CREATIVE HISTORY : A CLOSER LOOK : THE PEOPLE : MARINUS SMITH

MARINUS G. SMITH

A respected member of the community for over forty years and one of Boulder’s pioneers, Marinus Gilbert Smith’s involvement in the founding and growth of Boulder makes him an ideal person to research because there are many possible sources available. Only a handful of documents have currently been reviewed for Smith’s short biography, but they already provide a great deal of information about this innovative man.

Little is known about the first forty years of his life. A few items about his earlier years have surfaced, but I have only been able to verify a few of them so far. Marinus “Marine” Smith is also a good example of how to track an individual from state to state over a period of years, and the difficulty of long-distance research. As you read through Smith’s story, I will note what problems I faced, solutions I discovered, and the questions that still need answering.

After the Revolutionary War lands west of the Hudson River became areas of interest for new settlements. The town of Camden in Oneida County, New York became one of these pioneering towns. Built amongst three rivers, Camden became known for its water-powered mills and factories. The town was barely twenty-years-old when Marinus Gilbert Smith was born on May 6, 1819. Nothing is known of Marine’s immediate family, and to complicate issues there were many Smith families that made their homes in Camden at this time. Very little is known of Smith’s early years except that he lived on the family farm until the age of fifteen when he went to Pulaski, New York to apprentice for several years as a tinner.

Marine Smith’s own pension application provides evidence to his date and place of birth. Questions about his family surfaced after examining the 1820 and 1830 census records for Camden, New York. Early censuses only give the name of the head of household and then the number of males and females in certain age ranges. In 1820 there were seven Smith men with at least one boy under the age of ten. In 1830 only three of the seven had boys in the ten to fifteen–year-old range. These men were Rueben Smith, John Smith, and William Smith. If other biographies about Marine are correct and he grew up on a farm, then Rueben Smith can be removed from the list since he was a manufacturer rather than in agriculture. A preliminary search for “Marinus Smith” was also done on Ancestry.com. There were several entries, all with varying information about him and his family. All conclude William was his father, his mother was Polly (Pond) Smith, and he had five brothers and sisters. Along with using the Ancestry.com family tree as a guide, I hope to contact the submitters of Marine’s information to discover what sources they used in their research.

After finishing his apprenticeship Marinus moved to Knox County, Illinois to start up a stove and tinware shop at they young age of nineteen. A few years later he set up a mail and stage line business. While living in Mercer County, Illinois Smith met Anna Marie Woodruff. They married December 8, 1840 and soon began a family with the birth of their first son Walter in 1842. Seven additional children gradually followed over the years: Jessie, Sarah, Ellen, Estelle, McLane, Jane, and Della.

Not much is known of Smith’s life during the 1840s and 1850s, but his earlier biographies hint at two quite eventful decades. During the first year of the United States and Mexican War in 1846, Marine enlisted in Qunicy, Illinois serving one year in Company A of the 1st Illinois Infantry under Captain Morgan’s command. Other than mentioning that he participated in the battle of Buena Vista, his military records provide minimal information about his activities. After his military service, Smith supposedly traveled to California during the 1849 Gold Rush where he made $8000 in one year from mining and stocks. The following spring he returned to his family in Illinois, bought a farm, and pursued farming and other agricultural ventures until news of the Pikes Peak Gold Rush in late 1858.

A marriage index entry in Mercer County, Illinois provides the date of Smith’s marriage. A copy of the original record needs to be ordered to verify facts and hopefully uncover new clues. Smith’s compiled military and pensions records are the only primary sources acquired so far for this time period. The early biographical data about Marine were written during his lifetime, and he probably supplied the information about his life directly to the writer. But despite the age of the biographical sources, attempts should still be made to uncover additional clues in other states. Before an attempt is made to locate Marine in California, research needs to be done to better understand the 1849 Gold Rush, locations of boomtowns and mines, and what kinds of records are available for those areas.

Hearing of the gold finds in Colorado, Marine traveled alone across the plains arriving in Boulder in June of 1859. Based on his experience in California, he did not put too much effort into mining and looked for other ventures. He established a stage and express mail line between Denver, Boulder, and the mountains, and claimed 160 acres of land along Boulder Creek and south of the official town limits. Smith’s wife and family joined him in 1862 and they quickly became involved members of the community and made significant contributions during the town’s first five years. Marinus helped build the first irrigation ditches in town, he donated land for Boulder’s (and the state’s) first school house, served as County Commissioner, and was also appointed as Captain of the home guard during a time of heightened fear about Native American attacks in 1863 to 1864.

To date secondary sources have been my only resources for this period of Smith’s life. Research into town records, early land grants, and other early settler’s records will be necessary to broaden the scope of Smith’s contributions to the community. On a preliminary deed search, the quantity of records was quite overwhelming. Marine certainly bought and sold a great amount of land as well as several mining claims. One item of interest is his service in the home guard during the time of the Sand Creek Massacre on November 29, 1864. Conflicting accounts have him serving during 1863 and 1864, and some state he was appointed by Governor Evans only in mid-1864 during the peak of Indian fears. While Smith could technically be called a veteran of Sand Creek because he served during that period of time, no evidence has been found that he volunteered into the 3rd Regiment or actively participated in the battle. Home guards were common community groups formed to protect the area from Indian attacks. Additional information needs to be found to better understand the circumstances around these events, when Smith served with the local guard, and what responsibilities he faced.

Later in the 1860s Marinus turned his attention to horticulture. He experimented with different fruit varieties to find ones that were compatible to the area’s dry climate. His earlier irrigation efforts and experimentation paid off as his fruit and vegetable farm grew some of the best produce in the area, even receiving top honors for the “largest and best variety of vegetables” in the first annual Boulder County Agricultural Fair in 1869.

As 1870 approached, Smith, a man of fifty, had little intention of slowing down. Smith’s eldest son Walter, who worked with him in the stage and express mail business for many years, took over the business around this time, allowing Smith to focus on his farm and other community business. During the early 1870s Marine, along with several other local men who owned large tracts of land, spent a great deal of time subdividing property to help the town grow. In addition to Smith, Boulder expanded its residential property with land contributions made by Wilder, Berkly, Culver, Chamberlain, Squires, and Anderson. When the town needed a new cemetery, Marinus provided some of his land south of town to the local Masons who bought it in April of 1870. Newspapers remarked of Smith’s numerous land sales for town expansion to the south side of Boulder Creek by joking, “we have all heard of the man who stole the meeting-house, but Marine Smith is trying to eclipse that little job, by stealing the town, and moving it over on the other side of the creek.

Boulder officially incorporated in 1871, and Marine Smith along with Anthony Arnett, James P. Maxwell, Alpheus Wright, and Fred Squires were elected the town trustees. For several days these men worked to organize the town government, incorporate the original town site with three major residential additions, and writing town ordinances. Perhaps it was during this time of town restructuring that Smith received the honor of having a street named after him – Marine Street – located between Arapahoe and University.

The volume of Smith’s land transactions would make tracking all the deeds incredibly time-consuming, but by focusing on one area at a time, an interesting pattern of neighborhood growth and expansion could be found. The original town incorporation papers have not been viewed yet, so they will make an interesting addition into how Marine contributed to the town government and development.

Among all the contributions Smith made to his community during his forty-two years of residency, his legacy of bringing the first university in Colorado Territory to Boulder is probably the most visible. He was a strong believer in education and was one of the leaders in bringing the university to town. With strong negotiation by Boulderite Robert Culver, the territorial legislature had decided in 1861 that Boulder would be the location for the university. But it took sixteen years before the university would finally open its doors. To show the government the town was serious, Smith donated twenty-five acres for the university site in 1872, but the town still needed financial help. In 1874 the territorial legislature finally agreed to provide $15,000 for the school if Boulder could match the same amount. Marine Smith, along with David Nichols and Andrew Macky, took to fundraising around town. With 104 contributions, including Smith’s $1000 donation, they were able to raise the $15,000 needed to begin construction of Colorado’s first university. The cornerstone for Old Main was laid on Smith’s donated land in 1875, and the school opened its doors two years later. This first university building took on all the school’s functions, containing the classrooms, library, student dormitory and President’s house.

The founding of the University of Colorado is a very important part of the history of Boulder. In order to learn more about Smith’s role in the development of the school, a great deal of research needs to be done in the town minutes and records, any diaries by those directly involved, newspapers, early university records, and possibly the papers from the early territorial legislature.

Through the 1870s and 1880s Marine continued his farming and kept very busy with the subdividing and selling of his land. During the 1880s Smith averaged seven property transactions every year, with sixteen being the highest in 1882. In his seventies, Smith continued selling his land despite some apparent signs of mental deterioration. By the beginning of 1894 his troubles became public when the Boulder Tribune reported Marine “to be strangely afflicted” and “laboring under hallucinations.” He refused medical help allowing only trusted individuals into the house due to his “fears [of] imaginary enemies.” For a man who had always “been possessed of the vigor, mental and physical, of a young Hercules” the Tribune voiced obvious concerns for Marine Smith’s unknown and dramatic mental state. It is not known if Marinus Smith fell in and out of these delusional episodes for several months, but the May 31 flood became the final push past the point of sanity.

Smith’s homestead at 16th and Grove Streets was in an area of low elevation and put Smith at the center of some of the highest floodwaters. Reports vary, but the water levels reached anywhere from six to twelve feet forcing Marine to the second story of his house. Despite the efforts of many men, Marine refused to leave his home of twenty-five years fearing his enemies would take over his house and possessions. Three days later Sheriff Dyer and several men had to remove Marine from his island house by force. They found him with meager rations made of oyster crackers and sugar, on which he believed he could survive for seven days. Once removed, the Sheriff took him to the county jail’s insane cell where Smith remained agitated and refused to eat.

On June 4, Marine exited the jail appearing lucid but “flighty” as he joked about his circumstances stating, “I did a foolish thing when I broke a window in my house. You see I thought I had brought all this flood down on Boulder and then I began to claw in the ground with my finger nails.” Probably at the family’s request, a judge appointed a conservator to manage Marine’s estate while arrangements were underway to determine Smith’s sanity

After a second episode only two days after his release, Marine was once again forced into confinement for his own safety. In his cell he occupied himself with small trinkets which he arranged into an imaginary alter and refused to eat. A trial was held on June 12 to determine Marine’s mental state and to decide on the best course of treatment for him. He appeared quite lucid and engaged in the proceedings, prompting his attorney and laughing at appropriate moments. It seemed his paranoia stemmed from the fear that his children wanted his property, and his agitation around the topic of water came from an argument with Robert Culver about an irrigation ditch they dug twelve years prior. The jury found Marine to be “a man so distracted in mind as to be unsafe to remain at large.” The judge ordered Smith to be taken to the state insane asylum in Pueblo for a period of time so he could get the help he needed. Smith ultimately felt it was the best course of action and an appropriate place for him to go.

Sadly, Marine never properly recovered at the Pueblo institution. It appears he remained there for several years until he became ill in October of 1896. Ellen Renkes, one of his daughters, brought him back to Boulder so he could live the remainder of his life in familiar surroundings, with his family and friends. While happy to be back home, his feeble state and variable condition required him to live with family members periodically during the last five years of his life.

Due to the national regulations to ensure medical records privacy (HIPAA–Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996), Marine Smith’s records could not be made available to a non-family member. Therefore, all the information about Smith’s mental health has so far come from newspapers. Additional combing of newspapers as well as any possible diary entries from associates should be done to get as many details as possible about Marine’s mental state over the years. There is no way to know with confidence what Marine suffered from, but it is curious to know that some of his stated symptoms coincide with some symptoms of lead poisoning: loss of appetite, easily excitable, hallucinations, confusion, irritability. Could his years as a tinner have exposed him to enough lead fumes from the solder to cause damage? This diagnosis is certainly speculation, but it does raise questions as to the consequences of a particular occupation has on the health of an individual.

Marinus Gilbert Smith died on January 11, 1901 at the age of 82. His will states his desired to have “no religious rights or ceremonies performed” and to be cremated, but there were no facilities west of Missouri to handle the cremation task. After a largely attended funeral at Mr. Buchheit’s undertaking parlor, he was buried with Masonic honors next to his wife and other family members in Columbia Cemetery; the same cemetery he helped create thirty years before.

Unfortunately, some of Marine’s suspicions about his family wanting his property might have been true. According to the Daily Camera, shortly after Marine’s death there were “signs of dissatisfaction among the heirs,” making one of the original executors, Edward Morath, nervous and decline responsibility of handling the estate. A month later, James Hankins stepped in to become the new administrator. Apparently Marine left behind twenty-five lots of Boulder real estate worth approximately $80,000 to $100,000. But it appears that nothing could be sold until all the out-of-state heirs were located and gave permission to sell the land to cover debts owed. Finally in December of 1901 a public sale of the property took place and two months later, all debts were paid, and the remaining balance of the estate was divided amongst the heirs.

The apparent drama that occurred after Marine’s death needs to be thoroughly investigated in the newspapers as well as special attention given to the will and estate records. A brief summary was taken of the probate records and these provided a basic chronology for the events in settling the estate. Intensive research needs to be done with these records in addition to the files surrounding his insanity trial to uncover additional details about the last decade of Smith’s life.