Santa
Clara County
Biographies
CHARLES THOMAS GIVENS
As a
pioneer of the state Charles Thomas Givens has experienced much of the
hardships and privations which made up the lives of those who laid the
foundation for the present prosperity of California. He has met with much success and some failure
in the past years, but has retained withal a courage and energy which make for
him a happy present and give to the past many pleasant recollections. Born in Mount Vernon, Posey County Ind.
January 15, 1836, he was a son of Charles C. Givens.
Charles
C. Givens was born in North Carolina May 1, 1795, of Irish descent, and was reared
to young manhood in Kentucky, he then became one of the first settlers of
Indiana. In occupation he was a pilot,
running one of the first steamers ever put upon the Mississippi river. In 1836 he located in Grant county, Wis.,
near the town of Platteville, and owned a lead mine known as the Hardscrabble
mine. December 17, 1814, he married Mary
Moore, who was born in 1794, and died in 1846, her ancestry being Scotch. She was the mother of the following
children: Daries, Eleazer, Mary Ann,
James, Elizabeth, Thomas, the subject of this review. With his two sons, Eleazer and Charles T., Mr.
Givens crossed the plains to California in 1852, going first to Hangtown where
they spent their first winter in mining.
The following season they worked at Georgetown, where they met with a
most gratifying success. The father,
then well along in years, made his home thereafter with his son until his death
July 31, 1871.
After
leaving the mines Charles T. Givens went to Red Bluff, Tehama county, intent upon investing the $30,000 which he had made
in a satisfactory way. In conjunction
with his brother-in-law, Daniel Mitchell, he built the American Hotel in that
town, which consisted then of only a few houses and a sparsely settled country
about. This venture failed, but
undaunted Mr. Givens went to Forbestown, Butte county, walking much of the way, and there accepted work
from an old acquaintance to wash gold at $4 per day. The mine proved a failure and all that Mr.
Givens received was % 95. In the fall of
1854 he came to Santa Clara county and with his father
entered three hundred and twenty acres of land but eventually sold it all. He sold one hundred and sixty acres to John
M. Redding of Oakland who settled on the ranch and became a well-known resident
of Santa Clara county.
When he first settled on his farm he went into the Santa Cruz mountain and lived in a hollow tree and cut redwood for his
house and fences and buildings. Having disposed
of his farm Mr. Givens went to Salinas, Monterey county,
there purchasing a tract of land where he carried on farming for two
years. His father died on this
place. Later he disposed of this
property and returned to Santa Clara county and
purchased a third of a block in the suburbs of San Jose, on Key street, where
he built the home which he now occupies.
He conducts a small dairy, which is supplied by nine fine cows.
Mr. Given
married Mrs. Laura M. (Giles) Beauchamp, a native of England. She had one daughter by her first marriage,
Laura, who married John M. Barbs, of San Jose.
In his fraternal relations Mr. Givens is a member of the Ancient Order
of United Workmen, and the Pioneers Society.
Transcribed by
Louise E. Shoemaker, March 13, 2016.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page 974. The Chapman Publishing
Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2016 Louise E. Shoemaker.