Copyright has not been assigned to The Society of California Pioneers. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Society of California Pioneers as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must be obtained by the reader.
Description
Copyright has not been assigned to The Society of California Pioneers. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Society of California Pioneers as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must be obtained by the reader Autobiography & Reminiscence of George Holton Beach, St. Helena, 1901. The Society of California Pioneers George Holton Beach was born on October 15, 1817 in New London, CT. and sailed to California on the steamer "Falcon", leaving New York on February 1, 1849. In Panama, Beach switched ships to the steamer "Oregon" and entered the Golden Gate April 1, 1849. Beach purchased a business lot on the North side of Sacramento Street near Montgomery and left for the southern mines, via Stockton, bringing with him a small stock of miner's goods. This venture ended and Beach returned to S.F. with gold dust to pay off his land purchase. In 1849 Beach helped build the First Congregationalist church. By 1856, active in the Republican Party, he started "Republican Clubs" in mining camps around Yuba County. He owned interest in many steamboats but lost property in the fire of May 1850 and 1851 (after rebuilding). After 1851, Beach sold his interest in steamboats, as well as his business lots, and moved to Marysville, enlarged his mercantile store, but in September he lost everything again due to fire. He opened an office for the purchase of gold dust, but it failed due to a dishonest employee. In 1853, Beach opened "New England Gardens", an orchard, vineyard, and nursery near Marysville. He thrived until 1855 when a grasshopper infestation killed his crops, suffered from another attack in 1857 and eventually lost the nursery during the flood of 1861. He then started an orange and lemon tree nursery and settled in St. Helena. In 1884, he began selling vineyard and orchard property Autobiographies and Reminiscences of California Pioneers, p. 1-22, Vol. 3. This is a typed transcript, bound into a volume, of the member's autobiographical reminiscence created as an institutional record for the Society of California Pioneers. The transcription includes a reference to a photograph of the member in a set of bound volumes, but there is no longer a photograph of this member in our collection. This biography describes Beach's passage to California, and his month long stay in Panama awaiting a ship. While there, Beach organized a choir for sacred service, continuing on board ship and in San Francisco. He writes about early Protestantism in San Francisco and notes the ways in which women were received there, with men desperate for a glimpse of a woman. Operating a mercantile business he notes prices of items and claims to have sold hardware at 500% above New England prices. Also listed are ships Beach owned interest in, one being "The Lawrence", the first steamer to carry freight between Sacramento and Marysville.
Beach, George Holton--1817-1896 Pioneers--California--Biography Voyages to the Pacific Coast Steamboats--California--San Francisco Agriculture--California--Yuba County California--History--19th century California--Biography San Francisco (Calif.)--History
Time Period
California -- History -- 19th century
Place
Pioneers California Biography Steamboats San Francisco. Agriculture Yuba County. History 19th century. California, Northern. San Francisco (Calif.)
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