Alameda County
Biographies
CHARLES G. MAYBORN
A representative pioneer of California, and a true type of the brave, hardy and energetic men of fifty years ago, who coming to this part of the state in early manhood's prime, contributed largely toward its rapid growth and advancement. A man of excellent ability, sound judgment and good moral principles, he has fought his own way in life, rising from a position of poverty to one of affluence and influence. When he came to the coast, he was five dollars in debt, but with characteristic American grit and determination he labored patiently at any paying employment, and the history of his subsequent active career furnishes to the rising generation a forcible example of the material success to be obtained by persevering industry, prudent thrift and wise management. A son of Charles Mayborn, he was born November 18, 1831, in Chautauqua county, N.Y.
An Englishman by birth and breeding, Charles Mayborn emigrated to the United States when a young man, settling in New York state. He was a bricklayer by trade, but was also engaged to some extent in agricultural pursuits. He was accidentally killed in 1834, a tree falling upon him. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Orr, was born in England, and came with her parents to America when a girl.
Reared on a farm, and educated in the district school, Charles G. Mayborn remained in New York state until twenty years old. Enthused by the wondrous stories of California's golden wealth, he came by way of the Nicaragua Route, on the steamships Northern Light and Lewis, to the Pacific coast, determining if the rumors proved true to obtain a share of the gold for himself. Landing in San Francisco on July 16, 1852, Mr. Mayborn went to Calaveras county, and for about four months was employed in mining at Wade's flat. Disappointed in his search for the desired mineral, he went to Alameda county, and the ensuing year worked for Robert Farrelley, on a ranch. Going then to San Francisco, Mr. Mayborn entered the employ of a company formed for the purpose of boring wells, and assisted in drilling some of the first wells in that city. Subsequently while digging a well in Stockton, Cal., after he had drilled down three hundred and forty feet, his drill passed through a log two feet thick, the wood of which looked like oak. In Contra Costa county, in 1863, Mr. Mayborn assisted in drilling the first oil well in California, little dreaming at the time that in 1902 this state would rank third in the oil-producing states of the Union. The well, however, although drilled to the depth of four hundred and twenty-four feet, never produced oil enough to pay expenses.
In 1858 Mr. Mayborn bought twenty acres of land in San Pablo, Contra Costa county, and for thirty years thereafter was engaged in drilling wells and in farming. In 1870 he purchased two acres of land in what is now Emeryville, Alameda county, and since 1873 has been a resident of this place. His land is very valuable to-day, being in the heart of the town, and facing on San Pablo avenue, on which his home is located, being No. 4086. Besides his own residence, Mr. Mayborn owns five other houses, which he rents.
Returning to his native state in 1855, Mr. Mayborn there married Mary Ann Little, who was born in England in 1828, and died in 1870, in California, leaving two children, Margaret and Mary. Margaret became the wife of Henry Whitney of Berkeley and they have two children, Mabel (who is the wife of John Ross, and has one child, Mureil(sic), and Charlotte. Mary married Reuben Morton Milliken of San Bernardino county; she died leaving one son, Roy. In 1873, December 29, Mr. Mayborn was again married in San Francisco, to Mary Jane Little; she is a well-known educator in San Francisco. Politically Mr. Mayborn is a steadfast Republican, and for seven years has served as town treasurer, a position for which his financial ability eminently qualified him. In his various business transactions Mr. Mayborn has met with excellent success, and is now enabled to live retired from active pursuits, enjoying to the utmost the reward of his earlier years of toil and struggle.
Transcribed
6-20-15 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page 659. The Chapman Publishing
Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2015 Marilyn R. Pankey.
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