Santa Clara County
Biographies
GEORGE HOBSON
It is scarcely possible that any of the large number of people who now claim San Jose as their home resided here when Mr. and Mrs. Hobson first came to the town. A few of those who then lived at this settlement afterward drifted into the activities of other cities, but for the most part the pioneers of that day have passed from earth. Nor was Mr. Hobson spared to witness the highest prosperity of this region, for his useful and honorable existence terminated December 30, 1889. His wife, who survives him, remaining in their old homestead at San Jose, recalls with keen interest the changes that the past half century has made. When she arrived in Monterey in 1847, Mrs. White, Mrs. Aram and Mrs. Dickinson were the only white women in the whole mission. The population was largely of Mexican and Spanish blood. With the discovery of gold the following year the influx of Americans began which has been continued to the present day.
Descended from English ancestors of Quaker faith, George Hobson was born in Surry county, N. C., in 1823, and was one of a large family whose father, David Hobson, Owned a large farm in Surry county, dying there at ninety-six years of age. Educational advantages being limited, George Hobson depended for his education upon reading and observation rather than study from text-books, yet for a time he was a pupil in a district school. At twenty-three years of age he went to Jackson county, Mo., and settled near Independence, where he followed the trade of a mason and builder. January 10, 1847, he married Sarah Spainhower, who was born in Adkin county, N. C., a daughter of Daniel and Mary (Hooser) Spainhower. Her paternal grandfather was a Revolutionary soldier and a pioneer farmer of the Carolinas, removing there from Pennsylvania, where her father was born. The latter, upon attaining his majority, took up the life of a southern planter. In 1840, accompanied by his family, he went to Missouri and settled near Independence, where he engaged in farming and in raising fine horses. At the time of his death he was ninety-seven years of age. His wife, who was born in North Carolina and was of German descent on both sides, attained the age of ninety-four years.
In May following their marriage George Hobson and his wife started for California, accompanying a large ox-train. He had two wagons with four yoke of oxen to each. The captain of the company was Charles Hopper, whose brother, Thomas, also a member of the party, now resides at Santa Rosa. While en route they had a fight with the Indians, but drove them off, and without further molestation proceeded until they arrived at Johnson’s ranch (now Sacramento) late in September. Thence they came to San Jose and soon went on to Monterey, where Mr. Hobson superintended a brick plant. Returning to San Jose in January of 1848 he left his wife there and immediately after the discovery of gold hastened to the mines on the American and Feather rivers, where he remained for two years. Sometimes he and the other men of his camp washed out $1,000 in gold for as many as three consecutive days, and in a single pan one of the men had $886 worth of gold dust. While on the American river the Indians proved treacherous and planned a massacre of all the miners. A friendly Indian revealed the plot to the miners, who immediately prepared breastworks and other defense and successfully repelled the attack. However, believing their lives to be in danger, they decided to seek other quarters for their work.
On leaving the mines, Mr. Hobson returned to San Jose and bought three hundred and sixty acres of land near the town. On North Twelfth street and Berryessa road he built the Stockton house. Embarking in the dairy business, he was the first man to deliver milk in the city and at one time had over three hundred cows in his dairy. In 1861 he bought eighty-four acres on the street that bears his name and here built the residence still occupied by his wife. The land was set out in orchard and vineyard and its supervision engaged his attention during the balance of his life, he having disposed of his ranch and dairy business. In his orchard were the finest pears, peaches, plums and apples, while his vineyard bore rich clusters of grapes in tropical abundance. The orchard was finally laid out as Hobson’s addition and was sold in city lots. At one time he owned a ranch of one hundred and sixty acres near the county hospital, this land being largely utilized for the stock business. Another enterprise in which he invested capital was a clothing establishment, now conducted under the title of Hobson & Co. Upon the organization of the Republican party he became a stalwart defender of its principles and ever afterward retained his allegiance to the party. In religion he was connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church, a generous contributor to its maintenance, and liberal in his donations to all philanthropic efforts. His wife is identified with the First Presbyterian Church and, since his demise, has continued the charitable work in which she was always his counselor and assistant. They became the parents of nine children, namely: Samuel, who died at seven years of age; Thaddeus W., the principal member of the clothing firm of Hobson & Co.; George, who was accidentally shot at eleven years of age; David, who died at six years; William B., a retired merchant of San Jose; Mrs. Mary Mentor, Mrs. Anna Botsford, Mrs. Mattie Macaulay, and Mrs. Sadie Cottle, all of San Jose. The family is highly respected, both by reason of the honorable qualities possessed by Mr. Hobson himself, and on account of the sterling traits of his children and the kind heart, gentle character and unfailing tact of the wife and mother.
Transcribed
Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 316-319. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2014 Joyce Rugeroni.