Calaveras
County
Biographies
OSSIAN SEARS BUCKBEE
There is no doubt that the state of
California is rich in mineral deposits.
When gold was first discovered there and prospectors rushed in from
every point, the necessary implements for search of the yellow metal were few;
but now the machinery required to operate a successful mine is complicated and
requires a practiced eye and trained intelligence properly and surely to
produce results. The subject of this
review has been a miner, is the son of a miner and so thoroughly understands
the science of mining that his appointment to the position of superintendent of
the great Angel’s Quartz Mining Company is but a just reward of merit. He was born in Quincy, Plumas County, California,
January 11, 1862, and was a son of John R. Buckbee, who came to California
during the gold excitement. He was of
Holland ancestry, was born in New York City in 1828, and died July 25, 1872. He was an educated man; a lawyer by
profession and after an experimental season in mining in Hangtown, removed to
Plumas County and there opened a law office.
His ability was so great that he was soon made district attorney and
later was honored by an election to the state legislature. In 1854 he returned east, going by way of the
Isthmus, his previous trip having been around the Horn, and in central New York
married Miss Malana Sears, a daughter of Thomas
Sears, a veteran of the War of 1812.
Four years later he crossed the plains to his old home in Plumas County,
where he again engaged in the practice of his profession. Previous to the war of the Rebellion he had
been a Democrat, but then joined the Republican Party and ever after took a
deep interest in the affairs of the nation.
Mr. Buckbee was an old and valued member of the Masonic fraternity,
holding its highest degrees. Mrs.
Buckbee survived her talented husband for many years, her death having occurred
January16, 1900, in San Francisco. Six
children were the result of this marriage, four of whom are surviving: Alva C., now in the custom-house in San
Francisco; Lorna, a resident of the same city; and the remaining sister of our
subject, Flora S., is the wife of Thomas H. Reynolds, who is the state manager
of the Western Union Telegraph Company and is also a resident of San Francisco.
O. S. Buckbee was educated in the
public schools of San Francisco and for a number of years was in the treasury
department of the government, at Washington city, also
serving in San Francisco. He has made
mining the business of his life for the past thirteen years, having mined and
studied mines in British Columbia, in Alaska, and in Washington, as well as his
native state. In 1898 he came to take
charge of the mining property of the present company at Angel’s Camp, since
which time he has been fully employed in looking after its interests. It is very valuable property and he is
preparing to penetrate to lower levels.
Mr. Buckbee was married June 15,
1900, to Miss Edna L. Bryan, a daughter of Joseph Bryan, a relative of William
J. Bryan, the presidential nominee. She
was born in San Andreas February 27, 1876.
A staunch and outspoken Republican,
Mr. Buckbee does all he can in support of his party. He is proud of his state, anxious and willing
to exert every influence to profit her, and is one of the men best fitted in
the world for the position he holds.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 560-561. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Calaveras County Biographies