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MARIPOSA FAMILY CHRONICLE
George Albert Hayes

is a venerable and well-known pioneer of 1849. He is a native of the State of Maine, born November 6, 1820, a son of George A and Mary (Irvine) Hayes. The father was a seafaring man, and was lost on the deep when George A. was a young child. There were four children in the family of whom our subject was the second-born. At the age of ten years he went to sea as a cabin boy, and was in the course of time made second mate. In 1841 he went on a whaling expedition to the northwest cost of the Galapagos Islands , and was gone for seven months and fifteen days. Returning to Boston in 1845 he worked at the cooper's trade until 1849, but before the end of the latter year he set sail for California , via Cape Horn, on the ship Ariettas; the voyage was made within five months, Mr. Hayes arriving in San Francisco in August.

The first two years were spent in the mines, after which he went into the hotel business in Mariposa. In 1852 he spent three months in a silver expedition, and then took up a ranch on Merced River, near Snelling. At this time his wife, who had remained in the East, joined him , and they began keeping hotel at Mariposa. In 1856 they were overtaken by a severe calamity, all their property being swept away by fire. Later Mr. Hayes built a hotel, which he managed until 1861. For several years he had from six to eight hotels in charge, and operated them all very satisfactorily. Having unusual ability in the management of large institutions, he was selected to take the care of the Mariposa County Hospital, a position he filled with much credit for three years. At the end of the period he was made superintendent of the Merced County Hospital, and discharged the duties of the office for three years.

In 1880 he purchased a section of land one mile south of Athlone Station, to which he has since added another section, and has ever since been engaged in the raising of live stock and butchering, Tthe same success that attended him in his earlier efforts has followed him in these new industries.

Mr. Hayes was married in 1861 to Miss Jean M GRAHAM, and of this union five children were born: George Harper, deceased, William Henry, George Albert, Jean A and Walter G . Mr Hayes is probably one of the oldest Odd Fellow in the county , having become a member of the Eagle Lodge, No 2 at Providence, Rhode Island , in 1845. He was a member of Mariposa Lodge, No 39, and he is a charter member of Hornitos Lodge, Mariposa County. He was one of the eighteen who organized the Republican party in Mariposa county in 1858, voting for J C Fremont. He has always been prominent in those movements which have tended to the developments of the county and advance of the people, and to such men as he is the present glory of the Golden State due.

SOURCE-A Memorial and Biographical History of the Counties of Merced, Stanislaus, Calaveras, Tuolumne and Mariposa, California The Lewis Publishing Company - 1892 California Local History - Rocq - 5371 submitted by Carolyn Feroben

posted Feb 20, 2000

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