PAUL C. SAINSEVAIN
Surveyor/Engineer -City of San Jose Pioneer Biography
SURNAMES: SUNOL, BERNAL,
EBELING, SCHWEITZER
A representative one of the oldest families in the Santa Clara
Valley is Paul C. Sainsevain, whose father, Pedro Sainsevain, came to
San Jose from his native place, Begay, France, when he was eighteen
years of age, in 1836, and in this old Mission city he met and married
Miss Paula Sunol, a native daughter of San Jose whose father, Don
Antonio Sunol, came hither from Spain in 1818, and was the second
of the foreigners to come to Santa Clara Valley. Don Antonio
Sunol, became a large landowner and a successful and influential
man. On his maternal side , Paul C. Sainsevain, is also descended
from the Bernal family, coming hither in 1787 with the old Mission
fathers.
Pedro Sainsevain built the first sawmill in San Bernardino County, and
with his brother Louis set out a large
vineyard in Cucamonga. Then he ran a sawmill near Santa Cruz
and had a grant
of land at Santa Cruz, a part of it now being the site of the powder
works.
In 1849 San Francisco Bay was full of idle boats, as captains could get
no sailors to man them because of the rush to the mines. Wishing to
make a trip to Chile, Mr. Sainsevain chartered a boat and had to
guarantee a crew, so he manned the boat with Indians, made the trip to
Chile, purchased merchandise, and on his return sold his stock at a
profit of $50,000. He also engaged in business in Yerba
buena. When his oldest children were of suitable age he
sent them to Bordeaux, France, to go to school. The mother made
the trip and remained for some months, and while she was there Paul C.
was born in Bordeaux, May 25, 1856. In 1864 Pedro Sainsevain
started a large wine business in New York City, but owning to the
conditions of the times he lost heavily. He continued on his
ranch in San Jose, were he had 116 acres of vineyard, now Sainsevain
Villa.
Afterwards he was again in business in San Francisco. Then for
about eight years he was in business in Central America, later
returning to San Jose. After his wife's death he returned to France,
where he spent the rest of his days. They had three children
Michael, deceased; Charles, a rancher of San Jose, and Paul C. of this
sketch.
He was educated in the public schools of San Jose at and Santa Clara
College, and after this he took up the study and practice of surveying
and civil engineering under A. T. Herman for two years; then with his
father he went to Central America, where he remained for a period of
eight years. On his return to San Jose he became secretary of the
San Jose Electric Light Company, a position he filled for two years,
when he assecpted a position with Mr. Pieper, city engineer of San
Jose, continuing with him until Mr. Pieper's death, when Mr. Sainsevain
received the appointment of city engineer, service acceptable for a
period of six years. During this time he laid out the main sewer
and sewer system. Next he was deputy county assessor under L. A.
Spitzer until his death, and then under Mrs. L. A. Spitzer until
the
close of her term of office, when he entered the county surveyor's
office eight years ago, since which time he has been serving under Mr.
Ryder.
Mr. SAINSEVAIN resides in a comfortable home he owns in Sainsevain
Villa, a subdivision his father laid out of the 116 acre farm in
1870. In San Francisco occurred the marriage of Mr. Sainsevain
and Lillian Ebeling. She is a native daughter, born in San
Francisco, whose father was one of the pioneer jewelers of that
city. Their union has been blessed with two children: Eugenio,
died at the age of twenty years, just as he was entering Stanford
University, and Isabele, now Mrs. Schweitzer, who has one child,
Eugenio Schweitzer.
Transcribed by Carolyn Feroben from Sawyer's History of Santa Clara
County, Pub 1922, Historic Record Co., page 776
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