Hinds House - Colonel Alfred J. Hinds and Family

Colonel Alfred J. Hinds and Family

Alfred Joseph Hinds was born in 1845 in Chester, England. In 1848 his family moved to France and then the United States, eventually living in Iowa. During the California Gold Rush in 1850 they moved to San Francisco, although his mother died on the trip. In 1852 they moved to Santa Cruz, where he started school. In 1866 he opened a book and stationery shop in downtown Santa Cruz. On June 8, 1869 he married Sarah Lee Howe from San Mateo, California. His sister Amelia Hinds married Duncan McPherson, publisher of the local newspaper Santa Cruz Sentinel.

In 1875 Hind started to develop real estate in the city of Santa Cruz. He would buy up large tracts of land on the edges of town and subdivide and sell them. He was the secretary and trustee of the First Congregational Church since 1875 and one of the first trustees of the Santa Cruz Public Library. He was active in the California Republican Party and helped organize the Avalon Lodge number 89 of the Knights of Pythias. In 1888 he was appointed "Colonel" in the Knights, and he became known by that title. He was also active in other fraternal orders. Alfred Hinds and his wife Sarah had four children who were all lost when a diphtheria epidemic swept Santa Cruz in 1876. They started a new family and at least three children survived. Sons included Leland Foye Hind, Wendell McPherson Hind, and Theron Winfred Hind. Hinds died in 1921 at age seventy six.