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A Recollection of the Martin and Smith Families of Santa Barbara

The text of this letter was included in notes I received from Dorothy (Wood) Richardson, a granddaughter of Hannibal and Mary (Morrison) Martin (daughter of their daughter Pansy).  The letter's author, Gwendolyn (Douglass) Smith, was married to Donn Smith, another grandchild of Hannibal and Mary (son of their daughter Dorothy).  Hence, you could say Gwendolyn was Dorothy Richardson's cousin-in-law.  Dorothy's notes do not say whether Gwendolyn wrote the letter specifically to her or whether some other friend or relative passed it along.  Also, her notes give no date for the letter.  Our best clue, then, as to when it was written, is the fact that Gwendolyn refers to her husband in the present tense ("Donn does not remember his father at all") and to his brother in past tense ("Harry 's few recollections were not particularly happy ones").  This suggests the letter, most likely, was written after Harry's death in 1964 and before Donn's in 1973.  Unfortunately, it's too late to ask Dorothy for more information, as she also passed away in June 2020.  Printed below is the text of Gwendolyn's letter.  In places, I have added clarifications [in brackets].

                                 —Pete Martin, Lakewood, Colorado

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       Harry [Smith] was born in January of 1905 and Donn [Smith] came unexpectedly early on December 15th of the following year [in Bellingham, WA].  Dorothy [Ivy Dorothy (Martin) Smith, later Dorothy Frost] was alone among the clutter of moving day when unmistakable signs of the imminent birth appeared and she had to trudge through the snow to find the doctor.  Donn was a three and a half pound baby and needed lots of care, and Dorothy was not well for some time.  Fortunately the two grandmothers were available to help in the domestic situation.  After an argument over names, Donn was nicknamed "little Billikins" and went all through school as Billy.  I, too, called him Bill until I decided he deserved his own good name.
       Pitt [Smith (Dorothy's husband)] was born in Olean [NY] in 1879.  After he was 13 the family moved to Pennsylvania where (Pitt's father) worked in the oil fields for a while until he was bitten by the gold fever.  Donn does not remember his father at all.  Harry 's few recollections were not particularly happy ones.  Dorothy's mother [Mary (Morrison) Martin] once said, "Pitt knew how to make the children behave at the table, I'll say that for him."  Dorothy herself was reluctant to answer Donn's questions except as above.  Pitt was a mail carrier when they were married, and they were happy at first, for [Dorothy's] Aunt Margaret Morrison Nisley wrote in 1904, "I am glad you are enjoying such good health and happy with your new home.  I hope you may always be blessed that way.  Give my kind regards to your husband."
       Harry was six and Donn not quite five when Dorothy and Pitt agreed to separate [1911].  The cleavage had become too deep to be healed, and Dorothy was determined to raise the boys with no further assistance from the Smith family.  So she packed up, left Bellingham, and followed her mother to Santa Barbara to become a part of Mary's big family at 927 Chapala Street.
       Mary lived in a big two story house and took in roomers.  Her sons Roy and Ray had jobs; Pansy was still in school.  Harry and Donn started first grade together in the fall of 1912 at the Jefferson School at De la Vina and Carrillo.  When I came to town in 1923 the old wooden building was the Polytechnic High School.  After it was demolished KDB Radio Station was built on the site.  The boys continued at Jefferson when the family moved to 227 West Anapamu.  Still later they lived in another big house at 626 West Micheltorena and walked up the railroad tracks, each teetering on a rail, to Garfield School.  . . . Dorothy kept books for an electrician in the San Marcos Building.  Later Dorothy kept books for a garage in the 400 block of State Street.
       As a matter of historical interest, Dorothy was acquainted with the Lockheed (then spelled Loughead) brothers who built airplanes in a garage in the same block.  A young man, who lived near the boys, studied Victor Loughead's Manual, built kites and model planes.  His name was John Northrup and he worked for the Lockheeds after he got out of high school.  Years later, after both names were famous, Northrup and Lockheeds again joined forces, but they all had their start in Santa Barbara.  Donn remembers the senior Northrup's wood working shop on Carrillo Street and the farm wagon the younger children played with.  For a while Dorothy kept books at the Bishop Ranch and the boys moved out to stay with her for a summer . . . .
       In 1919, the boys went to live with their grandmother [Mary Martin] in her nursing home in Los Angeles while Dorothy worked as a society editor on the Pomona Bulletin.
       In the early twenties, Dorothy's Aunt Annie Morrison Hiles sent a box of pears from her Oregon ranch to be delivered by her friend, Edwin Frost, a Pomona rancher and accountant.  He brought them to Dorothy at the Bulletin editorial rooms and a new friendship was born.  They found they had roots in the same part of the country, for Edwin had lived in Atlantic, Iowa, as a boy.  His father, a lawyer and teacher, had been superintendent of schools in Cass County when Dorothy's mother was a school girl.  His mother (Julia Stannard) was also a teacher.  Mary remembered the superintendent with awe, but she considered Edwin a prince of a fellow.  Mr. Frost was divorced from the mother of his son, Lee, who was about a year older than Harry.  The two families saw a lot of each other, and steps were taken to facilitate Dorothy's divorce.  In due time "the marriage was consummated," in the words of the newspaper account, and the boys had a home at last.

—Account by Gwendolyn Smith, Santa Barbara.

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