Fabritus Reynolds Smith (1819-1898)

From the Weekly Oregon Statesman, July 23, 1897.

  A pioneer settler in the Oregon territory in the 1840s, Fabritus Reynolds Smith was a Rochester, New York native who would go on to serve two terms in the Oregon House of Representatives, and also held a seat on the Salem Board of Education for several years. Born on May 25, 1819, in Rochester, Fabritus Reynolds Smith was the son of John (1788-1853) and Elizabeth Johnson Smith (1786-1889). One of the oldest residents of Salem upon her death at age 102, Elizabeth Smith removed to Oregon in 1870 and for the remainder of her life resided with Fabritus at his Salem home.

   Smith's formative years in his native state remain largely unknown, and it is presumed that his education was obtained in the county of his birth. Embued with the pioneer spirit that struck so many young men in the first half of the 19th century, Smith heard favorable reports of settlement in the Oregon Territory. After becoming acquainted with Joseph Waldo, Smith joined Waldo's party that was to travel overland to seek out a new life in the Oregon Territory, beginning the journey in May of 1846. As the driver of the team of oxen in the Waldo party, Smith navigated the Oregon Trail and, after reaching Salem in the fall of 1846, boarded at the Jason Lee House. 

   Fabritus Smith's Donation Land Claim in the Oregon Territory comprised 635 acres, and his first home in the territory was a log cabin. He married in that territory in September 1847 to fellow pioneer Virgilia Eliza Pringle (1828-1875), whose family had arrived in that territory via the arduous Southern Route. The couple's marriage extended nearly three decades and produced at least six children: Virgil (1849-1859), Elizabeth (1853-1859), Valleda Wealthy (1855-1943), Lois (1859-1862),  Hamlin Fabritus (1862-1943) and Clara. 

   Following his marriage, Smith engaged in farming in Salem and was also employed as a teamster. In the early 1850s, Smith and his wife resided in a frame house that had replaced the earlier log cabin, until it was destroyed by fire at an unknown date. Around 1870 Smith had a larger "Italian Bracketted" farmhouse built for his family, which would remain in family ownership for over seventy years. This structure, later to be known as the Smith-Ohmart House, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

  Smith would take an active role in the growing community of Salem following his settlement, being a parishioner at the First Methodist Church for over fifty years and also served a six-year term as a member of the Salem Public School board. Smith would also have a lengthy affiliation with the Willamette University in Salem, serving as vice president of its board of trustees and was first elected to the board of trustees in 1858. Smith's tenure on that board extended until at least 1894 when he was seventy-five years old.

   Fabritus Smith entered Marion County politics in 1866 when he took office as county coroner. His total length of service in that post remains uncertain, and in 1875 suffered the death of his wife Virgilia. Two years following her passing Smith remarried to Sarah Elizabeth (Craft) Watt (1829-1907), a widow who would survive him upon his death in 1898. In the 1876 election year, Smith was elected as a Republican to the Oregon House of Representatives. Serving in the session of 1876-77, Smith won a second term in 1878 and during the 1878-79 session introduced a bill to "provide for the maintenance and regulation of the Oregon institute for the blind."

   At the conclusion of his second term in the statehouse, Smith returned to private life in Salem, and well into his seventh decade continued affiliation with the First Methodist Church and Willamette University. Fabritus Reynolds Smith died at his Salem home on October 3, 1898, aged 79. After funeral arrangements, Smith was interred alongside his wife Virgilia at the Salem Pioneer Cemetery.

From the Oregon Weekly Statesman, October 1898.