Title: Pyburn Family Papers

Dates: 1847-1922

Collection Number: ARC 503

Creator/Collector:

Extent: 184 items; 0.75 linear ft.

Repository: Monterey Public Library

Abstract: Former local resident Robert Johnson recovered the Papers from the W. H. Pyburn house in Salinas before its demolition in 1959. The house stood on the present site of the Steinbeck Library, Salinas. Mr. Johnson created an inventory and name index, as well as transcripts of Part I, the letters and records of W. B. Pyburn. The donor is a descendent of Monterey County Sheriff Keating who is also noted in the records.

Language of Material: English

Access by appointment only; contact Local History Librarian or designated staff.

Reproduction by Local History Librarian or other designated staff; may be restricted due to condition of the materials.

[Identification of item]. Pyburn Family Papers. Collection Number: ARC 503. Monterey Public Library

Gift from Robert Johnson in 1999.

William B. Pyburn (1820, Louisiana-1858), arrived in Monterey during the Gold Rush, and quickly established himself as a merchant and property-owner. He married Hannah S. Brown (b. 1823, England-1901, Monterey). During the 1850s Pyburn was reportedly a business rival of David jacks. The Collection shows that he obtained a liquor license in 1852 and operated a "gaming table" at Don Jose Abrego's saloon. David Jacks, then County Treasurer, signed the license. Pyburn later ran a gambling table in the Bola de Oro (Ball of Gold) on Alvarado Street, a combination saloon and barbershop. In 1853, he bought a rancho, Coral de padillo in Carmel Valley, from James A. Osbourn, and began raising food crops. After Pyburn's death, Hannah Pyburn married Peter Corby, and she and her husband later operated the Central Hotel (1880-1883). The Pyburn's son, William Henry Pyburn (1852-1932), a native Montereyan, continued as a businessman, beginning as a clerk in the general merchandise store of Honore Escole. After graduating from Heald's Business College in San Francisco, he returned to Monterey. On February 14, 1874, Henry Pyburn married Escolle's daughter, Julia. In the 1870s, he owned W. H. Pyburn Grocery in the Wells Fargo Building on Alvarado (present day Ordway Drugs), and was agent for the Western Union and Telegraph, as well as Treasurer of the Monterey Coal Mining Co. In 1874, he was one of seventeen citizen stockholders comprising the City Hall Company that built the first community hall in Monterey at the corner of Franklin and Alvarado. During the 1880's he operated the "Ivy Saloon," next to Girardin Hardware (300 block Alvarado). Moving to Salinas, he began a career in public office, first as Under Sheriff, followed by Deputy County Clerk, then County Recorder. William Henry and Julia Pyburn had four children: Julia ("Lulu"), William Henry, Jr., Anita Alice ("Bird), and Honore Edward (referred to as "Boy" in the letters). Some of the local names and correspondents include Jose Abrego, David Jacks, David Leitch, Milton Little, W. S. Osbourn, merchants William Curtis and Simpson Conover, sheriffs William Roach and John Keating, S. J. Duckworth, Honore Escolle, James Harper, and Pyburn and Escolle family members.

The collection consists of correspondence, deeds, inventories, licenses and business records of a Monterey county pioneer family, primarily the papers of William B. Pyburn (1820-1858), his son, William Henry Pyburn (1852-1932) and his wife Julia Escolle Pyburn (1855-1925), and their son, William Henry Pyburn, Jr. (1874-1947). The collection includes a wide range of materials-from news of the gold fields near Mokelumne Hill and the new state capitals at Benicia and Vallejo to a dance card from the Agricultural Institute Ball given in 1895. The Papers provide a unique and valuable view of Monterey community and county history, documenting the social, business and political life of over 100 years ago. The papers are divided into three series. Part 1 consists of the letters and records of W. B. Pyburn, 1847-1861, documenting his business and property interests, as well as commentary on social and political events in Monterey County, the gold country and the new state capitals. Part II consists of the personal and business papers of W. H. and Julia Pyburn, 1871-1892, recording the rise of an enterprising progressive business family. Part III includes the records of W. H. Pyburn, Sr., and W. H. Pyburn, Jr., covering the period from 1894-1899, and highlights the social life -dances, buggy rides and tennis championships-of Henry Pyburn, Jr., his sisters and friends.