Background
William Birelie Hyde was born February 14, 1842, in or near Baltimore, Md., the second child of Oliver Hyde, Jr. and Harriet
Kean Hyde. He and his family traveled overland to California either in 1851 or in 1853, and settled in Benicia, where he later
attended the Benicia Collegiate Institute. After attending the Rensellear Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N.Y., Hyde graduated
with distinction in 1861.