Erasmus M. Smithers (February 17, 1830 – November 20, 1905) was one of the European pioneers of the

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and the founder of the city of Renton, King County, Washington. His wife and her first husband had settled on the land where the town is now located in 1853, from what is now

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. At the time there were no white settlers at a point nearer than

, which was then a frontier settlement.

Early life

Smithers was born in

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on February 17, 1830, to a family being of English origin and which had been among the early settlers in

and

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. 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 in 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 May 8, 1852, the company embarked with twenty wagons drawn by ox teams. 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

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took six months, and they then continued to

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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

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. 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.

Renton settlement

In November 1857, he married Diana B. Gilman (born 1824,

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), the widow of Henry H. Tobin. Diana and Henry had married in

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in March 1851, and had been the first settlers of the Renton area in 1853, where they had built a timber mill in 1854. During the Puget Sound war with the Duwamish natives in 1855, the mill burnt down and the settlers were driven away.Alan J. Stein
Renton – Thumbnail History
/ref> Soon after their wedding Erasmus and Diana moved to Tobin's claim and claimed another neighboring , which were wilderness at the time. A Duwamish Indian village stood on the claim site. The Smithers built a small home, where they lived initially and where their children, Ada (1858), Edwin M. (1862), and Fred G. (1866), were born. They built a larger house in 1875. Smithers platted the town of Renton from land he owned and placed the lots on the market. With several others, he established the Renton Coal Company, selling his interest soon after. The coal seam had been discovered in Renton in 1853 or 1854 by Henry Tobin's first neighbor, Dr. R.M. Bigelow.https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/Record/View/F55D758172C2D347C4DF2CD8F514D423

Later life

A lifelong 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

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he was initiated into the

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, 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

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. He was appointed by Governor

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and once by Governor

Elisha Peyre Ferry Elisha Peyre Ferry (August 9, 1825October 14, 1895) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the first governor of Washington from 1889 to 1893. Ferry was a Republican who had twice been Governor of Washington Territory, the only ...

a trustee of

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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

"Renton, Where the Water Took Wing" by BuergeRenton Historical Quarterly 19.p65
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smithers, Erasmus M. 1830 births 1905 deaths King County Councillors American pioneers People from Washington Territory Regents of the University of Washington People from Renton, Washington History of Renton, Washington