Albert Wilson Bee I, of interest to historians of Southwest Harbor, Maine as the father of Albert Wilson Bee II (1854-1924), was a fascinating person in his own right. He sailed to California early in 1849 to participate in the Gold Rush. He and his brother, Frederick A. Bee (c. 1826-1892) founded the Bee Line, the first telegraph line across the Sierra, linking California and Nevada, one of the first fragile parts of what would later be the transcontinental telegraph line that linked California to the east coast.
Albert was a merchant in the gold fields. Frederick was involved in telegraph and railroad concerns and was appointed by the Chinese government to serve as vice-consul in the Chinese consulate in San Francisco in 1878. He was an early advocate for the rights of Chinese immigrants and is widely quoted in many histories of their struggles in California.
“Bee - Albert Wilson Bee I (1821-1863),” Southwest Harbor Public Library, accessed April 18, 2024, https://swhpl.digitalarchive.us/items/show/8538.Item 3505
