Butte County
Biographies
ALBION BEAN
ALBION BEAN.--The identification of the Bean family in Butte
County, California, dates back to 1858, when Albion Bean located in Bangor
Precinct. To have lived for about sixty years in one precinct is indeed a
remarkable record, especially for an American. Except for five or six nights
spent in Virginia City, Nev., Mr. Bean has not been outside of the State of
California, to stay all night, since his arrival in San Francisco, April 7,
1858. Albion Bean was born in Oxford County, Maine, on October 27, 1837. His
father, Henry Bean, was a native of Maine, where he ran a
sawmill. His mother, in maidenhood was Martha Marston,
a native of Maine, where she lived and died. The Bean family
are of English descent. There were nine children born to Henry and
Martha Bean, and the subject of this sketch, Albion Bean, was the second child.
In 1858, Albion Bean left his home in
Maine and responded to the insistent call of the Golden West, coming to California
by the way of Panama. From New York, the voyage was made on the Star of the
West to Panama, and on the Pacific side to San Francisco, he finished his
journey with the Golden Age. He preempted one hundred sixty acres near Bangor
and later homesteaded one hundred sixty acres. For some years he followed
placer gold-mining, in Yuba County, herded cattle and kept a store. Before the
advent of the railways he was engaged in teaming from Marysville to La Porte,
for which he used oxen. Albion Bean was an expert in the management of ox teams
and claims the distinction of breaking in five yoke of green oxen so that these
slow and sturdy beasts drew logs to the Lumpkin Mill.
When Albion Bean married he chose as his
life partner Miss Eunice Price, of Butte County, and this union was blessed
with four children: Chauncey F., who is a cattleman; Albion Henry, who is
married and lives near Stockton; Annie, a trained nurse; and Alta.
Mr. Bean, with his oldest son, Chauncey
F., is engaged in stock-raising and keeps about one hundred head during the
summer, on the United States Forest Reserve in Plumas County, and in the winter
renting ranges near Palermo and other places. Through industry and perseverance
he has achieved the measure of success he rightfully enjoys today and is
esteemed by the community in which he has lived for so many years.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
16 May 2008.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages
960-963, Historic Record
Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies