Erasmus M. Smithers

Erasmus M. Smithers was one of the European pioneers of the Pacific coast and the founder of the city of Renton, King County, Washington. He settled on the land where the town is now located in 1853, fifteen miles from what is now Seattle. At the time there was not a white settler other than himself at a point nearer than Seattle, which was then a frontier settlement.

Early life

Smithers was born in Virginia on February 17 1830 to a family being of English origin and which had been among the early settlers in Virginia and North Carolina. His father, Samuel Smithers, a farmer, was born in Virginia, and married a Miss Hale, also a member of one of the old families of that state.

He was raised Virginia and his early education was very limited in scope. At age 19 he left Virginia and set out for the west. A friend had informed him that two young ladies were about to leave for Oregon with a company, and that one of the members of the party, Green Olds, desired to secure the services of a young man to aid him during the journey across the plains.

Journey west

He paid $50 to join the company. On the May 8 1852 the company embarked with twenty wagons drawn by ox teams. 15 miles west of Omaha, Nebraska, a large band of Indians met them at a bridge and demanded a payment of one dollar a wagon before they passed on, but the settlers were able to fight them off.

The trip Iowa City, Iowa to The Dalles, Oregon took six months, and they then continued to Portland, Oregon where Smithers found a job assisting in the construction of a mill. In April, 1853, he went to Seattle, selling timber to ships bound to San Francisco, California. He brought with him from Portland three yoke of cattle and hauled logs to build the Fort Madison, Washington mill. When the Indian war of 1855 broke out, he volunteered for service, and continued a member of the volunteer militia until 1856.

Later life

In November 1857, he married Diana Tobin, a native of Maine, and soon after moved to his homestead of 480 acres, which were wilderness at the time and populated by Indians. He and his wife built a small shack, where they lived initially and their children, Edward and Ada, were born. He built a larger house in 1875.

The city of Renton is located on a portion of Smithers' land. He platted the town and placed the lots on the market. He also discovered the deposit of coal in the area and established a mine which he later sold. A life-long member of the Democratic Party, his first vote having been cast in support of Isaac I. Stevens for governor of the territory. He was a member of the Washington Pioneer Society and during the American Civil War he was initiated into the the Freemasonry, being one of the first members of St. John's Lodge of Seattle, one of the first lodges instituted in the territory.

He was on board of trustees of the South Prairie Coal Mining Company. He was appointed by Governor Edward Selig Salomon and once by Governor Elisha Peyre Ferry a trustee of University of Washington and was elected president of the board of regents.

Notes

*This article incorporates text from "A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of the City of Seattle and County of King, Washington." New York and Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1903. p. 96.

References

* [http://maryryan.com/renton.htm "Renton, Where the Water Took Wing" by Buerge]
* [http://www.rentonhistory.org/pdfs/Newsletters/RHM_Oct2006.PDFRenton Historical Quarterly 19.p65]