San Francisco County
Biographies
HEBER N. TILDEN
HEBER N. TILDEN was born at Bare, Vermont,
June 29, 1829, and is the
son of David R. and Nancy (Wales)
Tilden, natives of Vermont and Massachusetts,
respectively. His ancestors were originally from England,
and were early settlers in this country. When he was ten years of age his
mother died. He was educated in the district schools of his own State, and had
been for a few years a clerk in a country store at Montpelier
when the gold fever of California
reached New England. He raised $300 and joined the El
Dorado Company, which was bound for the distant gold fields. The company
purchased the brig Canonicus, stocked its well with provisions, and taking a
few passengers, sailed from the port
of Boston April 1, 1849; they were seven months and two days
on the voyage. When they landed in San Francisco
ten of the men purchased the ship and provisions. Mr. Tilden with two of his
companions rented a small lot on Summer Street, where they erected a building,
opened a coffee house and made some money. They finally sold the brig, divided
the money, and in June, 1850, five of them started for the mines. The next few weeks were fraught with all the experiences that could
conveniently be crowded into so short a space of time. All the claims had been
located near Nevada City,
and after six weeks’ prospecting they located Deep diggings. This was really a
valuable claim, but it was some time before they were sufficiently initiated
into the mysteries of mining to realize any marvelous profits. Mr. Tilden hired
a stout man to assist him, and this proved such a success that other men were
hired, and in three months each of the five men in the party had $3,500. Mr.
Tilden then mined at Grass Valley
and at Rough and Ready and other points, meeting with varied success. After two
years he returned to Sacramento and
divided his time between that city and San Francisco.
He finally located at Sacramento
and embarked in the grocery business, gaining a large and profitable patronage.
He had just established the business on a paying basis when the fire of 1852 destroyed
the entire city. He had a few specimens of gold left from his mining
enterprises which he had intended to save, but it became necessary for him to
raise some money, so the gold was disposed of for about $200. His capital was
increased by a partner’s and he was soon re-established in the same business.
That winter the flood came, and it was thought that Sacramento would be
abandoned as it was inundated; an attempt was made to change the site; so Mr.
Tilden removed to Sutterville, taking his stock of goods; he was the first on
the ground with a store; in thirty days there were thirty stores, and in thirty
days more there were only two left, all the others having returned to
Sacramento. He continued there three years, and then purchased a squatter’s
title to 160 acres of land and tried his hand at farming. In 1854 he went to
Marysville and was engaged in the grain and general produce business; he also
gave some attention to the building of steamboats and freighting by water. In
1860 he came to San Francisco. He
afterwards went to the silver mines of Nevada
and helped build the Centerville Mill at Gold Hill,
Nevada; he soon disposed of these interests
and again gave his time to steamboat building, launching the Anna Stewart in
February, 1863.
He
is now in the dairy produce business at No. 426
Sansome Street, and enjoys a wide patronage. In
the year 1869 he returned to Northfield,
the village in which he had been reared, and was there married to Miss Emily A.
Cady, a native of the Green Mountain
State. In a year he brought his
wife to California. January 25, 1871, a son was born to
them who is named Heber C; he is now a student at Stanford
University.
Mr.
Tilden is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and of the California Society of
Pioneers of the latter organization. His first presidential vote was cast for
the Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, but he afterwards became a strong Republican, and
has since affiliated with the party. He
is a man of sterling traits of character, strictly honorable and upright in all
his dealings, and a typical representative of the days of ’49.
Transcribed by Kim Buck.
Source: "The Bay of San Francisco," Vol. 2, Pages 621-622,
Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
© 2006 Kim Buck.
California
Biography Project
San
Francisco County
California
Statewide
Golden
Nugget Library