Los Angeles County CA Archives Biographies.....Smith, P. H. 1862 - 
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Author: Luther A. Ingersoll (1908)

P. H. SMITH, capitalist and banker of Santa Monica, is a native of Iowa and was
born at Mount Pleasant, May 18th, 1862. His father, Simon Smith, by trade and
occupation a cabinet maker, was a man of thrift and successful in his business.
He was a veteran of the Civil War and served throughout the conflict in the
Fourth Iowa Cavalry. He married Miss Jane Kelly, a young woman of Irish
parentage, and of their two daughters and three sons, the subject of this sketch
is the youngest. He grew up in his native town, passed through the local public
schools, graduating from the High School. He completed a course of study at
Howe's Academy, and finished at the Iowa Wesleyan University, Mount Pleasant.
While in college he became an active member of the Phia Delta Theta fraternity.
He also took great interest in outdoor pastimes and became a trained athlete.
Upon leaving college Mr. Smith took up civil engineering and became attached to
the civil-engineering department of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway
Company. While following his profession he detected an error in the government
surveys of land in Northeastern Minnesota on the Masaba range, which left
unrecorded a tract of land designated in land parlance as no-man's-land. This
land Mr. Smith carefully explored, decided it to be valuable for its mineral
deposits, and filed his claim thereon. His rights were vigorously contested in
the federal courts by contending interests for a period of sixteen years, and
finally title was confirmed to him. The case was found to involve many
technicalities and complications of the law relating to government lands and has
gone on record as one of the most famous in the history of land litigation. This
land, which has proven to be rich in high-grade iron ore, the deposits being
almost limitless, is being rapidly developed and is already a source of princely
income to its worthy owner. Mr. Smith also owns a large interest in, and is
vice-president of, the Mendota Coal and Coke Company of Centralia, Wash. He also
has large and valuable timber holdings in that region of country.

Mr. Smith came to California and located at Santa Monica in 1908. With James H.
Grigsby and others he acquired the stock of the Merchants' National Bank of
Santa Monica, which institution they have thoroughly reorganized and put upon
sound financial basis, identifying with them some of the most widely-known
financiers on the coast, with officers and directors as follows: James H.
Grigsby, President; P. H. Smith, Vice-President; Ehrman Grigsby, Cashier; F. J.
Townsend, Assistant Cashier; Roy Grigsby, Receiving Teller. The Board of
Directors are: James H. Grigsby, Roy Grigsby, P. H. Smith, Marco Hell-man, W. H.
Holliday, P. R. Stahl, M. Hamburger and Ehrman Grigsby. Mr. Smith is a man of
broad culture and striking personality. He is possessed of a highly artistic
nature and owns one of the choicest collections of oil paintings on the coast.
He is a splendid type of the self-made American citizen, having-fought all of
his own battles in life unaided and alone, save the sustaining loyalty of a wise
and helpful wife. Mr. Smith married December 14th, 1898, Miss Gertrude, a
daughter of John Griffin, retired, of Grand Forks, North Dakota. She is a lady
of social refinement and domestic culture. They have a daughter, Seville, and a
son, P. H. Smith, Jr.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Ingersoll's century history, Santa Monica Bay cities: prefaced with a brief
history of the state of California, a condensed history of Los Angeles County,
1542 to 1908: supplemented with an encyclopedia of local biography and
embellished with views of historic landmarks and portraits of representative
people.

Los Angeles: Luther A. Ingersoll (1908)


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