San Diego County Biographies
 
CAPTAIN S. S. DUNNELLS

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Was born at Edgecomb, Maine, April, 15, 1824, and in 1826 moved with his parents 
to Belfast on the Penobscot bay. His father was a sea­faring man, as was his 
grandfather; the same influence worked upon the son, and in 1833, at the age of 
seventeen years, he went on board a merchant vessel, which traded on the 
Atlantic along the coast of North and South America and the West Indies. In 
1841, accompanied by seven sailors, he went up the Mississippi and Illinois 
rivers to Peoria, Illinois, and then by wagon across the plains to Chicago, and 
the following eight years sailed upon Lakes Michigan, Huron and Erie, as master 
of a vessel. In 1849 he returned to Belfast, Maine, and in January, 1850, he 
sailed for San Francisco, California, making but one stop, at Valparaiso, and 
completing the trip in 160 days, arriving in July, 1850.
        He then went prospecting in placer mines on the Mokelumne river and 
later in Onion valley and at the headwaters of the Feather river. He soon, 
however, bought a mule team and carried supplies from Marysville to the mines. 
He then bought and built two lighters, purchased flour at Sacramento, and 
shipped it up the Feather river to Marysville, the motor power being wind and 
poles. He made several very profitable trips, but sold out and went to mining on 
Butte river, then to Piety Hills and Bald mountains in Shasta County, where he 
conducted general merchandise stores, selling goods to the miners. In 1857 he 
again visited the scenes of his childhood at Belfast, Maine, returning by way of 
the Isthmus.
        Mr. Dunnells was married in 1857 to Miss Elizabeth H. Moore, a native of 
Maine. In 1858 he returned to California, where he resumed his business at Piety 
Hills. Being joined by his wife in 1859, they remained about four years, and 
then sold out and went to Cottonwood, Shasta County, where they bought a store 
and remained until 1886. They again sold out and visited Red Bluffs, Sacramento, 
San Jose and San Francisco. As he journeyed, seeking a settlement, the stories 
of his youth came before him, and the sea yarns of his old uncle, a seafaring 
man, who had often visited this coast, and on his return to his New England home 
would sit in the chimney corner and tell of the beautiful bay and glorious 
climate of San Diego, and from this his attention was turned to that place; and, 
being so satisfied that San Diego would be to him a haven of rest, he went to A. 
E. Horton, who then had an office at San Francisco, and purchased a house and 
lot at the corner of Fifth and State streets, San Diego city, that he might come 
to this land of warmth and sunshine, feeling that a house was opened for him and 
to shelter his family. He then started the first hotel, known as the " Old San 
Diego Hotel." After running the hotel one year he leased it and in 1870 started 
in steamboat operations, carrying freight and passengers north as far as Santa 
Barbara and about 300 miles south. In 1873 he sold out and started in the 
fishing business, drying and shipping to San Francisco, and also in piloting 
vessels out and in the bay; but at that time shipping was extremely light. He 
continued until 1873, when he sold out and has since devoted himself exclusively 
to piloting.
        Captain Dunnells has two children, one daughter and a son, both living 
in San Diego, the son being also a pilot and connected with his father in duties 
upon the sea.
 
SOURCE:  An Illustrated History of Southern California:  Embracing the Counties 
of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower 
California… Chicago:  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890.  p.-  188-189