Thomas Edward BEVAN and an 1871 horse herd
Thomas Edward BEVAN was born in Clayville, Oneida County, New York on 30 January 1854. I think he died in El Dorado County, California in 1929, but I am not certain.
In 1871 Bevan accompanied McNamara and Brewer overlandthrough Nevada, Utah, and Idaho to Montana with a herd of 486 horses, starting on 1 May 1871,and arriving in Helena, 27 August 1871, where the band was sold to Travers Bros., stage men.Additonal information of McNamara, Brewer, Travers Bros., or any of the persons mentioned here would be most appreciated.
Thomas Bevan was the son of Edward and Phoebe (Jones) Bevan. The father, a native of Wales, was born in 1830. The mother was born in Illinois. At age fifteen, Edward, was apprenticed to a blacksmith. In 1849 he came to the US with a brother, and in 1861 went to California by ship, locating in Nicolaus, Sutter County, where he ran a blacksmith shop until 1873. That year he moved his business to Wheatland, Yuba County, and continued to work at his trade until he died, 1 July 1893.
Thomas E. Bevan attended school in Nicolaus, and then learned the blacksmith business from his father.
After herding the horses in 1871, Bevan returned home, attended business school, and eventually became the County Assessor for Yuba County, CA, serving in that office for eight terms.