goldfields

Juneteenth (June 19th) is a holiday celebrating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States. Although only created a national federal holiday in 2021, it has been celebrated annually on June 19 since 1865, marking the date when 250,000 enslaved people in Texas found out that they had been emancipated by executive decree.

Texas was the last area in the South to receive the news that slavery had been abolished. The announcement came over two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The Confederacy had no desire to inform the enslaved population that they were free, and it was not until Union troops under Major General Gordon Granger arrived at Galveston that the news reached African Americans in Texas.

Californians might think that Juneteenth is not important to California history, but slavery and its consequences is an issue that transcends the South and the Civil War. Slavery was a major topic discussed at the California Constitutional Convention in September 1849 and there were certainly a number of men at that convention who wanted slavery to be legal in California. And even though California entered the Union as a free state, it was possible to bring enslaved people from slave states into California and nothing in California law would make them free.

I have only explored a handful of stories of blacks, both free and enslaved, in California history. It’s a rewarding topic to dig into, full of stories of hope and courage and determination.

Read about Stephen Hill, who struggled to keep himself free, George Washington Dennis, who purchased his freedom from his own father, and Ida Taylor, who had to wait well past 1865 to find out she was free.

One of the most famous African American pioneers of California (who I have not written about myself), was Biddy Mason, who successfully sued in court for her freedom, and who became a prominent businesswoman in Los Angeles.

And don’t forget Alvin Coffey, the subject of my latest book. Let me know if you would like to get a copy of the book and I will make it happen!

In 1848 Lola left Bavaria for Switzerland, but when King Ludwig failed to join her there, she went on to London and a second marriage. The marriage to a young army officer with a recent inheritance lasted only two years. After the split, Lola decided it was time to leave Europe behind.

For two years (1851-53) she danced and acted on the stage in East Coast cities and then moved on to New Orleans. From there it was only a short ship voyage via Panama to California and fresh fields to conquer.

She had by this time developed a sure-fire sensational hit, the “Spider Dance.” Still posing as a Spanish dancer, she wore a tight bodice and a colorful knee-length skirt with multiple flounced petticoats. (Knee-length may sound modest, but it was considered daring, and it showed off her bare legs.)

Pretending to find a spider hidden in her skirt, she whirled and stamped in a frenzy. She lifted and shook her petticoats and her frantic actions drove the men wild. She was a hit on the stage in San Francisco and Sacramento.

She had other dances on offer, but she always concluded her program with the Spider Dance. It was what her public came to see and she would not disappoint them.

At this same time she married a California newspaperman, Patrick Purdy Hull, whom she had met en route to California from New Orleans. Marriage seems to have been irresistible to the Divine Lola, though this marriage would be no more successful than her previous two. The wedding was announced in the papers:

Note how she styles herself in her marriage announcement. She usually claimed that her birth name was “Maria Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert,” but the Maria Dolores part was tacked on to give credence to the nickname “Lola.” She was born Eliza Gilbert.

Here she gives her name a French spin. She still gloried in the titles of Countess of Landsfeld and Baroness of Rosenthal, bestowed by her royal lover. “de Heald” refers to the name of her second husband.

And what, you may ask, is a Chainoinesse of the Order of St. Therese? A chanoinesse is a canoness, a member of a holy order. It’s possible that Lola was created a secular canoness as another royal honor, but that is as much as I know.

I am back from a tour of Bavaria. I saw fairy-tale castles and palaces, lovely Alpine lakes and meadows, medieval towns and baroque churches. The centerpiece of the tour was the Passion Play at Oberammergau, a dramatization of Christ’s last earthly week.

So for the past two weeks I have not been thinking about history in Northern California at all.

I learned about “Mad” King Ludwig II and prankster prince-archbishop of Salzburg Markus Sittikus. The Sound of Music featured prominently in our tour of Salzburg, because guides figure all Americans want to see where it was filmed.

I ate lots of hearty meat-and-potatoes traditional German meals. I drank mineralwasser and apfelschorle. I brought home a bagful of my favorite Ritter Sport candy bars.

But any connection to California? Well, as a matter of fact, there is one. I’ll tell you all about it next time.

I have been out peddling my book around town. So far I have placed it at Made in Chico, ABC Books, Bidwell Supply Co., the Chico History Museum, and the Bidwell Mansion gift shop. Those places are all in Chico — I need to get out further afield. I like folks to be able to shop local.

It is also available on Amazon. Sales are doing nicely there. I hope some of those buyers will leave me a review. It always looks good to have some five-star reviews.

The day after I received shipment on my books, I was able to introduce it to 4th and 5th grade students in Wheatland, California. I spoke to them about the overland journey to California and the Gold Rush. They were a great audience. I always enjoy speaking to any group, but especially to elementary school students.

One thing I wanted them to understand about the Gold Rush is that the men (it was mostly men) who came seeking gold came from all over the world. Mexicans, Chileans, Peruvians, and Hawaiians. Men from Australia, China, and at least one from Japan. Men from every nation in Europe and every state in the Union. And among those from the United States were black Americans, both slave and free. That is an important part of our history that needs to be better known.

Pretty soon here I’ll be going on a two-week trip, so I won’t be blogging for a while. When I get back I’ll tell you some interesting things about Wheatland, a town located on the site of Johnson’s Rancho, famous in California history.

Last Sunday I enjoyed a field trip on a portion of the Nobles Emigrant Trail. This trail, first developed by William Nobles in 1852, proved to be a desirable alternative to the rigors of the Lassen Trail. It brought gold-seekers to the Northern Mines in Shasta County. Thanks to Ken Johnston, who organized the field trip, our group of trail enthusiasts from the Oregon-California Trail Association were able to see a bit of this historic trail.

We started our journey at the terminus — Shasta State Historic Park, formerly Shasta City.

In the spring of 1852, William Nobles convinced the merchants of Shasta City that he had discovered a viable wagon road to their thriving town.  Nobles had explored this new wagon route the previous year and asked for a fee of $2000 to develop the route. The trail branched off from the Applegate-Lassen Trail at Black Rock and headed southwest across the Black Rock and Smoke Creek Deserts to Honey Lake Valley and Susanville.  From there the trail continued westerly through forested and volcanic country, passing Lassen Peak, until it descended to the upper end of the Sacramento Valley at Shasta City. 

We drove about 40 miles from Shasta City to Shingletown, mostly along Dersch Road. Here are some of our stops along the way.

The Canon House marker sits next to Redding Fire Hall No. 3.

The Bear Creek marker is on the Dersch Ranch.

The Dersch Ranch marker reads: DERSCH HOMESTEAD: Here in 1850 “Doc” Baker established a stopping place for emigrants on what became known as the Nobles Trail. George and Anna Maria Dersch bought out Baker and homesteaded the land in 1861. Tenants of the Dersches were responsible for whipping three Indian laborers working on the potato harvest at the ranch. As a result of this incident, Indians raided the property in 1866, fatally wounding Mrs. Dersch. In retaliation, a posse was formed and killed most of the Indians at their Dye Creek camp.

This is the scene across the road from the Dersch Ranch. It’s beautiful country, especially in the spring.

Fort Reading, named after pioneer settler Major Pierson B. Reading, was established on the banks of Cow Creek in 1857. It existed primarily to protect settlers from Indians. Nothing is left of the adobe for buildings.

The view toward the site of Fort Reading.

The marker for Foot-of-the-Mountain Station, owned at one time by Phoebe Colburn. All the buildings are gone now.

The trail marker reads: Nobles Trail – Charley’s Ranch “Traveled 15 miles to Charley’s Ranch and camped there. Good water. Drove the stock 2 miles to grass. Here we heard the first chicken crow, and saw the first hog.” John S. Taylor, Sep 2, 1854

End of the trail (for me anyhow) at Shingletown.

The Nobles Trail proved to be one of the easiest of all the wagon routes into northern California and received heavy use right up until the railroad made travel to California a breeze. This wagon road, with its relatively level and easy terrain most of the way, was actually promoted as a railroad route. But it would have brought the business to Redding, and the Big Four, based as they were in Sacramento, weren’t having that.

When Phoebe Colburn died in 1876 she left her dresses to a niece in Mobile, Alabama, and her considerable estate, some $3000, “to her best friend of all others on earth”, Col. William Magee.

Phoebe Colburn probably met William Magee in Alabama. She was born in Mobile between 1818 and 1825, the earlier date being more likely. He was a native of South Carolina, born in 1806, but moved to Alabama in the late 1820s. He served as sheriff in Mobile from 1836 to 1840. From there he went to New Orleans where he engaged in business until 1849, when the Gold Rush drew him to California.

In 1828 he married Miss Margaret Bass in Mobile and they had a daughter in 1830. It is possible that Phoebe was a servant in the Bass household and came with Margaret when she married. Phoebe would have been a young teenager at that time.

Magee left his wife behind when he set out for California, as many men did. It doesn’t look like Margaret ever joined him in California. On the 1860 census he and Phoebe appear to be in the same household and Margaret is not listed. She died in 1869 and he remarried twice in Shasta, to Mary Perry in 1877 and Ann Moore in 1888.

Phoebe may have come to California as early as 1849, when William Magee made the trip via Panama, or he may have sent for her a few years later. We only know that she shows up on the record in 1854 when she buys a house in Shasta City. When did she become free? How did she earn the $700 to buy the house? No one knows.

More mystery hovers around another headstone in the Shasta Cemetery. Not far from Phoebe’s grave is the grave of an Indian boy.

Erected by Phoebe Colburn to the memory of the faithful Indian boy JOHN died March 30, 1858 aged 15 years.

Had Phoebe adopted the boy and named him John? Was he an orphan rescued by Phoebe, or was he kidnapped from his family and sold into servitude? The trade in Indian children in the 1850s and ’60s was rampant.

But clearly Phoebe was fond of the boy, however he had come into her care. A headstone for an Indian child can only indicate concern and affection. This tombstone is the only evidence we have that John ever existed.

In the 1870 census another teenage boy appears in the household of Col. Magee, surveyor, and Phoebe Colburn, housekeeper. Along with those two names we see “William Schmidt.” A letter “I” appears next to his name, indicating that he is Indian. His father is not named, but the column labeled “Father of foreign birth” is checked.

So it seems that 14-year-old William is the son of a German father and a native mother. He was born in 1855 or 1856. He may have been a servant in the Magee household, but another column is checked that indicates that he attended school within the last year. Perhaps he is another child that Phoebe took in and looked after.

What became of half-German half-California native William? Possibly he is the William Schmidt who turns up on the Great Register for Nevada County in 1876-78. This William lives at Mooney Flat and is the only voter listed on those two pages of the roll born in California. Men came from all over the States and the world, but not many were born in California in 1855.

These two young men who appear along with Phoebe seem to be telling us that she was a loving, caring, nurturing person who was particularly sensitive to those who, like herself, were marked by race or color. How we wish we knew more!

On Sunday I visited Shasta State Historic Park along with a group of trail enthusiasts from the Oregon-California Trail Association. We were in Anderson for a “Spring Symposium” and our field trip was to drive 40 or so miles on the Nobles Emigrant Trail, starting at its terminus, Shasta City.

Shasta City, once a thriving mining community and the first county seat, is now a handful of old brick buildings on either side of Highway 299. Most of the park is an open-air display that can be visited any time. The museum, inside the courthouse, is still closed to the public while State Parks readies things like new displays and ADA compliance.

We were fortunate to be given a special tour by parks guide June Morris. She couldn’t take us inside the museum, but she let us take a look at the gallows and guided us around the old cemetery.

The cemetery was hilly, overgrown with weeds and wildflowers, and home to many a sleeping pioneer — not only miners, but wives and children as well.

Here is the tombstone for James Ella Stockton, who died at the age of not-quite 24, after giving birth.

When she was born, her father was so certain that the baby would be a boy, that he registered the name as James, only to find out that the baby was a girl. Ella was added to make the name sound feminine.

The image on the tomb is a classic example of tombstone iconography. It shows a mourning angel with a drooping trumpet in one hand, weeping over a funeral urn.

Keep an eye out for the reopening of the Courthouse Museum at Shasta State Historic Park so that you can plan a visit. I am hoping that this summer I can visit again, tour the buildings and museum, reacquaint myself with the inhabitants of the cemetery, and have a picnic in the park.