Guests slept behind a hay bale. Many a night have I shut my oven door on two milk-pans filled high with bags of gold dust, she wrote in her memoirs, and I have often slept with my mattress literally lined with the precious metal. Some careless hand had set fire to a pile of pine shavings lying at the side of the house in course of construction, Luzena recorded in her memoirs, and while we slept, unconscious of danger, the flames caught and spread, and in a short half hour the whole town was in a blaze. The Wilsons lost nearly everything they owned. She provided meals from dawn until dusk at prices she believed the struggling community could tolerate. She also expanded and renovated the hotel and purchased a new stove. Under a progressive provision of the 1849 California Constitution, her status as a married woman allowed her the right to own property separate from her husband. So, I bought two boards from a precious pile belonging to a man who was building the second wooden house in town. Luzena enjoyed eighteen months of prosperity before she, Mason, and her sons, along with eight thousand other Nevada City residents, were left homeless and virtually destitute. Luzenas homemaking skills were well received and in high demand. By 1858, the Wilsons had outgrown the small, temporary hotel they initially built in the area and decided to have a new one constructed at a cost of $14,000. Luzena and Mason purchased another boarding house in Sacramento. Lacking the funds to buy land, Mason set off to cut hay in order to make money, leaving Luzena on her own. Gravel markers lined the wagon trail west. As a woman, Luzena Wilson would find herself a rarity in the adventure that lay ahead. Luzena found a few pieces of unburned canvas and some wooden planks; Mason pulled her stove from the ruins of the boarding house, and the pair set up another eatery. Wilson, Luzena Stanley, 1819-1902. She was eighty-three years old. But behind the myth of the games creation is an untold tale of theft, obsession and corporate double-dealing. The first day of the Wilsons journey to California was without incident. These women had to take on responsibilities they had never anticipated, such as caring for their families alone and running farms by themselves when their husbands went away. The Wilsons packed up and moved to the rough mining camp of Nevada City. Like thousands of others, Luzena undertook the nearly 2,000 mile journey to an unknown land, where she'd rise from flood and fire, a survivor of the wild frontier. We never gave a thought to selling our section [of land], but left it. [1]The family had moved to Andrew County, Missouri by 1843, and in 1844 Luzena . Like 25,000 other Americans that year,. His father moved to Massachusetts to study at Harvard, and Barack and his mother stayed in Hawaii. She eagerly agreed to the payment, imagining the mine would be a quick way to renew the fortune she had lost. Under a progressive provision of the 1849 California Constitution, her status as a married woman allowed her the right to own property separate from her husband. Wilson's account also gives us a sense of the urgency people had to mine gold . She created a sign with scrap wood and charred embers saying Wilsons Hotel and started over again. "I hesitated he repeated his offer to purchase, and said he would give ten dollars [about $240 in 2005 dollars] for bread made by a woman," wrote Wilson. var googletag = googletag || {}; The buzzards and coyotes, driven away by our presence from the horrible feasting, hovered just out of reach. The enormous lure of gold led to many people embarking on the same westward trails. Her culinary skills were popular during the rebuilding of the mining camp. On April 21, 1851, the Wilsons were able to purchase two hundred acres of land along Alamo Creek. As always occurs to the mind of a woman, I thought of taking in boarders, she wrote in her journal. Wilson came overland to California from Missouri with her husband and two small children in 1849. The Wilsons packed up and moved to the rough mining camp of Nevada City. 2) The most common species is the plains zebra, which roams grasslands and woodland of . They sold their oxen for $600 and purchased a hotel called the Trumbow House. Luzenas new business was as successful as her previous one. He could stand Luzena no longer and went away from Vaca Valley. Sometimes we went down the mountains, they were so steep we tied great trees behind to keep the wagon from falling over the oxen; and once when the whole surface of the mountain side was smooth, slippery rock, the oxen stiffened and their legs, and the wagon and all literally slid down a quarter of a mile. The family moved toward the coast and settled beneath an oak tree in a little valley called Vaca, named after the property's Californioowner. A train of five wagons was organized to transport the sojourners west. Around us in every direction were groups of Indians sitting, standing, and on horseback, as many as two hundred in the camp. Queens of the Mines features the authentic stories of gold rush women who blossomed from the camouflaged, twisted roots of California. The beautiful area was ideal for the pair and their children. In the rapidly growing city of Sacramento, the Wilsons sold their oxen and bought an interest in a small hotel. Luzena recounted her memoirs to her daughter Correnah, in which she describes her journey from the early days in Sacramento, her founding of the "El Dorado" hotel in Nevada City, and her purchase of land in Vaca. She told her story to her daughter Correnah in 1881 while Correnah was recovering from an illness, and her daughter later published it. Wilson came overland to California from Missouri with her husband and two small children in 1849. Luzena took a deep breath and followed after him. Mason was in a hurry to start his search for gold. Luzena, Mason, and their children were among the more than twenty-five thousand people who came west in 1849. Given the daily growth of the area, Luzena determined there was a great need for a boarding house. It was the work of but a few days to collect our forces for the march, Luzena recorded in her journal shortly after they left on the first leg of their trip. Education was very important to. While some kids grasp information quickly, others take their sweet time to learn. It took twelve days to make it to the bustling mining camp. from Luzena Stanley Wilson, '49er by Luzena Stanley Wilson Luzena Stanley Wilson was born around 1821. He left the house on an errand of ejectment, taking with him a witness, in case he should be killed or be forced to kill the squatters, many of whom knew and feared his reckless and determined purpose, would not have hesitated to dispose of him with a bullet.. Before beginning her journey, Luzena thought it would be a small task. Luzena quickly went to work unpacking, making beds, and firing up her stove. Mason agreed and abandoned his quest for a strike. Her culinary skills were popular during the rebuilding of the mining camp. Luzena lived on the family farm until she and Mason wed on December 19, 1844. Luzena said she thought it sounded like a fortune and hesitated to respond. There was no start at all. Therefore, she was able to gain a lot of business from the men who desired a meal cooked by a woman. After the Hunts arrived in Missouri, they purchased a number of acres of land at a government auction. Late in 1850, Luzena expanded her commercial enterprise, hiring cooks and waiters.14. Mason supplied the variety of meat Luzena served to her boarders. Her kitchen was also her bank vault. Hence, when he received a microscope for his 15th birthday, the first thing he did was try and examine a snow flake. To add to the miseries of the trip it rained, and one night when the wagon was mired and we could not shelter under it, we slept with our feet pushed under it and an old cotton umbrella spread over our faces. Wilson's Hotel was the only hotel on the road between Sacramento and Benicia for several years. Luzenas homemaking skills were well received and in high demand. Born: December 28, 1856 in Staunton, Virginia Died: February 3, 1924 in Washington D.C. Married: Ellen Louise Axson Wilson and to Edith Bolling Galt Wilson Children: Margaret, Jesse, Eleanor Nickname: Schoolmaster or Professor $100,000 bill by the US Government Biography: What is Woodrow Wilson most known for? She was one of the most-borrowed authors from British libraries in the early 2000s. It was not uncommon for men who survived on a regular diet of beans and bacon to offer Luzena $5 for one biscuit. Women Get Rich Tuesday. Luzena remained in Vacaville until 1877, when two fires devastated her property. These are fifteen fun facts about Torrie Wilson you may not have known about. The verdict of guilty was givenand his punishment twenty-five lashes on his bare back, and [he was] compelled to work at $5 per day.17, Luzena enjoyed eighteen months of prosperity before she, Mason, and her sons, along with eight thousand other Nevada City residents, were left homeless and virtually destitute. Luzena etched "Wilson's Hotel" on a board and made chairs from stumps. The wooden structure was the first one of its kind built in Vaca Valley. Here are some interesting Ghana facts which were chosen and researched by kids especially for kids. Luzena Stanley Wilson, '49er (Dodo Press) | Luzena Stanley Wilson (c. 1821-1902) was a California Gold Rush entrepreneur. In spite of the overwhelming challenges the Wilsons faced en route to California, many travelers before them considered them to be fortunate. In May 1857, the couple welcomed a daughter, Correnah. She moved to San Francisco, where she spent the rest of her life. The Hardship of Heading West He told her he had removed $16,000 from the mine the day before. According to her obituary, that ran in the July 12, 1902, edition of the Woodland Daily Democrat newspaper, Luzenas funeral service was held at her daughters home. They sold their oxen for $600 and purchased a hotel called the Trumbow House. At last we caught a glimpse of the miners huts far down in the gulch and reached the end of our journey.8. We built the fire at night close to the wagon, under which we slept. The majority of boarders at the Trumbow House were men. Wilson was born 17 January 1996 in Leeds to Sally and Neil Wilson and is the great nephew of Duncan Fearnley. American women, including Luzena Wilson, went to California. I must have carried my honesty in my face, for he looked at me a minute and said, Ill take you, Maam, if you will assure me the money. I promised him it should be paid, if I lived, and we made the money, So, pledged to a new master, Debt, we pressed forward on the road. The Wilsons lacked the funds to purchase a wagon and team to get to the boomtown. In 1850, three percent of the people in California's mining region were women. I had read and heard whole volumes of their bloody deeds, the massacre of harmless white men, torturing helpless women, carrying away captive children the most precious in the wide world, and I lived in an agony of dread that first night., Luzena noted in her memoirs that the Indians never posed any threat to her or her family. She, Mason and the children ran to the top floor of the hotel and stayed there for seventeen days as the floodwaters lapped outside. In addition to Luzena, her husband, sons, her brothers, and their wives had committed to travel to California as well. To intrigue your child's curiosity, here is a list of fun facts on various subjects such as space, history, science, literature, flora, and . A miner with a vehicle and horse was on his way to Nevada City and offered to take Luzena, Mason, her boys, a stove, and two sacks of flour with him for $700. He felt the painstaking effort seldom resulted in a rich find and that the prospector had probably located all the gold to be had on that spot. Surprisingly it was not a scientist, but a young farmer from Vermont, who took the first micro-photograph of a snowflake in 1885, when he just 19 years old. Cholera spread and the dead were hastily buried along the trail. Some careless hand had set fire to a pile of pine shavings lying at the side of the house in course of construction, Luzena recorded in her memoirs, and while we slept, unconscious of danger, the flames caught and spread, and in a short half hour the whole town was in a blaze. The Wilsons lost nearly everything they owned. Luzena, Mason, and their children were among the more than twenty-five thousand people who came west in 1849. ' Broke and desperate to start anew, Luzena found a man with an idle team who said he would take her, her two children, a stove, and two sacks of flour to Nevada City for seven hundred dollars. As the Wilsons moved west, they found the trail littered with household items discarded to lighten loads of the tired beasts. By the end of the summer in 1850, Luzena had an average seventy-five to two hundred boarders living at the establishment, each paying $25 a week.13, She named her establishment El Dorado after the fabled kingdom in Spanish America supposedly rich in precious metals and jewels, which had lured sixteenth century explorers away from their homes. They exchanged a smile, and Mason picked up the trunk and carried it outside. This historic memoir, My Checkered Life, is Luzena Stanley Wilson's classic account of her family's 1849 overland journey and life in early California. In 1850 women made up just three percent of the non-Native American population in California's mining region. var googletag = googletag || {}; The gold claim was a half a block from where her business stood before the fire. Three payments had been made on the plot of land the Wilsons purchased in January 1847. Burials were common, especially when cholera struck. Initially Luzena Wilson thought going to California "a small task," but the journey was not to be taken lightly. Women died during childbirth along the way, and their children fell before all manner of disease and fatal mishaps. To add to the miseries of the trip it rained, and one night when the wagon was mired and we could not shelter under it, we slept with our feet pushed under it and an old cotton umbrella spread over our faces. The journal she started at the beginning of their harrowing trip did not end when she arrived in California on October 1, 1849. [5], Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Luzena Stanley Wilson | American Experience | PBS", The Gold Rush: People and Events. Each source presents a different story and needs to be evaluated on different criteria which I will now do. The fire howled and moaned like a giant in an agony of pain, and the buildings crashed and fell as if he were striking them down in his writhings. He offered her five dollars for her biscuits. According to her journal entries, lawbreakers were dealt with quickly and harshly. On July 22, 1850, she witnessed the severe punishment inflicted upon a man who had stolen a mule. Summary Eliza Marshall Gregson (b. Luzena recounted her memoirs to her daughter Correnah, in which she describes her journey from the early days But behind the myth of the games creation is an untold tale of theft, obsession and corporate double-dealing. (Enter your ZIP code for information on American Experience events and screening in your area.). The Value of Domestic Arts Pero detrs del mito de su creacin hay una historia sin contar sobre un robo, una obsesin y un doble juego corporativo. As a married American woman, Luzena Wilson reminded many miners of home, of their mothers, wives and sisters. At times I have had a larger amount of money in my charge than would furnish capital for a country bank. 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