Contra Costa-Alameda County CA Archives Biographies.....Smith, Napoleon B. 1818 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com November 29, 2005, 3:57 pm

Author: W. A. Slocum & Co., Publishers (1882)

NAPOLEON B. SMITH.—Here we have a pioneer of pioneers, with a residence in
Contra Costa county dating from the year 1845. Mr. Smith is the son of Timothy
S., and Susan (Crappin) Smith, and was born in Harrow (now Erie) county, Ohio,
March 2, 1818. When an infant he was taken by his parents into the wilds of the
territory of Michigan, his father being at the time in the employ of the United
States Government, and afterwards took charge of the trading post, being
subsequently, on the admission of the State into the union, elected to the State
Legislature. Our subject received his early schooling in Michigan, and there
dwelt almost continuously up to his departure for the shores of the "Peaceful
Sea." Four years of this time he passed in Wisconsin, in the employ of the
American Fur Company, where he had no associates other than Indians. In the
month of August, 1845, in company with his brother, Henry C. Smith, and Phillip
Mendenhall, the subject of our narrative started to Independence, Missouri,
where they joined the train piloted and captained by L. W. Hastings, to cross
the then little-known route over the plains to California. All went well with
the expedition until Fort Laramie was reached, where on account of a predatory
band of Indians they suffered ten days delay. The party now had Mr. Bridger, as
guide who, after many hair-breadth escapes, brought them safely to Sutter's Fort
on Christmas Day, 1845. For the first month of his stay in California, Mr. Smith
found employment with Captain Sutter, and in the following Spring, he came to
the San Antonio redwoods, where he worked until the discovery of gold on January
19, 1848. He then started for the mines with Hon. Warren Brown, and first tried
his luck at Mormon Bar, but after a short time removed to the house of his
father-in-law, when with his wife he proceeded to the Mission San Jose, and
there conducted a store until the latter part of 1849, the meanwhile being
engaged in freighting by water to the embarcadero near the mission, from San
Francisco, at times receiving as high as five hundred dollars for the conveyance
of a party of a dozen passengers between these two points. On closing out his
business at the mission, he came to the Contra Costa, located in the village of
Martinez, where he engaged in merchandizing, and on the formation of the county,
was elected to the office of Assessor, he being the first to assume the
functions of that position in the county. In 1852, Mr. Smith was elected to the
State Legislature then holding at Vallejo, and was a member of that body when
the archives were removed to Sacramento. It should also not be forgotten to
mention that Mr. Smith was a member of that small band of intrepid pioneers who
raised the historical "Bear Flag;" under its folds captured the garrisoned town
of Sonoma, June 14, 1846, and subsequently declared the independence of
California. On his return from his duties in the Legislature, Mr. Smith resided
in Martinez until 1857, when he purchased and moved to his present ranch of four
hundred acres located in the Alhambra district. Here he resides and engages in
fruit growing and farming. Married at the Santa Clara Mission, April 18, 1847,
Miss Margelina, a daughter of Hon. Elam Brown, a native of Illinois, by whom he
has eight children: Frank (the first American male child born in Contra Costa
county), born January 30, 1848; Lawrence M., Sarah C., Louis N., Ellen J., Elam,
Timothy S. and Warren C.

Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY,
CALIFORNIA,
INCLUDING ITS GEOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, TOPOGRAPHY, CLIMATOGRAPHY AND DESCRIPTION;
TOGETHER WITH A RECORD OF THE MEXICAN GRANTS; THE BEAR FLAG WAR; THE MOUNT
DIABLO COAL FIELDS; THE EARLY HISTORY AND SETTLEMENT, COMPILED FROM THE MOST
AUTHENTIC SOURCES; THE NAMES OF ORIGINAL SPANISH AND MEXICAN PIONEERS; FULL
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY; SEPARATE HISTORY OF EACH TOWNSHIP, SHOWING
THE ADVANCE IN POPULATION AND AGRICULTURE;
ALSO,
Incidents of Pioneer Life; and Biographical Sketches
OF EARLY AND PROMINENT SETTLERS AND REPRESENTATIVE MEN;
AMD OF ITS TOWNS, VILLAGES, CHURCHES, SECRET SOCIETIES, ETC.
ILLUSTRATED.
SAN FRANCISCO: W. A. SLOCUM & CO., PUBLISHERS
1882.



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