California Biographies

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


BENJAMIN Y. COLSON. The varied experiences which have entered the life of Benja- 
min Y. Colson as a sailor before the mast have in no wise unfitted him for routine duties on 
land. An intelligent, capable, and energetic man, he has proven his ability as an agriculturist, the 
steady qualities inherited from his New England ancestry making him a most desirable citizen 
in any community where he might care to take up his residence. Since his location in Fresno 
county in the spring of 1886 he has held the position of manager of the Smith ranch, which 
consists of three hundred and twenty acres of land devoted to general farming, and where he 
employs three men. The ranch is located six and a half miles from the city of Fresno, in the 
Malaga district. 

Born in New Bedford, Mass., February 27, 1845, Mr. Colson is the son of O. D. Colson. 
The birth of the latter occurred in Massachusetts, August 1, 1819. In manhood he became 
a tinner, spending the greater part of his life in his native state, though his latter days were 
passed in Fresno, Cal. He married Amanda Cushman, who was born June 14, 1826. Until 
he was seventeen years old Benjamin Y. Colson remained at home with his parents, learning the 
machinist's trade. Attracted by a sea-faring life he then became a sailor and left his native town 
in 1864 on a whaling voyage. He made one voyage around the Horn on the barque Sunbeam, 
under the command of Capt. D. C. Barrett and another voyage around East Cape under Capt. 
Thomas Fisher. He followed this life for twenty years, from 1864 to 1884, during which 
time he sailed through many seas, visiting many points. 

In 1876 Mr. Colson married Annie E. Ellis, of Massachusetts, and in the summer of 1886 he 
came to California and entered upon the work which has since claimed his attention. To him- 
self and wife were born two children. Marion and Evelyn. Politically Mr. Colson casts his 
ballot with the Prohibition party and fraternally is identified with the Knights of Pvthias, is a 
Mason and belongs to the Rathbone Sisters.