Category Archives: John Townsend

A Glimpse of the Goldfields

Posted on July 1, 2017 by nancyleek

Here are two letters, written in July 1849, that give a glimpse of life in the goldfields on the Feather River. They were written by John C. Buchanan, who worked for John Bidwell and evidently supervised his diggings at Bidwell … Continue reading →

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A Kinder Man I Have Never Known

Posted on February 10, 2017 by nancyleek

In the 1880s Hubert Howe Bancroft asked John Bidwell if he could supply any information about several early California pioneers, Dr. John Townsend among them. On May 23, 1884 Bidwell wrote back with short recollections of the men he had … Continue reading →

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Bidwell to Townsend

Posted on February 9, 2017 by nancyleek

Here is a letter from John Bidwell to Dr. John Townsend, written on April 5, 1849. He congratulates Townsend and his wife on the birth of their son, John Henry Moses Townsend, born November 26, 1848. An indication of Bidwell’s … Continue reading →