California -- Gold discoveries

Abstract:

The papers consist of correspondence, writings, legal and financial documents, and other papers of six generations of Bidwell family members. Principal figures include Barnabas Bidwell (1763-1833), lawyer and politician in Massachusetts and Kingston, Ontario; and his son, Marshall Spring Bidwell (1799-1872), lawyer and politician in Kingston and New York City.

Abstract:

George M. Davidson's diary and correspondence describe an 1849 overland trip to California. This material records the hardships of the journey, encounters with Indians, life in the California gold mines, and his establishment of a general store in Pine Grove. There are business records such as store inventories, bills from suppliers, a mining work ledger, bullion receipts, and informal certificates for mining shares in Butte County and Sierra counties, California.

Abstract: The bulk of the collection documents William Emory's service on the Mexican boundary survey in the years 1848 to 1858. Series I contains correspondence with members of the boundary commission, the American and Mexican Survey parties, and government officials. Correspondence for 1849-50 describes California during the Gold Rush and Forty-Niners on the Gila route. There are also other military records. Series II contains letters and other records from Emory's service in Kansas and in the Civil...

Abstract:

Research files for the publication of William R. Goulding's journal documenting his 1849 journey to California, California Odyssey. Includes subject files pertaining to Goulding and his work as a physician, Etter's correspondence with coeditor Howard Lamar and Warwick Goulding, maps pertaining to and photographs of Goulding, and a computer disk of notes on and photographs of Goulding.

Abstract:

The papers contain letters from David G. Ferson in California to his sister Ann A. Ferson in Massachusetts, describing life in the gold fields during the 1850s.

Abstract: Correspondence, documents, bills and receipts and writings by or relating to Joseph Libbey Folsom. The collection appears to have been formed by the executors of his estate, the San Francisco firm Halleck, Peachy & Billings. The correspondence contains approximately twenty letters to and from Joseph Folsom. These include correspondence with Suydam, Reed & Co., lawyers in New York who represented Folsom in a legal battle over land in California. There are approximately 150 letters to...

Abstract: This collection encompasses accessions of single letters and small groups of letters and other manuscripts, pertaining to the California Gold Rush, which the library has chosen to group and list as an artificial collection. Letters discuss voyages to the Pacific coast, including journeys through Panama; mining life in California; the inhabitants of California, including Mormons; vigilance committees in San Francisco; and the establishment of a police force in Nevada City, California. Some...

Abstract:

The papers contain correspondence and other papers documenting Gove family life and the experiences of Josiah E. Gove in gold rush California.

Abstract:

The papers contain correspondence and other papers documenting Alonzo Hill's voyage to California, experiences in the gold fields, San Francisco, and Sacramento.

Abstract:

The papers consist of correspondence, diaries, genealogical research materials and other papers concerning Sherwood's unsuccessful mining ventures in California and Australia, his journey to England 1846-48 to research the descendants of Joshua Jennings, and Sherwood family life.

Abstract:

Correspondence, account books, business papers, and ships' records, relating to the many commercial concerns and shipping ventures Henchman S. Soule and his brothers conducted from New Haven, Connecticut, including world voyages and investments in California gold exploration.

Abstract: J.S. Holliday's collection relating to the Swain family acquired while doing research for his book The World Rushed In. The collection includes 27 letters from Sabrina and George to William, dated April 15, 1849 to September 8, 1850. Also included are "A Forty Niner," William's dictated recollections, and his will, made out before leaving for California. Other family papers include William's father Isaac's account books, letters of family members and neighbors, and a daguerreotype and cased...

Abstract: The papers consist of Thomas J. Van Dorn's letters to his wife, Henrietta Frances Wilbur Van Dorn, and his diary of an 1849 journey of a Jerseyville company from St. Joseph to California. This material describes the landscape, rigors of travel, encounters with Indians, communities on route, and life in mining camps at Bear Creek, Sacramento, and Weaverville Dry Diggings. Letters to his wife dating from 1865-1869 describe his business in Yazoo City, Mississippi. There are business contracts...

Abstract: Papers of Jonathan Warner and his family of Jefferson in Ashtabula County, Ohio, 1836-1887. Correspondence documents the activities of Warner's immediate and extended family, and documents their opinions on sectionalism and slavery. The collection includes letters written by his brother, George Washington Warner, which document his emigration to California in 1852, as well as his activities in Washington Territory and Idaho Territory until 1865. Business records in the collection chiefly...

Abstract: The papers consist of correspondence relating to the life of the Samuel Smith Wood family in Greytown, Nicaragua, the bombardment of the city by the American ship, Cyane, in July, 1854, and claims rising out of that incident. A particularly long account is given in a letter (July 15, 1854) by Wood's son, Alexander McCready Wood. Also in the papers are letters (1849) by Samuel S. Wood to his wife describing a trip through the gold regions of San Juan and San Francisco, California and a family...