Volume 036-3 - July 1982 (8 pages)

EDITORIAL In the January 1981 issue, the first book review was published in our Bulletin. To be reviewed, we try to find books which are of importance to Nevada County history or books which are related to this history, for example books on the overland emigration or about the history of mining. In this issue, we inaugurate two new features. The first of these is a column “Our Musea,” which will feature short communications about groups of related objects in our musea or about significant acquisitions to our collections. Also, we hope to be able to present reports on collections and acquisitions of the Searls Library. In the present issue, this column is started with a contribution of Priscilla Kepfer on our Indian Collection. The second new feature is a column “From the Literature.” It is the idea to mention and briefly review here contributions, relating to Nevada County history, which have appeared in historical journals or elsewhere. Those who are interested in the history of our county often miss such contributions. Over the years, this column will become a valuable addition to the bibliography of Nevada County history. It is intended not only to include recent writings, but also those which have appeared in the past. We start this column by discussing a recent article by Shirley Ewart about an early Cornish family in Grass Valley. These two new columns will not necessarily appear in each issue of the Bulletin; they will appear only when material is available. I here call on all our members to help making these columns a success. Suggestions (or short articles) for the “Our Musea” column will be most welcome. And referrals to articles of interest to Nevada County history will be very helpful. Most of the historical societies of California are envious of our publication. Our members can help to keep it that way and even improve i, vi ° had a typical way of making a living (mining), it is also important to know about the mining methods and laws and how this typical occupation influenced life. All this is presented in chapter 3. Mrs. Ewart continues with a brief history of Grass Valley from it’s beginnings up to 1858, with emphasis on the Cornish presence there. The “raw material” for Mrs. Ewart’s thesis consists of interviews of descendants of five Cornish emigrants or with the emigrants himor herself, who came to Grass Valley from Cornwall, either directly or after having stayed in some intermediate place. They are, with date and place of arrival: William C. George (Forest City, 1859), William H. George (Grass Valley, 1872), John Henwood (Grass Valley, 1875), Samuel G. Chinn (California, 1887; Grass Valley, 1896), Mary Anne Kent (Arizona, 1907) and Ed Farley (Michigan, 1929). The author first addresses the question of motivation to emigrate, describing economic conditions in Cornwall and the pressures, caused by the vicissitudes of mining. For the men, the motive was usually economical, for the women, the desire to be with their husbands. In many cases, one man went first to “pave the way” for relatives and friends to come later. The next chapter tells, in some cases with excerpts from diaries, about the journey. Perhaps the most interesting chapter in this thesis is the one, called “The Period of the Acculturation,” that is being integrated in the existing community and putting a stamp on it. In the case of the Cornish, this was comparatively easy; their “clannishness,” their Methodist religion, their love for music and other factors, among which their sheer number was not unimportant, contributed to achieve acculturation. It appears that all Cornish emigrants and their descendants were perfectly happy in Grass Valley. This chapter is packed with information on old Grass Valley. The Methodist Church, its choir, band music (the George’s). The origin of Donation BOOK REVIEWS Shirley Ewart, Cornish Mining Families of Grass Valley, California. Master’s Thesis; California State University at Sacramento; May 1980. This thesis is anthropological in nature; the study was made to test, examine or illustrate some anthropological ideas. However, the basis of the thesis is historical and it is in the historical aspect that we are interested here. The first two chapters are therefore of little interest to us. In order to understand an ethnical group, it is necessary to know about the country or origin of the group, its geography, history, language and customs. In our case, where the members of the group 22 Day, “charivari,’”’ Sunday observance, picnics, Fourth of July parades, lodges (of which the Sons of St. George, the Odd Fellows and the Foresters appear the most attractive to the Cornish men), Olympia Park, Cornish food preferences and so on. Only the first generation Cornish emigrants became miners; the later generations went usually into business or the professions (teachers). A chapter on how the Cornish were seen by the remainder of the population is almost entirely devoted to the remarks of Howard Sloan, who was Brigadier of the Salvation Army in Grass Valley in the Thirties. The musical tradition of the Army appealed to the Cornish men; some of them even gave testimony. It apparently was perfectly acceptable to be a Methodist and also work with the Salvation Army. The remainder of the thesis is devoted to an analysis of the material presented from an anthropological point of view. Although Mrs. Ewart did not use a tape recorder in her interviews, her thesis demonstrates how oral history can retrieve and preserve historical facts. vdP. David Allan Comstock, Gold Diggers and Camp Followers, 1845-1851. Grass Valley; Comstock Bonanza Press; 1982. $21.50. Already at an early date, efforts were made to write a history of Nevada County. The earliest of these was written by A.A. Sargent, published in Brown and Dallison’s Directory of 1856. Sargent’s work served as the basis for histories in subsequent directories until an entirely new set of sketches was written by several authors for Bean’s Directory of 1867. In 1880, H.L. Wells compiled a History of Nevada County, which was published by Thompson and West. This book, as well as the preceding sketches, contains many errors and must therefore be used with caution. Since Thompson and West, no attempt to write a history of Nevada County appears to have been made. However, since the 102 years which have gone by since Wells’ History, much has become known about the early history of the county and many sources, more reliable than the ones, used by the early writers, have come to light. It was therefore inevitable that someone would take up the task of writing a new and more error-free history of our county. Dave Comstock rose up to the occasion. In this issue, we present a portion of chapters 23 and 24 of this new book, which will prove to be a landmark of the historiography of our county. Dave visualizes a set of three volumes, of which the present volume is the first one. This volume deals with the years 1845 to 1851, while the second one will encompass the years 1852 to about 1860 and the third, 1861 to about 1875. After that, who knows? Although Dave has been a student of Nevada County history for many years and probably planned to write a county history anyway, he was encouraged to undertake the task by his discovery ofa large number of letters, written by members of the Searls family. Here he hit a treasure trove, such as every historian dreams of. The author elected to use a fictionalized style for parts of the book. This has been done many times before, for example by Steward Edward White in his trilo of California history: Gold, The Gray Dawn and The Rose Dawn. It has dangers, but it also has advantages, not the least of which is that a setting can be provided, something the reader has to provide for himor herself if a more straightforward style of writing is employed. And Dave, who is an excellent artist, 6

EDITORIAL In the January 1981 issue, the first book review was published in our Bulletin. To be reviewed, we try to find books which are of importance to Nevada County history or books which are related to this history, for example books on the overland emigration or about the history of mining. In this issue, we inaugurate two new features. The first of these is a column “Our Musea,” which will feature short communications about groups of related objects in our musea or about significant acquisitions to our collections. Also, we hope to be able to present reports on collections and acquisitions of the Searls Library. In the present issue, this column is started with a contribution of Priscilla Kepfer on our Indian Collection. The second new feature is a column “From the Literature.” It is the idea to mention and briefly review here contributions, relating to Nevada County history, which have appeared in historical journals or elsewhere. Those who are interested in the history of our county often miss such contributions. Over the years, this column will become a valuable addition to the bibliography of Nevada County history. It is intended not only to include recent writings, but also those which have appeared in the past. We start this column by discussing a recent article by Shirley Ewart about an early Cornish family in Grass Valley. These two new columns will not necessarily appear in each issue of the Bulletin; they will appear only when material is available. I here call on all our members to help making these columns a success. Suggestions (or short articles) for the “Our Musea” column will be most welcome. And referrals to articles of interest to Nevada County history will be very helpful. Most of the historical societies of California are envious of our publication. Our members can help to keep it that way and even improve i, vi ° had a typical way of making a living (mining), it is also important to know about the mining methods and laws and how this typical occupation influenced life. All this is presented in chapter 3. Mrs. Ewart continues with a brief history of Grass Valley from it’s beginnings up to 1858, with emphasis on the Cornish presence there. The “raw material” for Mrs. Ewart’s thesis consists of interviews of descendants of five Cornish emigrants or with the emigrants himor herself, who came to Grass Valley from Cornwall, either directly or after having stayed in some intermediate place. They are, with date and place of arrival: William C. George (Forest City, 1859), William H. George (Grass Valley, 1872), John Henwood (Grass Valley, 1875), Samuel G. Chinn (California, 1887; Grass Valley, 1896), Mary Anne Kent (Arizona, 1907) and Ed Farley (Michigan, 1929). The author first addresses the question of motivation to emigrate, describing economic conditions in Cornwall and the pressures, caused by the vicissitudes of mining. For the men, the motive was usually economical, for the women, the desire to be with their husbands. In many cases, one man went first to “pave the way” for relatives and friends to come later. The next chapter tells, in some cases with excerpts from diaries, about the journey. Perhaps the most interesting chapter in this thesis is the one, called “The Period of the Acculturation,” that is being integrated in the existing community and putting a stamp on it. In the case of the Cornish, this was comparatively easy; their “clannishness,” their Methodist religion, their love for music and other factors, among which their sheer number was not unimportant, contributed to achieve acculturation. It appears that all Cornish emigrants and their descendants were perfectly happy in Grass Valley. This chapter is packed with information on old Grass Valley. The Methodist Church, its choir, band music (the George’s). The origin of Donation BOOK REVIEWS Shirley Ewart, Cornish Mining Families of Grass Valley, California. Master’s Thesis; California State University at Sacramento; May 1980. This thesis is anthropological in

nature; the study was made to test, examine or illustrate some anthropological ideas. However, the basis of the thesis is historical and it is in the historical aspect that we are interested here. The first two chapters are therefore of little interest to us. In order to understand an ethnical group, it is necessary to know about the country or origin of the group, its geography, history, language and customs. In our case, where the members of the group 22 Day, “charivari,’”’ Sunday observance, picnics, Fourth of July parades, lodges (of which the Sons of St. George, the Odd Fellows and the Foresters appear the most attractive to the Cornish men), Olympia Park, Cornish food preferences and so on. Only the first generation Cornish emigrants became miners; the later generations went usually into business or the professions (teachers). A chapter on how the Cornish were seen by the remainder of the population is almost entirely devoted to the remarks of Howard Sloan, who was Brigadier of the Salvation Army in Grass Valley in the Thirties. The musical tradition of the Army appealed to the Cornish men; some of them even gave testimony. It apparently was perfectly acceptable to be a Methodist and also work with the Salvation Army. The remainder of the thesis is devoted to an analysis of the material presented from an anthropological point of view. Although Mrs. Ewart did not use a tape recorder in her interviews, her thesis demonstrates how oral history can retrieve and preserve historical facts. vdP. David Allan Comstock, Gold Diggers and Camp Followers, 1845-1851. Grass Valley; Comstock Bonanza Press; 1982. $21.50. Already at an early date, efforts were made to write a history of Nevada County. The earliest of these was written by A.A. Sargent, published in Brown and Dallison’s Directory of 1856. Sargent’s work served as the basis for histories in subsequent directories until an entirely new set of sketches was written by several authors for Bean’s Directory of 1867. In 1880, H.L. Wells compiled a History of Nevada County, which was published by Thompson and West. This book, as well as the preceding sketches, contains many errors and must therefore be used with caution. Since Thompson and West, no attempt to write a history of Nevada County appears to have been made. However, since the 102 years which have gone by since Wells’ History, much has become known about the early history of the county and many sources, more reliable than the ones, used by the early writers, have come to light. It was therefore inevitable that someone would take up the task of writing a new and more error-free history of our county. Dave Comstock rose up to the occasion. In this issue, we present a portion of chapters 23 and 24 of this new book, which will prove to be a landmark of the historiography of our county. Dave visualizes a set of three volumes, of which the present volume is the first one. This volume deals with the years 1845 to 1851, while the second one will encompass the years 1852 to about 1860 and the third, 1861 to about 1875. After that, who knows? Although Dave has been a student of Nevada County history for many years and probably planned to write a county history anyway, he was encouraged to undertake the task by his discovery ofa large number of letters, written by members of the Searls family. Here he hit a treasure trove, such as every historian dreams of. The author elected to use a fictionalized style for parts of the book. This has been done many times before, for example by Steward Edward White in his trilo of California history: Gold, The Gray Dawn and The Rose Dawn. It has dangers, but it also has advantages, not the least of which is that a setting can be provided, something the reader has to provide for himor herself if a more straightforward style of writing is employed. And Dave, who is an excellent artist, 6