G.G. Colby served in the Civil War in the Union Army and sailed around the Horn to California in 1870. His wife arrived via train to California in alameda and they married four years later by Justice of the Peace Newell in Santa Cruz. they lived in Santa Cruz for their entire life and just celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary. G.G. Colby was a wheelwright and a blacksmith by trade and lived in his Ocean Street house until his death.