ColburnPhoebe
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1818  - 1876 

Born in Alabama (per 1870 Census)
Also spelled Colburn
Listed in 1870 census 
Died Novemver 22, 1876
58 years

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1870 Shasta Co., CA Census - Shasta Township 
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Magee, William             60      W       SC       surveyor 
Colburn, Phoebe            48      M       AL       house keeper 
Schmidt, William          14       I         CA 
Colburn, Phoebe - 1818(?)-1876. Freed black female illiterate slave who become a shrewd business woman. Also worked as a cleaning woman and housekeeper.  Purchased the houseWilliam Mapee lived in at Shasta from Harrison Shurtleff in 1854 for $700. Held the mortgage on Thomas Freeman's American Ranch property in 1855. Acquired ownership of the Foot of the Mountain Station and 240 acres as a result of a $500 loan made to owner/employer William W. L. Smith who turned the station over to her for the money owed. She sold the station to George Schuler in 1870 and moved to Shasta. Became the cleaning woman and housekeeper for Col. William Magee.  Either purchased sold or loaned money for many pieces of Shata property. She was possibly the first woman to hold a mortgage in Shasta County, Could not write, instead left a mark on documents always witnessed or notarized by Magee. Left a sizeable estate to a niece and her best friend Colonel Magee. 

copied from The Dictionary of Early Shasta County History 2nd Edition by Dottie Smith 
 

 
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