When Earl Wilson Smith was born on 5 April 1896, in Toledo, Lincoln, Oregon, United States, his father, John Eli Smith, was 44 and his mother, Arvilla Emmaline Dobson, was 36. He married Alice Josephine Carey on 8 February 1921, in San Francisco, California, United States. He lived in Waterloo, Linn, Oregon, United States in 1900 and Salem, Marion, Oregon, United States in 1910. He registered for military service in 1917. He died on 12 September 1979, in San Francisco, California, United States, at the age of 83, and was buried in Colma, San Mateo, California, United States.
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After the explosion of the USS Maine in the Havana Harbor in Cuba, the United States engaged the Spanish in war. The war was fought on two fronts, one in Cuba, which helped gain their independence, and in the Philippines, which helped the US gain another territory for a time.
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake shook San Francisco for approximately 60 seconds on April 18, 1906. A 1906 report by US Army Relief Operations recorded the death toll for San Francisco and surrounding areas at 664. Later reports record the number at over 3,000 deaths. An estimated 225,000 people were left homeless from the widespread destructuction as 80% of the city was destroyed.
To end World War I, President Wilson created a list of principles to be used as negotiations for peace among the nations. Known as The Fourteen Points, the principles were outlined in a speech on war aimed toward the idea of peace but most of the Allied forces were skeptical of this Wilsonian idealism.
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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