. SMITH (1859-1917)

Above: William B. Smith pans for gold along a rocky creek in the Sunny Hill mining district. From the collection of Jeremy Tuggle.

William B. Smith was born to Gottlieb George Kaylor Smith and Elizabeth Jane (Lamberson) Smith, at Eagle Creek (now Ono) on May 10, 1859, and during the following year the Smith’s settled their family at Horsetown. He was the fourth of ten children born to his parents. William was educated at the Eagle Creek schoolhouse in Eagle Creek.

William grew up to be a life-long miner. He also married Elizabeth Rester at Igo on March 12, 1890, the bride was the daughter of John Rester, and his wife Annie. Their wedding was performed by the Reverend William S. Kidder. To this union there were eight children born to them:

1.  Anna Smith

2. Esther May Smith

3. Louisa Bella Smith

4. Gladys Smith

5. Willie B. Smith

6. Earl Douglas Smith 

7. Ruth Elizabeth Smith

8. Howard Smith

William and his wife Elizabeth purchased a residence at Sunny Hill, a few miles from the town of Ono. This is where most of his mining was done in the boundaries of the Sunny Hill mining district of Shasta County. He was a family man and he was a mining partner of Valentine Doll, who was also his brother-in-law, and married to William’s sister, Harriett.

By December of 1897, William B. Smith and Valentine Doll issued advertising Proof Of Labor notices in the local media for the Manzanita and Honeycomb Quartz Mines in the Sunny Hill mining district. There is a real estate transfer in April of 1898, stating the following:

"W.B. Smith and Elizabeth Smith to V. Doll and Hattie E. Doll, F. Barlow. H.A. Root and D.E. Alexander - Bond for deed $3,800 Honcycomb Mine, extension of Honeycomb Mine with mill right, ditch, and water right at Jerusalem Creek, Sec. T.30 N., R., 8., W., also two placer claims included."

William died on November 27, 1917, at Sunny Hill due to an illness of the stomach. There was no doctor present at the time of his death so the coroner was called in from Redding to perform a coroners investigation on his body. William B. Smith is buried at the Redding Cemetery (now Redding Memorial Park) next to his son Willie B. Smith.

William’s wife Elizabeth (Rester) Smith survived her husband by six years. She died on October 14, 1923, she is buried in the same cemetery as her husband. 

Note: Gottlieb George Kaylor Smith and Elizabeth Jane (Lamberson) Smith are the author’s great-great-great-great maternal grandparents, and William B. Smith is my great-great-great maternal uncle. I descend through his sister Harriett Emma (Smith) Doll.

Above: the headstone of William B. Smith at the Redding Memorial Park, in Redding. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on January 10, 2021.

Resources:

1860 U.S. Census

1870 U.S. Census

1880 U.S. Census

Married - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, March 22, 1890

Proof Of Labor - The Daily Free Press newspaper of Redding, December 1, 1897

Bond For A Deed - The Daily Free Press newspaper of Redding, April 16, 1898

Proof Of Labor - Honeycomb and Manzanita Quartz mines dated December 27, 1899

1900 U.S. Census

Proof Of Labor - Honeycomb and Manzanita Quartz mines dated January 8, 1901

The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, August 30, 1908

1910 U.S. Census

William B. Smith Dies At Sunny Hill - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, November 28, 1917

Resident Of Ono, Shasta County, Dies - The Sacramento Union newspaper of Sacramento, November 29, 1917

1920 U.S. Census

Calvin Jefferson Smith, Mining Man written by Thelma Phillips Smith, The 1986 Covered Wagon, published annually by Shasta Historical Society, pages 42-45.

Valentine Doll written by Jeremy M. Tuggle, The 2011 Covered Wagon, published annually by Shasta Historical Society, pages 43-49. 

SP-037.1 Smith, Gottlieb George Kaylor, Pioneer Plaque File available at the Shasta Historical Society.