Sonoma County Biography
Capt. C. Gustafson
The subject of this biographical sketch is a native of Sweden, born in Gottenberg, June 28, 1864, and a typical representative of his race, energetic, thrifty and a lover of the sea. His father, Gustaf Gustafson, was a farmer in Gottenberg, and in the rural district about the family home Captain Gustafson was educated. At the age of fifteen years the sea-faring spirit took possession of him and he sailed first on the Baltic and then on the Mediterranean, later going on a trading vessel to Brazil. From there he came to the United States and landed at New Orleans, where he went on the American ship Lucile in the European trade. In the year 1882 he came to California and spent a year in the coasting trade, but since then has been sailing on the Bay. The following year he entered the employ of the Sausalito Ferry Company, first as mate on the Donahue, and then as pilot. In 1890 he was mate and pilot on the Sacramento river with the Sacramento Transportation Company, then with the California Transportation Company. During the time he was in the employ of the latter company he was appointed captain, and took charge as master of the Richelieu, serving until 1911, when he became captain of the Napa City for the Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railway Company.
Still a young man and a busy one, Captain Gustafson has been so provident as to invest in a fruit ranch of twenty-four acres at Graton, Sonoma county, where he resides, his family taking care of the place. All of the land is set to fruit, nearly one-half of it to apples of the Gravenstein variety principally. Here Captain Gustafson loves to spend all the time he can spare from his responsible duties as master of his vessel, taking the keenest enjoyment and delight in his surroundings.
Captain Gustafson's marriage united him with Miss Anna Pearson, a native of Sweden, and to them were born two children, Gladys G. and Roy H. Captain Gustafson is a Master Mason, and a member of the California Association of Masters and Pilots. Politically he is a Republican. A man of kindly and sympathetic nature, his liberality and interest in public-spirited measures are felt upon all sides.
History of Sonoma County, California
History by Tom Gregory : Historic Record Company, 1891
Los Angeles, Ca. 1911
Transcribed by Roberta Hester Leatherwood
October 2009 Page 943
Sonoma County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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