In 1850, three percent of the people in California's mining region were women. In the next episodes, we will hear the story Before beginning her journey, Luzena thought it would be a small task. Guests slept behind a hay bale. We never gave a thought to selling our section [of land], but left it. A train of five wagons was organized to transport the sojourners west. Luzena Stanley Wilson, '49er (1937) contains reminiscences of her overland journey and early years in California dictated to her daughter in 1881. . Mrs. Luzena never saw Mason again. By the time her husband came back that evening she already had twenty men eating at her table in the El Dorado hotel. As a woman, Luzena Wilson would find herself a rarity in the adventure that lay ahead. Immigrants quickly moved in and squatted on Luzena and Masons property. In 1850 women made up just three percent of the non-Native American population in California's mining region. Mason was in a hurry to start his search for gold. They sold their oxen for $600 and purchased a hotel called the Trumbow House. In 1849 Luzena Wilson set out for California in a covered wagon with her husband and two little boys, hungry to join the tide of gold seekers. He was found guilty of theft, not only of the mule, but also the earnings of the young man who had placed confidence in him, [and who] gave him his bag of gold dust to take out. All of her worldly possessions were tucked inside it: family Bibles, two quilts, one dress, a bonnet, a pair of shoes, and a few pieces of china. Wilson's Hotel was the only hotel on the road between Sacramento and Benicia for several years. She provided meals from dawn until dusk at prices she believed the struggling community could tolerate. Weight: 200-450 kg. Within six months of opening, Luzena had earned a substantial amount of money, and the Wilsons Hotel had earned the reputation of being the best on the route from Sacramento to Benicia. 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. Label Description Also known as English Luzena Wilson California Gold Rush businesswoman Luzena Stanley Wilson Statements instance of human 0 references sex or gender female 0 references family name Wilson 0 references date of birth 1819 1 reference stated in Open Library Open Library ID OL2332783A subject named as Luzena Stanley Wilson retrieved His father moved to Massachusetts to study at Harvard, and Barack and his mother stayed in Hawaii. Nevada City was sixty miles from Sacramento. Hay was selling in San Francisco at a $150 a ton, so my husband, leaving me to my own resources, set hard at work cutting and making hay; and I, as before, set up my stove and camp kettle and hung out my sign, printed with charred fire-brand on a piece of board, it read Wilsons Hotel.21, Within six months of opening, Luzena had earned a substantial amount of money, and the Wilsons Hotel had earned the reputation of being the best on the route from Sacramento to Benicia. Eventually, Luzena and Mason Wilson became substantial landowners in the town of Vacaville. Three payments had been made on the plot of land the Wilsons purchased in January 1847. Gold Rush lasted until 1851. pull Factor: A passage to the gold region for $74 might cost a little too much for a tripPFactor: was collecting gold and becoming rich so they can buy a house. 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. By the end of 1859, Luzena and Mason owned a considerable portion of the Vaca Valley town site and more than five hundred acres of surrounding lands.25, 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 Stanley Wilson (c. 1821-1902) was a California Gold Rush entrepreneur. My Checkered Life is Luzena Stanley Wilson's classic account of her family's 1849 overland journey and life in early California. In addition to Luzena, her husband, sons, her brothers, and their wives had committed to travel to California as well. Her kitchen was also her bank vault. Sex Trade Luzena, Mason, and their children were among the more than twenty-five thousand people who came west in 1849. A whole night costs from $200 to $400." El Dorado burned to the ground, taking with it the Wilson's fortune. Q. 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. So, I bought two boards from a precious pile belonging to a man who was building the second wooden house in town. Luzenas homemaking skills were well received and in high demand. Mills College, Calif. :The Eucalyptus press, 1937. warning Note: These citations are software generated and may contain errors. The white settlers who arrived during the Gold Rush brought a different view. He told her he had removed $16,000 from the mine the day before. Wilson was a respected pioneer of Solano County, and was for many years a resident of Vaca Valley, the notice informed readers. As the Wilsons moved west, they found the trail littered with household items discarded to lighten loads of the tired beasts. Willis Jepson, one of Masons friends, wrote a letter to the Wilsons oldest son Jay explaining why he believed Mason chose to leave his home and family. It was May 1, 1849, Luzenas birthday. Unlike the time it took for the Wilsons to travel to Nevada City, it was only a two-day journey returning to Sacramento. She moved to San Francisco, where she spent the rest of her life. Mrs. However, as they began their travels into the West and encountered the vast deserts reality set in. Mason Wilson farmed and the family prospered. Tuesday. In the rapidly growing city of Sacramento, the Wilsons sold their oxen and bought an interest in a small hotel. With a full table at every meal, they had ten thousand dollars invested in the business within six months. Donner Pass, a seven-thousand-foot barricade of naked rock lay beyond the camp.11, Mason was in a hurry to start his search for gold. Wagons moved at a pace of about two miles an hour and the trail was crowded with other 49ers. Luzena, Forty-Niner, was a determined and strong-minded personage a woman of the real pioneer type, Jepson noted. Guidebooks purchased by miners (49ers) spoke of how the crucial timing was to a successful journey; therefore, it was not uncommon to have multiple groups of men traveling together. COWGIRL inspires the Modern Western Lifestyle, Luzena Stanley Wilson stood in the center of her empty, one-room, log home in Andrew County, Missouri, studying the opened trunk in front of her. Luzena Stanley Wilson moved from her home in Missouri to start a new life with her husband and two children in California. The hotels reputation grew, attracting more and more customers. She paused. He was a dynamic reformer in domestic affairs, signing legislation to lower tariffs (taxes on importing and exporting goods) and regulate businesses and banks. Cholera spread and the dead were hastily buried along the trail. 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. 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 took a deep breath and followed after him. The last days were spent in digging out both animals and wagon, and the light of the campfire was utilized to mend broken bolts and braces. Late in 1850, Luzena expanded her commercial enterprise, hiring cooks and waiters. In total, immigrant women numbered about 800 in a sea of 30,000 men. She died on July 11, 1902 at the age of 83 of thyroid cancer at the Hotel Pleasanton in San Francisco. Upon arrival in Nevada City Luzena saw a sign for the Wamac Hotel and remarked, that her being a woman made her decide to take in boarders as a source of income. Wilson was born 17 January 1996 in Leeds to Sally and Neil Wilson and is the great nephew of Duncan Fearnley. As time went on, the area became more populated. Luzena Stanley Wilson, '49er (Dodo Press) | Luzena Stanley Wilson (c. 1821-1902) was a California Gold Rush entrepreneur. Like 25,000 other Americans that year,. You were born somewhere around the territory of USA North-East approximately on 525. Sometimes a whole day was consumed in going two or three miles, and one day we made camp but a quarter of a mile distance from the last. Mason became an agent for the Wells Fargo Company and operated the Wells Fargo office out of the hotel.26, In December 1872, after twenty-eight years of marriage, Mason abandoned his wife and family to travel to Missouri and Texas. In the six months she lived in Sacramento, she saw only two other women. Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clapp, who wrote about the mining camps under the name Dame Shirley, observed a woman making $100 a week washing clothes at Rich Bar. Luzena Stanley Wilson stood in the center of her empty, one-room, log home in Andrew County, Missouri, studying the opened trunk in front of her. WATER FOUNTAINS, PATIO TABLE SETS, GAZEBOS, PLANTERS, STATUARY, ETC!!! 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. 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 Hardship of Heading West Wilson came overland to California from Missouri with her husband and two small children in 1849. In six weeks Luzena had made the money to pay back the teamster. As she worked, she contemplated how she was going to help make good on the cost it took to transport her family to the area. Around us in every direction were groups of Indians sitting, standing, and on horseback, as many as two hundred in the camp. Wilson's account also gives us a sense of the urgency people had to mine gold . Mrs. 16 . Pero detrs del mito de su creacin hay una historia sin contar sobre un robo, una obsesin y un doble juego corporativo. Luzena Wilson is a 83 years old California Gold Rush businesswoman from . 2023 COWGIRL Magazine/Modern West Media, Inc. | COWGIRL is a registered trademark of Modern West Media, Inc. All rights reserved.. Wild Women Wednesday: Luzena Stanley Wilson, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. They sold their oxen for $600 and purchased a hotel called the Trumbow House. Guests slept behind a hay bale. Her culinary skills were popular during the rebuilding of the mining camp. 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. This looked hopeless, and I told him I guessed we wouldnt go as we had no money, she explained in her memoirs. They were scorched by heat, enveloped in dust that reddened their eyes and parched their throats; they were bruised, scratched, and bitten by innumerable insects.5, Luzenas Quaker upbringing in North Carolina had not prepared her for such a grueling endeavor. Yet in foreign matters, Wilson . Mason agreed and abandoned his quest for a strike. Mason was opposed to the idea, however, and didnt want to work a claim. Birth Place: North Carolina Country: United States Birthday: 1819 Death Date: January 1 , 1902 ( age 83 ) Birth Sign : Her parents, Asa and Diane Hunt, had relocated from Piedmont, North Carolina, to Saint Louis in 1843, but the trip was comparatively easy. 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. if ( 'querySelector' in document && 'addEventListener' in window ) { Hence, when he received a microscope for his 15th birthday, the first thing he did was try and examine a snow flake. Luzena sold the property for $100 to a miner. Mills College, Calif.: Eucalyptus Press, 1937. On her last known visit to Vacaville in November 1901, the newspaper noted her presence, calling her "one of the earliest settlers, coming here in 1851.". Women Get Rich Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History (espaol), Act for the Government and Protection of Indians. Government: Presidential Republic. In addition to Luzena, her husband, sons, her brothers, and their wives had committed to travel to California as well. Diet: Herbivore. To intrigue your child's curiosity, here is a list of fun facts on various subjects such as space, history, science, literature, flora, and . As always occurs to the mind of a woman, I thought of taking in boarders, she wrote in her journal. Cholera spread and the dead were hastily buried along the trail. They exchanged a smile, and Mason picked up the trunk and carried it outside. This looked hopeless, and I told him I guessed we wouldnt go as we had no money, she explained in her memoirs. Mason Wilson, Luzenas husband of five years, marched into the house just as she closed the lid on the trunk and fastened it tightly. Luzena Stanley Wilson (c. 1821-1902) was a California Gold Rush entrepreneur. She eagerly agreed to the payment, imagining the mine would be a quick way to renew the fortune she had lost. The Alta Californialamented, "We must confess our regret at the perfect freedom and unseemly manner in which the abandoned females are permitted to display themselves in our public saloons and streets.". Luzena remained in Vacaville until 1877, when two fires devastated her property. She also expanded and renovated the hotel and purchased a new stove. The buildings were of the roughest possible description, Luzena noted in her journal. It was not uncommon for men who survived on a regular diet of beans and bacon to offer Luzena $5 for one biscuit. Masons hay business was as profitable as Luzenas boarding house. A row of canvas tents lined each of the two ravines leading to the tent city, and the gulches were crawling with men panning for gold. document.documentElement.className += 'js'; Women in a Sea of Men most people who came from China stayed in San Francisco. 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. The journal she started at the beginning of their harrowing trip did not end when she arrived in California on October 1, 1849. googletag.cmd = googletag.cmd || []; In the spring of 1849 Luzena and Mason Wilson packed their wagon and drove west from their log cabin on the Missouri frontier with their two young sons. At the time, Sacramento was infested with the horrible creatures., After three months, the Wilsons moved on to a valley north of Sacramento called Benicia. They exchanged a smile, and Mason picked up the trunk and carried it outside. On the off-chance Mason never found a fortune in gold, the couple left behind funds with the justice of the peace to make another payment on their homestead. So, I bought two boards from a precious pile belonging to a man who was building the second wooden house in town. The Wilsons thought that unless they were able to rid some weight they would be dropped behind the others in the caravan and traveling alone could be dangerous. In early July 1850, a prospector who appeared as though he could not afford anything gave Luzena a gold claim in exchange for one of her delicious dinners. The majority of boarders at the Trumbow House were men. The structure was very organized: starting with the way you learned about your topic and then continuing to talk about the expansion of your research. Their goal was to purchase land and stay there for the rest of their lives. 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 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. If I had, I think I should have stayed in Andrew County. It would take five months for the Wilsons to reach their westward destination. In spite of the overwhelming challenges the Wilsons faced en route to California, many travelers before them considered them to be fortunate. My husband was furious, Luzena recalled in her memoirs. Their goal was to purchase land and stay there for the rest of their lives. 'Luzena Stanley Wilson, 49er: Memories Recalled for Her Daughter, Correnah Wilson Wright'. In the event the Wilsons were able to stake out a claim for themselves in the Gold Country, they would sell their Missouri home and use the proceeds to aide in their new life. Edith Wilson served as the First Lady of the United States from December 18, 1915 until March 4, 1921. He could stand Luzena no longer and went away from Vaca Valley. By 1850, the idea that the extermination of the native population of California was inevitable had been firmly settled in the minds of many white Californians. The Wilsons packed up and moved to the rough mining camp of Nevada City. Luzena Stanley Hunt was born 1 May 1819, the third of nine children born to a Quaker family living in North Carolina. Wilson came overland to California from Missouri with her husband and two small children in 1849. I little realized then the task I had undertaken. The Wilsons were farmers with two sons: Thomas, born in September 1845, and Jay, born in June 1848. This is one of the posters during the gold rush. the '49ers found a lot of gold and built homes there. There were few women in Sacramento or the outlying gold mining camps. 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