The Valley of Heart's Delight
GARRETT J. BYRNE
GLENBROOK FARM
bio- Sawyers
Surnames: GUNST, McCLOUD, McGLIVERY, SUTHERLAND, TOBIN, UREY, McDONALD
GARRETT J. BYRNE.--A varied and interesting career was that of the late
Garrett J. Byrne, one of the best known of the Irish pioneers in
California, who was one of the earliest dry goods merchants in the
state, his progressive spirit and capability bringing him unqualified
success in his business ventures. Mr. Byrne was born on November 20,
1827, on the sunny slopes of Tellabyrnes, near the noted St. John's
well, six miles from Kilkenny, Ireland. The eldest of a family of nine
brothers and four sisters, he finished his schooling at the age of
sixteen to go to work on the farm. At nineteen he started to learn the
dry goods business--four years of apprenticeship and no pay. His father
had to pay for his clothes all during that time and twenty-five pounds
besides. When his time was up, he could not get any employment near his
home, so went up to Dublin but met with the same result, as those were
hard times in Ireland. Starting for Liverpool on the Trafalgar, he took
passage on the sailing vessel, Grace McRae--no steamers on the Atlantic
at that time--and after a perilous voyage he landed at New York, where
he secured a position with Abraham Gunst at 295 Bowery, the father of
Moses Gunst, the cigar man.
Mr. Byrne remained in New York until October 19, 1852, when he sailed
for San Francisco on the Star of the West, stopping at Jamaica and
arriving at Aspinwall in due time. They poled across the Chagres River
in a flat boat to Gorgona, walked across the Isthmus eighteen miles to
Panama, and after ten days took passage on the Cortes, which was making
the trip up the coast. He arrived at San Francisco, and as he said in an
account of his active life published in the Leader in 1920.
"When I arrived in California, the only capital I had was youth, energy
and perseverance, and I needed them badly. My first job in the city was
to roll a lot of barrels on Sansome Street from the sidewalk to the
cellar, for which I received $2.50 for two hours' work. The firm I
worked for was Rising, Casella & Company, and I will never forget my
first job in San Francisco. After a few days I got a position with Thos.
Masterson on Clay Street at $200 a month and a percentage on my sales. I
had $1,000 in a short time, which I loaned at three per cent a
month--thirty-six per cent a year--so I made money fast. Those were
great old times. The bay was up to Montgomery and Jackson streets then;
the old ship Niantic was high and dry at Sansome and Clay streets and
was used as a rooming house. I remained with Masterson for a few years,
until I started in business at Marysville, December 1, 1855. Mine was, I
might say, the first regular dry goods store there. . I attended the
first Christian midnight mass, December 25, 1854, at St. Mary's
Cathedral, San Francisco, and five weeks from that time mine was the
first marriage that took place there, February 1, 1855. The Rev. Hugh
Gallagher welded the golden chains that were broken by my wife's death
September 26, 1900. February 1, 1855 was the happiest day of my life and
will ever find a warm corner in this old Irish heart of mine."
Mrs. Byrne before her marriage was Miss Annie McCloud; she was born at
Sidney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, the daughter of Donald McCloud, also
born there and descended from an old and prominent family. He was a
successful farmer and owned a beautiful place which was enhanced by fine
natural lakes. On her maternal side Annie McCloud was a McGilvery and
her grandfather was a Sutherland, of the famed house of Sutherland. With
her sister Kate, who later became Mrs. J. H. Tobin, she came to San
Francisco in 1852 with Captain and Mrs. Urey, making the trip across the
Isthmus of Panama on mule back. She supported herself and her sister by
sewing, and sent her sister to the convent of the Sisters of Charity,
then located on the present site of the Palace Hotel, and later Kate
McCloud attended the public schools in San Francisco. While trading at
Masterson's store in San Francisco, Annie McCloud met Mr. Byrne, and the
admiration of the young people being mutual, the acquaintance later
resulted in their marriage.
Mr. and Mrs. Byrne were the parents of a large family--eleven children:
Bessie died while attending Notre Dame in March, 1868, the first death
at that institution; Margaret died in infancy; Garry died in 1882;
Robert died in San Francisco sixteen years ago, Martin died in 1898 at
Glenbrook Farm; Allen resides at Sunnyvale; Charles lives at San Mateo;
Joseph died in infancy; James died in 1918; Elizabeth, the wife of J. A.
McDonald, and Kathryn M. and these two daughters jointly own and make
their home at Glenbrook Farm. In 1873 Mrs. Byrne made a trip to Ireland
with the children, then eight in number, and they spent two and a half
years there, when they returned to San Francisco. She was a noble woman
and devoted her time to the rearing of her family and in a careful
oversight of their education. The boys attended Sacred Heart and St.
Mary's academies, while the daughters were educated in the Dominican and
Notre Dame Academy at Santa Clara. Mrs. Byrne was prominent and active
in the social life of San Francisco, being a brilliant and accomplished
woman; she and her sister, Mrs. Tobin, were both very popular and were
considered two of the most beautiful women in the Bay city.
After conducting his business in Marysville until 1858, Mr. Byrne
returned to San Francisco, establishing himself on Clay Street, where he
remained until the Lick House was opened in December, 1862. He then went
into partnership with Robert Kirby, who had married Mrs. Byrne's sister,
Margaret McCloud, and the Kirby-Byrne Company opened their establishment
at 7 Montgomery Street. Mr. Byrne was extremely successful in his
business and made what was then considered a fortune in fifteen years,
but like many Californians, lost much of it in mining ventures. After
retiring from business he was for some years a deputy in the county
assessor's office in San Francisco.
In 1879 Mr. and Mrs. Byrne purchased the ranch on Stevens Creek, Santa
Clara County, named by Mrs. Byrne, Glenbrook Farm, from a beautiful
place she had known in Ireland, and here the family made their home,
developing it into an attractive estate. After his wife's death, Mr.
Byrne made a trip in 1903 to Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania, and
two years later he crossed the Atlantic to visit his old home in
Ireland, after an absence of fifty-four years. The remainder of his
years were spent in comfortable retirement at Glenbrook Farm, where he
passed away on January 14, 1917, highly esteemed by all who knew him,
his death closing a career of unusual activity and accomplishment.
Transcribed by Joe Kral, from Eugene T. Sawyers' History of Santa Clara County,California,
published by Historic Record Co. , 1922. page 490
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