Santa Clara County
Biographies
WILLIAM PROVAN
In 1881, after years of varied experiences on sea and land, William Provan settled on his present ranch of ten acres on Lucretia avenue, two miles south of San Jose, and has since achieved success as a fruit grower, making a specialty of pears, which under his care attain their highest excellence and have more than a local reputation. This typical Scotchman has profited by his many adventures, and has stored up an interesting fund of information concerning the people and things which have come under his observation in out-of-the-way places of the world. His life began in Lanarkshire, Scotland, May 16, 1829, Lanarkshire having also been the birthplace of his parents, William and Joan (Smith) Provan, and of several generations of ancestors. He is the oldest of two sons and five daughters, and received his preliminary education in the public schools.
At the age of twenty Mr. Provan embarked upon a sea-going career as store-keeper on Balbec, a Mediterranean sea brig, later becoming an engineer on various ships and making a tour of the principal sea ports of the world. During the Russian war he spent fourteen months as an engineer in the Black sea. In 1853 he came to America and became assistant engineer for his friend, John Baird, on a cruise to the Jamaica Islands. Later he sailed from New York to Panama and South America, and during the war carried soldiers in transports to different parts of the south. In 1863 he came to the coast by way of Panama, sailed in the Pacific ocean, and in 1865 came to Eldorado county, Cal., being so well pleased with the climate and general surroundings that he determined to abandon the sea and turn his attention to land pursuits. For a short time he earned fair wages in a sawmill, and in 1866 worked in a sawmill in Placer county, the following year engaging in quartz mining in Grass valley. In 1869 he became chief engineer in a quartz mill in Placer county, in time owning an interest in the mine, and accumulating a competence in connection therewith. By this time he had become an enthusiastic admirer of the state as a whole, and in 1881 purchased his present ranch, devoting the meantime to its cultivation and improvement. Of late he has rented his ranch to his son, William, Jr., who resides on an adjoining ranch, and who is a machinist by trade. His daughter Jean is principal of the Valley View school of Santa Clara county. Mr. Provan married Ellen Cribbin, in Placer county, and to the economy and co-operation of his wife he attributes a large share of his success and happiness. He is a Republican in politics, and has taken a keen interest in educational matters, serving for the past five years as a school trustee of Jackson district. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons of Placer county. Mr. Provan has the straightforward, honest characteristics of his countrymen, and is regarded as one of the substantial and reliable upbuilders of his flourishing neighborhood.
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 955-956. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2016 Joyce Rugeroni.