CAPTAIN CHARLES GORDON WILSON

Wilson's Landing

            Captain Charles Gordon Wilson, of Fremont Township, is a native of Sydney, Australia, born May 17, 1846.  His father, W. C. Wilson, was a baker by trade.  His mother died when he was a child of three years, and in 1849 the father and family sailed for California, landing at San Francisco, where they located, and there the subject of this sketch was reared.  A nautical life had been his dream from childhood, and when but twelve years of age he commenced his career on the bay as master and owner of the Advance, a five-ton vessel, which served his purpose for eight years, and was then succeeded by a larger vessel, the Annie Harley.  In 1876 he built the schooner Charles G. Wilson, at Wilson’s Landing.  Here was also constructed the Marie Chevalier, which he operated in the bay trade for seven years.  Captain Wilson has been owner of every vessel he has been connected with in the thirty years of his experience in the bay and coast trade, and in reality master, though of course he could not take out master’s papers until he had reached the age of twenty-one years. The landing, which is known by his name, is by the junction of three counties,--Alameda, San Mateo, and Santa Clara,--and here the captain has four acres of land.  He has commodious warehouse buildings, with a capacity of 9,000 bales of hay.  The shipments from the landing will average between 700 and 1,000 tons per annum.  He has a beautiful residence place in Santa Clara County.  It contains five acres, and is situated three miles from Mayfield, by the county road.  All the improvements have been made by him, and the place now presents a tasteful and ornamental appearance.  He has about seventy-five fruit-trees of different varieties, planted in 1885, and about sixty vines; both fruit and vines are for family use.

            Captain Wilson was married, at San Francisco, on Thanksgiving Eve, 1881, to Miss Mary Nicholson, a native of San Francisco, and daughter of John Nicholson, who came to this coast in 1849, and afterward embarked in mercantile life in San Francisco.  Politically, the Captain is a Republican.

Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, Illustrated. - Edited by H. S. Foote.- Chicago:  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888.
Pg. 356-357
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
Proofread by Betty Vickroy