Volume 036-4 - October 1982 (8 pages)

THE MARSH FAMILY OF NEVADA CITY PART ONE BY DORIS FOLEY LARSEN I. MARTIN LUTHER MARSH To be successful in California, a pioneer needed a sense of humor, initiative, diligence, stamina, and the courage to take chances. M.L. Marsh was well equipped with these valuable attributes. Not a tall man (five feet, eight inches), slight and wiry in build, he averaged a weight of a hundred and forty pounds. His dark brown hair, parted on the side and brushed away from his face, was soft in texture, defying the intended straight line by curling itself in back and about his ears. His eyes, a penetrating blue-grey, would light up with merriment whenever amused. The firm chin, his most prominent feature, symbolized the innate perseverance and determination of the man. Born April 22, 1831, in Middlebourne, a district of Middletown, Guernsey County, Ohio, he was christened Martin Luther for the German monk who led the Reformation in the 16th century. Called ‘Mart’ by those close to him, he preferred, however, to be known by his friends and acquaintances as “M.L.” A few of his letters and business papers are signed “Martin L. Marsh,” but most of them bear the shorter version. When gold was discovered in California, January 24, 1848, it became uppermost in the minds and conversation of men. An Eastern newspaper made the following announcement on December 6, 1850, “The California gold fever is approaching its crisis. We are told the new region that has just become a part of our possessions is El Dorado after all.” ; Items appeared in the daily newspaper announcing the formation of companies to proceed to California by the overland route, while shipping agencies recommended their steamers “as the best chance yet,” for reaching the gold coast. It was not until 1851 that M.L. decided to leave for California. His father, John Marsh, had died in 1840 at the age of 37, a month before Daniel was born. His sister, Rosanna, and brothers, Enoch and Cyrus, were dead. His mother, Rebecca Teterick Marsh, had remarried in the spring of 1850. Her second husband, Thomas Johnston, livedin Antrim Ohio, with his children. At the age of twenty, Mart, having completed a_ three-year apprenticeship in the carpenter and building trade, left Ohio on October 22, 1851. His stepbrother, James Johnston, accompanied him. Making their way to New York, they boarded a steamer for Nicaragua. Cornelius Vanderbilt, in opposition to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company’s route over the Isthmus of Panama, instituted one of his own. The most obvious advantage of the Nicaraguan route lay in its shorter distance from New York to San Francisco. Although the mileage between the two 26 MARTIN LUTHER MARSH oceans was greater, (174 as compared to 55 at Panama), all but 18 miles of the Nicaraguan crossing could be made by water through the use of the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua. An inconvenience to those enroute with young Marsh, was a delay caused by the revolution in the country. On November 10, some 200 Honduras troops commanded by General Lopez arrived on the plaza of Chenadya and fought General Munos, of the Nicaraguan government. After some skirmishes, loss of men and capture of prisoners, a treaty was proposed. This was in progress as the 365 passengers of Vanderbilt’s line left the Pacific port of San Juan del Sud, November 16, on the steamship ‘‘North America.’’ After encountering heavy gales, and enduring much sickness aboard, (three deaths occurring among the passengers), the North America reached San Francisco, November 29, 1851, at 6:00 AM. We can only pre-suppose, like many another who left San Francisco to seek the “Elephant,” that M.L. equipped himself with the necessities of mining, including perhaps a “Greenhorn’s Manual.” Going by steamer to Sacramento, he spoke of encountering the flood of late December, 1851, which caused him to make his way into the nearby Placer County hills. Despite the inconveniences of winter mining, he panned his first nugget (now a family possession) at Ophir, near the present town of Auburn. Five hundred men had accompanied him into the area. With the arrival of immigrants from the European mining districts, the greenhorn received a wealth of practical knowledge and initiation into the intricacies of mining. It meant digging and shoveling gravel, kneeling, bending and stooping over a pan or rocker, slushing about in the water with soggy boots and dripping clothes, and perspiring or freezing according to the’ weather. The constant lure of better

THE MARSH FAMILY OF NEVADA CITY PART ONE BY DORIS FOLEY LARSEN I. MARTIN LUTHER MARSH To be successful in California, a pioneer needed a sense of humor, initiative, diligence, stamina, and the courage to take chances. M.L. Marsh was well equipped with these valuable attributes. Not a tall man (five feet, eight inches), slight and wiry in build, he averaged a weight of a hundred and forty pounds. His dark brown hair, parted on the side and brushed away from his face, was soft in texture, defying the intended straight line by curling itself in back and about his ears. His eyes, a penetrating blue-grey, would light up with merriment whenever amused. The firm chin, his most prominent feature, symbolized the innate perseverance and determination of the man. Born April 22, 1831, in Middlebourne, a district of Middletown, Guernsey County, Ohio, he was christened Martin Luther for the German monk who led the Reformation in the 16th century. Called ‘Mart’ by those close to him, he preferred, however, to be known by his friends and acquaintances as “M.L.” A few of his letters and business papers are signed “Martin L. Marsh,” but most of them bear the shorter version. When gold was discovered in California, January 24, 1848, it became uppermost in the minds and conversation of men. An Eastern newspaper made the following announcement on December 6, 1850, “The California gold fever is approaching its crisis. We are told the new region that has just become a part of our possessions is El Dorado after all.” ; Items appeared in the daily newspaper announcing the formation of companies to proceed to California by the overland route, while shipping agencies recommended their steamers “as the best chance yet,” for reaching the gold coast. It was not until 1851 that M.L. decided to leave for California. His father, John Marsh, had died in 1840 at the age of 37, a month before Daniel was born. His sister, Rosanna, and brothers, Enoch and Cyrus, were dead. His mother, Rebecca Teterick Marsh, had remarried in the spring of 1850. Her second husband, Thomas Johnston, livedin Antrim Ohio, with his children. At the age of twenty, Mart, having completed a_ three-year apprenticeship in the carpenter and building trade, left Ohio on October 22, 1851. His stepbrother, James Johnston, accompanied him. Making their way to New York, they boarded

a steamer for Nicaragua. Cornelius Vanderbilt, in opposition to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company’s route over the Isthmus of Panama, instituted one of his own. The most obvious advantage of the Nicaraguan route lay in its shorter distance from New York to San Francisco. Although the mileage between the two 26 MARTIN LUTHER MARSH oceans was greater, (174 as compared to 55 at Panama), all but 18 miles of the Nicaraguan crossing could be made by water through the use of the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua. An inconvenience to those enroute with young Marsh, was a delay caused by the revolution in the country. On November 10, some 200 Honduras troops commanded by General Lopez arrived on the plaza of Chenadya and fought General Munos, of the Nicaraguan government. After some skirmishes, loss of men and capture of prisoners, a treaty was proposed. This was in progress as the 365 passengers of Vanderbilt’s line left the Pacific port of San Juan del Sud, November 16, on the steamship ‘‘North America.’’ After encountering heavy gales, and enduring much sickness aboard, (three deaths occurring among the passengers), the North America reached San Francisco, November 29, 1851, at 6:00 AM. We can only pre-suppose, like many another who left San Francisco to seek the “Elephant,” that M.L. equipped himself with the necessities of mining, including perhaps a “Greenhorn’s Manual.” Going by steamer to Sacramento, he spoke of encountering the flood of late December, 1851, which caused him to make his way into the nearby Placer County hills. Despite the inconveniences of winter mining, he panned his first nugget (now a family possession) at Ophir, near the present town of Auburn. Five hundred men had accompanied him into the area. With the arrival of immigrants from the European mining districts, the greenhorn received a wealth of practical knowledge and initiation into the intricacies of mining. It meant digging and shoveling gravel, kneeling, bending and stooping over a pan or rocker, slushing about in the water with soggy boots and dripping clothes, and perspiring or freezing according to the’ weather. The constant lure of better