Beebee





William L. Beebee was a banker, a judge, and a businessman. Born in 1829 in Oswego, New York, he left at the age of 16 for Valparaiso, Chili with the idea of becoming a mercantile. As news of events taking place in California, Beebee headed to Monterey, Ca landing on August 25, 1847. William ended up in Yerba Buena (now San Francisco) where he worked as a clerk. He tried his hand at gold mining, but by 1849 settled in San Luis Obispo with friend Samuel Pollard.

Beebee and Pollard established the first store in San Luis Obispo with money from property he sold in Yerba Buena and contracted for the building of an adobe on the corner of Monterey and Chorro. Success from this business allowed him to purchase property off today's Corbett Canyon road. William tried his hand at cattle ranching for 13 years until 1864 when he lost 1,500 head of cattle.

In 1863 he was elected county judge where he served for eight years. From there he tried his hand successfully in the lumber business with John Hartford and L. Schwartz.

In 1873 Beebee was one of the organizers of the San Luis Obispo Railroad. Beebee was also a one of the original organizers and first stockholder in the Bank of San Luis Obispo.

Beebee was married twice and had two children, living on the corner of Broad and Marsh Street. Here is an image of the house.


Judge Beebee passed away on May 31, 1899. His remains were taken to San Francisco and were laid in state at Pioneer Hall. The remains were cremated and sent back to San Luis Obispo where they were laid to rest at the Odd Fellows Cemetery, section E-2.


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