In the 1860s and 1870s, W. W. Hollister, in cooperation with a number of partners, built one of the largest and most successful sheep ranching operations in California. Albert and Thomas Bloodgood Dibblee ultimately took over the day-to-day operations of this ranching empire, until the partnership was dissolved in the early 1880s.
Flyer Dibblee was descended from a family that had arrived in Massachusetts from England in 1636. He became a judge in upper New York state and eventually settled in New York City. Here he raised his family of nine, including sons Albert, Thomas, and Henry, all of whom would ultimately settle in California.
Albert left school at 16 and, through his position at the State Bank of New York, developed a sharp business sense. After an accidental injury in 1848, he was advised to take a sea voyage. He decided to head for California to engage in the lucrative mercantile trade in a booming San Francisco. A frugal man, for years Albert lived in a small room above his office, as he slowly made his fortune. He also got involved in the city’s volatile politics, serving on the executive committee of the Vigilance Committee in 1856.