When Bessie Edel Smith was born on 8 March 1892, in Summerville, Union, Oregon, United States, her father, Thomas Elliott Smith, was 43 and her mother, Mary Susan Morelock, was 23. She married James Miller Oke on 25 November 1919, in Union, Oregon, United States. She lived in Elgin, Union, Oregon, United States for about 30 years. She died on 27 October 1962, in South Pasadena, Los Angeles, California, United States, at the age of 70.
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A landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities if the segregated facilities were equal in quality. It's widely regarded as one of the worst decisions in U.S. Supreme Court history.
The Oregon Historical Society was founded on December 17, 1898, for the “collection, preservation, exhibition, and publication of material of a historical character, especially that relating to the history of Oregon and of the United States.”
The first U.S. primary elections were held in Oregon in 1911.
English and Scottish: occupational name denoting a worker in metal, especially iron, such as a blacksmith or farrier, from Middle English smith ‘smith’ (Old English smith, probably a derivative of smītan ‘to strike, hammer’). Early examples are also found in the Latin form Faber . Metal-working was one of the earliest occupations for which specialist skills were required, and its importance ensured that this term and its equivalents in other languages were the most widespread of all occupational surnames in Europe. Medieval smiths were important not only in making horseshoes, plowshares, and other domestic articles, but above all for their skill in forging swords, other weapons, and armor. This is also the most frequent of all surnames in the US. It is very common among African Americans and Native Americans (see also 5 below). This surname (in any of the two possible English senses; see also below) is also found in Haiti. See also Smither .
English: from Middle English smithe ‘smithy, forge’ (Old English smiththe). The surname may be topographic, for someone who lived in or by a blacksmith's shop, occupational, for someone who worked in one, or habitational, from a place so named, such as Smitha in King's Nympton (Devon). Compare Smithey .
Irish and Scottish: sometimes adopted for Gaelic Mac Gobhann, Irish Mac Gabhann ‘son of the smith’. See McGowan .
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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