Santa
Clara County
Biographies
EDWARD
HEALEY
EDWARD HEALEY. A retired citizen of San Jose, Edward Healey
is properly classed among those men who have made the most of their
opportunities among the pioneer conditions of the state of California. In the best sense implied by the term, he is
a self-made man, for whatever has come to him in life has been entirely the
result of his own efforts, and while building up for himself the competence
which it is every man’s duty as well as privilege to accumulate, he has not
neglected to make his efforts parallel with those intended to aid in the
development of resources of his adopted state, and indeed of his adopted
country, for he is one of the citizens contributed to the commonwealth by an
European country. Born in County Mayo,
Ireland, December 20, 1836, he was the son of Edward and Mary (McLaughlin)
Healey.
When only twelve years old, Edward
Healey came to America and in Skaneateles, N.Y., learned the trade of
wagon-making. This he followed
faithfully until 1859, when, having saved enough of his wages to pay his
passage, he came to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama. He remained in San Francisco for only a short
time when he came to San Jose and engaged in the prosecution of his trade,
remaining located in that city and that vicinity until 1863. During the Fraser river excitement he went
north and located in that section of country, but unlike the greater number of
people found remunerative employment in working at his trade. As wages were high on account of a scarcity
of desirable help, he amassed quite a little sum of money during the five years
in which he remained there. Deciding to
return to Santa Clara county, he once more located in
San Jose, and with the proceeds of his five years’ work erecting his present
home, and also opening a wagon shop and general repair work at the corner of
Williams and First streets. This
business was afterward removed to another location on First street,
where he continued to carry on a lucrative employment until 1903, when he
retired from the active cares of life.
In the meantime he had purchased one hundred and ten acres of land in
the foothills of the Santa Clara valley, which he devoted to the cultivation of
grain. Subsequently he disposed of that
ranch and purchased another of three hundred and fifty acres in San Joaquin county, ten miles south of Stockton, still owning this
property, which he now rents. Coming to
California with empty hands in the pioneer days of the state, he is today
numbered among the financially sound men of the county, and is amply able to
seek the retirement befitting his years and the efforts which he has put forth
in the past.
While a resident of the Fraser river
district Mr. Healey met and married Bridget Gilbride,
a native of County Kilkenney[sic], Ireland, and
daughter of Bilward and Ellen (Fitzgerald) Gilbride, and of this union were born the following
children: Mary, wife of William Finley,
and mother of one son, William; Edward, deceased; Bernard C., principal of the Sunol school, and Richard H., a mechanic in the employ
of the Santa Clara Valley Mill & Lumber Co., of San Jose.
Transcribed by Donna Toole.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 619-620. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Donna Toole.