In the spring of 1849 George Murrell, the son of a well-to-do farming family near Bowling Green, Kentucky, joined the great overland trek to the land of gold. Like all forty-niners, George had high hopes of getting rich. George took with him an enslaved man, Reuben. (Or as George usually spelled it “Rheubin.” But I’ll stick with the more conventional spelling.)

George’s letters home have been brought together in a book: “There is More in Luck than Work”: The Letters of a Young Kentuckian in the California Gold Rush (1849-1854), edited by Juliette Bourdin. Murrell’s letters, donated by a descendant, now reside in the Huntington Library. I have to thank my friend Josie Reichschneider Smith for loaning me the book. She reviewed it for the Fall 2024 issue of the Overland Journal.

The book contains sixty-seven letters, written on the overland trail and during George’s five-year stay in Placer and El Dorado Counties. Like many a miner far from home, George was lonesome for the old folks at home, and wrote long heart-felt letters to his parents, sisters, and friends, describing the climate and scenery, mining techniques, food, and high prices.

Reuben missed his friends and family too, and the book includes letters that he dictated for inclusion with George’s letters. Here is the first paragraph of a letter addressed to his brother.

Brother Sam: I take pleasure in writing to you. And let you all know that I have arrived safely in California & am now at Sacramento citty, where we will remain a few days & then go to the diggens. We got to the first mines several days ago. I dug a few days & made fifteen dollars although the mines are not considered rich at thta place. In the trip out here I have enjoyed myself, had fine health, have been in good spirits & am yet in good spirits, & think that we will have luck & make a raise & then come back home again.

All we learn of Reuben is through his master’s eyes and words. George calls him “faithful, industrious, obedient, & kind” and says “Rheub is of great help to me in everything.” In George’s mind, they shared a close bond of friendship and affection.

We can’t really know Reuben’s heart and mind, but his hopes can be deduced. As George wrote to his father, “Rheubin says that there is no country like home but he would not be satisfied to return without makeing some money. He has great confidence that he is going to be lucky, & I tell you a great deal depends upon luck.” George may have made a promise of freedom or some other reward to Reuben.

Rheubin is well & is very desirous to accumulate money, he will be true to me while we stay here & accompany me home in spite of the abolitionist who have been tampering with him. He expects his master will do something great for him when he returns.

It was typical of forty-niners from the Southern states to bring a slave with them, to do the hard labor of mining, to do domestic chores, or to be hired out. Rarely did slaveowners bring more than one or two enslaved persons. Promises were often made, sometimes kept and sometimes broken, (as Alvin Coffey learned.) Some Northerners (not all were abolitionists) would try to persuade slaves to seek their freedom.

Without letters freely written by Reuben, we can’t know what his expectations were, or how he truly felt. But it seems that he hoped to make enough money to improve his lot, and he looked forward to going home and being with his family again.

Next time: Reuben at Work