Gaston, Joseph.  "Portland, Oregon Its History and Builders."  Vol. 3. 
Chicago and Portland, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911. p. 282.
 
SENECA SMITH
 
     Seneca Smith, born on the banks of the Wabash in Indiana, August 18, 1844,
is now engaged in the practice of law in Portland and, moreover, has
considerable real-estate interests here. His father, Cornelius Smith, was a
native of New York city, whence he removed to Indiana and there he engaged in
the operation of a sawmill for some years and was also connected with commercial
interests that made the Wabash and Mississippi rivers the highway of
transportation. To the northwest he came with the pioneers of 1847 with Oregon
as his destination. Leaving Laporte, Indiana, in March, and enduring the
hardships and privations of travel, with ox teams he crossed the plains and in
December arrived in Portland—then a tiny village—but after three or four weeks
died of fever contracted in crossing the mountains. The beautiful Rose City of
today  was then a small collection of log cabins and one frame store. The widow
and eight children, five sons and three daughters, of whom Seneca Smith was next
to the youngest, survived the husband and father. Mrs. Smith, who bore the
maiden name of Elizabeth Dixon, was a sister of Thomas Dixon, the founder of the
town of Dixon, California. She, too, was a native of the Empire state. While
making the trip across the plains she kept a journal of the events which marked
their progress that has been published by the Oregon Historical Society—a
faithful picture of the experiences which the early emigrants underwent. After
her husband's death she and her children removed to Mores Valley, in Yamhill
county, where she lived until about 1852, when she married J. C. Geer, the
grandfather of ex-Governor Geer, and the progenitor of a large family, many of
whose representatives have attained prominence in this state. Mrs. Geer passed
away in 1856. Of her children Perl Smith is living at Wrangle, Alaska; Jasper
Smith is a resident of Yamhill county, Oregon; Eleanor is the wife of Rev. P. S.
Knight, of Salem, Oregon; and Marie is the widow of R. J. Marsh, also of Salem.
     The other surviving member of the family is Seneca Smith of this review,
who entered a little log school at Butteville in the pursuit of the elementary
branches of learning. Later he attended the Lafayette school and McMinnville
College and completed his literary course in Willamette University. From 1862
until 1871 he was engaged in mining and in running pack trains in the wilds of
eastern Oregon, Washington and western Idaho. The trails were ofttimes scarcely
discernible and the route was in places a difficult one. Moreover, the unsettled
condition of the country made such trips fraught with considerable danger. In
the fall of 1871 Mr. Smith came to Salem and took up the study of law,
continuing his reading under the direction of Judge Boise and P. L. Willis until
admitted to the bar in 1874. In connection with his law studies he also took up
the study of stenography and in the fall of the latter year reported a session
of the legislature for the Oregonian.
     Mr. Smith then came to Portland, where he opened a law office and also did
much shorthand reporting throughout the northwest, being at that time the only
shorthand writer in this part of the country. Governor Moody appointed him to
the circuit bench, succeeding Judge Stott, who had resigned in 1883, Judge Smith
entering upon the duties of the office on the 1st of January, 1884. That the two
years of his appointive service were satisfactory is indicated by the fact that
in June, 1886, he was elected judge of the circuit court but in July of that
year, he left the bench, to resume the private practice of law, in which he has
since been continuously engaged, making a specialty of real-estate law. During
the first few years of his practice he was in partnership with Judge J. A.
Stratton and S. W. Rice, the association being discontinued at the time Mr. Rice
was elected county judge. He was next associated with John B. Waldo until Mr.
Waldo was elected to the Oregon supreme bench in 1880. Soon afterward Mr. Smith
formed a partnership with P. L. Willis, now of Portland, and this connection was
maintained until Mr. Smith was appointed judge of the circuit court. After
leaving the bench he formed a partnership with Raleigh and Samuel Stott and W.
L. Boise, which was dissolved in the fall of 1889. Judge Smith then spent two
years in travel and following his return has practiced alone. He is also
interested to a considerable extent in real property in and near Portland.
     On the 1st day of May, 1879, was celebrated the marriage of Judge Smith and
Miss Margaret Gilliland, of Douglas county, Oregon, who died ten years later. On
the 1st of June, 1891, he wedded Susan E. Southworth, of Woodstock, Illinois. To
him rightfully belongs the honored term of an Oregon pioneer. Although in early
childhood at the time of his arrival in this state, as he advanced in years and
strength he became an active factor in the improvements which have resulted in
the development and progress of the state, and has also kept in touch with the
later day advancement, whereby Oregon proudly holds its place among the leading
commonwealths of the nation.
 

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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in November 2014 by Diana Smith. Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.