Volume 039-3 - July 1985 (8 pages)

NEVADA COUNTY’S BLACK PIONEERS by Pat Jones Frank S. “Hybo” Allen died in the Nevada County Hospital on September 3, 1951. His obituary in the Grass Valley Union reported that Hybo had been the city’s only black resident “for a number of years.” Because of the scarcity of Blacks in the area in the 20th century, few people are aware that Nevada County once had a relatively large black population. The west's black pioneers were roundly ignored by historians, compilers of county directories and authors of western novels, leading people to believe that they simply did not exist. However, their presence is easy to confirm due to a custom of inserting “colored” or “Negro” in news items about them. Other evidence can be found in census reports, county records and on old maps on which place names have since been upgraded to “Negro Creek,” “Negro Ravine,” “Negro Tent,” etc. Blacks were in California prior to 1848 when gold was discovered. Jacob Dodson, a “free colored man” of Washington D.C., was one of several black men who accompanied Fremont on his various expeditions. At least three black men carried the mail for the Pony Express. James Beckwourth, discoverer of the pass in Plumas County that bears his name, was half black and half Indian. His many claims to fame are included in the title of Elinor Wilson's biography of him, James . _Beckwourth: Black. Mountain Man,-War-Chief-of theCrows, Trader, Trapper, Explorer, Frontiersman, Guide, Scout, Interpreter, Adventurer and Gaudy Liar. Beckwourth, employed by the Rocky Mountain fur Company in the 1820s, visited California several times prior to the American conquest. He discovered his pass through the northern Sierra in the early 1850s and settled at the mouth of it. It is believed he lived in present Nevada County for a brief time. An article on the origins of Birchville lists a Beckwith, a common misspelling of his name, among the builders of a sawmill there in 1851. The same book has-a reference to ‘‘Beckwith’s Pass.” _’ By 1858 Beckwourth had gone to Colorado where, among other enterprises, he was a government agent in Indian negotiations. He was killed by Indians in 1864 at the age of 66. CALIFORNIA STATEHOOD ‘California attained statehood on September 9, 1850 while the Seventh U.S. Census was being taken. The Indians were totally ignored in the tally and the state’s 91,635 population was claimed to be 98.96 per cent white. “Free colored” numbered 962. The state at that time ranked 24th in the number of free Blacks. No slaves were listed, but many who came were indentured or lived under conditions that could hardly be called free. Only one black male was reported to be in school in California in 1850, whereas 800 white males and 192 females were enrolled. 20 Of the 11 Blacks in Rough and Ready in 1850, only Alex Brasfrila, a 45-year-old cook from Virginia, has his surname listed. Among residents of Grass Valley were Henry Lawrence, a cook: James Mills, a baker; Antoine Laborde, a miner; Morrison Miller, a washer; David Lewis, a mulatto cook, and Willis Martin, a waiter. No surnames were recorded for Henry and Russell, both miners. There were five black residents in Nevada (City) but only James Rudd, a mulatto born in the Cherokee Nation, is given a last name. When the 1850 census was taken, Nevada County was part of Yuba County, which sho ed a black population of 66. Nevada County was created the following year. By 1852 Nevada County alone had 76 black men, 26 black women and one female mulatto as residents. (Yuba County then had a black population of 239.) COLONEL WILLIAM ENGLISH This increase in Nevada County's black residents has been credited to the arrival of Colonel William English, a Georgia planter who brought an estimated 66 to 100 slaves to work in the Kentucky Ridge mine in 18St. This mine was in the vicinity of the present Grass Valley Group on Bitney Springs Road. English had a contract to build a quartz mill in which to process the ore. The mill proved unsuccessful and litigation resulted. About this time English was found dead in the road between the mine and Nevada City on August 27, 1852. The Nevada Journal reported that he had been thrown from his horse and a small gun in his hand had discharged into his body, killing him instantly. He was enroute from Nevada City to the mine when the accident occurred. According to legend, the weapon was a shotgun and of gold when he was ambushed, robbed and murdered. Accident, suicide or murder? The truth lies tangled in conflicting reports. English’s wife reportedly set the slaves free and most of them drifted to Grass Valley and Nevada City, Edmund Kinyon, in Northern Mines, reports that the Colonel’s heirs threatened them with return to slavery if they did not buy their freedom. One of English’s former slaves, Caroline Allen, remained in Rough and Ready where she worked as a domestic. She was the daughter of Frank Allen, and accidentally created a landmark when she stuck a cottonwood switch into wet ground near a Rough and Ready blacksmith shop in 1851. The branch she had used as ariding crop sprouted and grew into a huge tree, known as the Slave Girl Tree. It toppled in July of 1962. In her later years, Caroline lived in a cabin near the Nevada County Hospital (present HEW building) where the centenarian died in the early 1900s. An obituary in the February 21, 1875 Grass Valley Union tells the story of Fanny Green, the wife of John Allen. She was born a slave in Moscogee, Georgia circa 1840 and was sold, with her parents, to English. They were taken by him to Key West, Florida, then to Grass Valley. Four children survived her, but an infant died two months later. Another black pioneer who came to Grass Valley with English was Isaac Sanks. He was born at Sumpter, North Carolina circa 1814. Sanks had been a pilot along the Florida coast with headquarters at Key West. He bought his wife’s freedom and she came to Grass Valley, where she worked as a cook at an Osborne Hill boarding house. She bought his freedom, possibly before he came to Nevada County. He mined at Rough and Ready. wae a janitor at Wells Fargo and Company's office and id dik odd jobs. Sanks was a leader in the black community. For a number of years, with black partner Joseph Thomas, he conducted an ice cream parlor at Hamilton Hall in Grass Valley. After Hamilton Hall burned in December of 1881, Sanks and Thomas moved their business to the Cabinet Building on Church Street. In 1861 Sanks homesteaded his home and another lot on Church Street. He also had an undivided third of the West Point Mining claim in the Grass Valley Mining District from 18’. 0 until 1892. Among other men who brought slaves to this county was hotelman U.S. Gregory. One of them created an incident when she was seen abusing Gregory’s wife. The observer, Alexander Brown, struck the black woman, A fight ensued between Brown and a man named Smith, who was angry because Brown hit a woman. After Brown shot Smith in the hip in self defense, he would have been lynched if a newly elected judge hadn't quieted the mob. Brown was later acquitted. By 1860 there were small black neighborhoods in Grass Valley and Nevada City, but not all Blacks lived in them. These neighborhoods acquired derogatory names. One near the Nevada Foundry on Spring Street in Nevada City (American Victorian Museum) was called “Washerwoman’s Valley.” Another was “Aristocracy Hollow.” Grass Valley had its ““Hayti Hill,” later called “Nigger Hill.” With the rise in quartz or hardrock mining in Grass Valley came an increase in unemployment for black miners. Blacks were simply not hired in the am quartz mines. -—English-was headed for Nevada-City with saddle bags--—— Phil Keast, anemployee “of the Empire Mine-from 1920-1963, recalled one black mule skinner who worked there. “There were others who worked at other mines,” Keast said. BLACK CHURCHES Many of the larger towns in the mining country had African Methodist Episcopal Churches. Marysville’s AME Church was organized in 1854 and among its founders was Rev. Darius P. Stokes who helped organize many AME churches in California. The distinguished Rev. Thomas Mayers Decatur Ward and G.A. Cantine, later a teacher in Nevada County “colored” schools, also assisted in the founding of the Marysville Church. Ward was born in Hanover, Pennsylvania in 1823 and came to the Pacific Coast in 1854 as a missionary. He was the nephew of the noted orator, Samuel Reinggold Ward of New York City. T.M.D. Ward became a bishop in California in 1868. He helped establish the AME Church on Church Street in Grass Valley in 1854, A house of worship was built that summer at a cost of $1,400. Two white ministers, Rev. J.B. Hill of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Rev. Joseph G. Hales of the Congregational Church, assisted at the dedication. First officers were the pastor, Rev. Emory Waters, Sanks, Thomas, Abraham Holland, George Miller and Edward Mills. AME services were held in Nevada City by Ri Robert Tyler in 1858. A church was organized and n/N

NEVADA COUNTY’S BLACK PIONEERS by Pat Jones Frank S. “Hybo” Allen died in the Nevada County Hospital on September 3, 1951. His obituary in the Grass Valley Union reported that Hybo had been the city’s only black resident “for a number of years.” Because of the scarcity of Blacks in the area in the 20th century, few people are aware that Nevada County once had a relatively large black population. The west's black pioneers were roundly ignored by historians, compilers of county directories and authors of western novels, leading people to believe that they simply did not exist. However, their presence is easy to confirm due to a custom of inserting “colored” or “Negro” in news items about them. Other evidence can be found in census reports, county records and on old maps on which place names have since been upgraded to “Negro Creek,” “Negro Ravine,” “Negro Tent,” etc. Blacks were in California prior to 1848 when gold was discovered. Jacob Dodson, a “free colored man” of Washington D.C., was one of several black men who accompanied Fremont on his various expeditions. At least three black men carried the mail for the Pony Express. James Beckwourth, discoverer of the pass in Plumas County that bears his name, was half black and half Indian. His many claims to fame are included in the title of Elinor Wilson's biography of him, James . _Beckwourth: Black. Mountain Man,-War-Chief-of theCrows, Trader, Trapper, Explorer, Frontiersman, Guide, Scout, Interpreter, Adventurer and Gaudy Liar. Beckwourth, employed by the Rocky Mountain fur Company in the 1820s, visited California several times prior to the American conquest. He discovered his pass through the northern Sierra in the early 1850s and settled at the mouth of it. It is believed he lived in present Nevada County for a brief time. An article on the origins of Birchville lists a Beckwith, a common misspelling of his name, among the builders of a sawmill there in 1851. The same book has-a reference to ‘‘Beckwith’s Pass.” _’ By 1858 Beckwourth had gone to Colorado where, among other enterprises, he was a government agent in Indian negotiations. He was killed by Indians in 1864 at the age of 66. CALIFORNIA STATEHOOD ‘California attained statehood on September 9, 1850 while the Seventh U.S. Census was being taken. The Indians were totally ignored in the tally and the state’s 91,635 population was claimed to be 98.96 per cent white. “Free colored” numbered 962. The state at that time ranked 24th in the number of free Blacks. No slaves were listed, but many who came were indentured or lived under conditions that could hardly be called free. Only one black male was reported to be in school in California in 1850, whereas 800 white males and 192 females were enrolled. 20 Of the 11 Blacks in Rough and Ready in 1850, only Alex Brasfrila, a 45-year-old cook from Virginia, has his surname listed. Among residents of Grass Valley were Henry Lawrence, a cook: James Mills, a baker; Antoine Laborde, a miner; Morrison Miller, a washer; David Lewis, a mulatto cook, and Willis Martin, a waiter. No surnames were recorded for Henry and Russell, both miners. There were five black residents in Nevada (City) but only James Rudd, a mulatto born in the Cherokee Nation, is given a last name. When the 1850 census was taken, Nevada County was part of Yuba County, which sho ed a black population of 66. Nevada County was created the following year. By 1852 Nevada County alone had 76 black men, 26 black women and one female mulatto as residents. (Yuba County then had a black population of 239.) COLONEL WILLIAM ENGLISH This increase in Nevada County's black residents has been credited to the arrival of Colonel William English, a Georgia planter who brought an estimated 66 to 100 slaves to work in the Kentucky Ridge mine in 18St. This mine was in the vicinity of the present Grass Valley Group on Bitney Springs Road. English had a contract to build a quartz mill in which to process the ore. The mill proved unsuccessful and litigation resulted. About this time English was found dead in the road between the mine and Nevada City on August 27, 1852. The Nevada Journal reported that he had been thrown from his horse and a small gun in his hand had discharged into his body, killing him instantly. He was enroute from Nevada City to the mine when the accident occurred.

According to legend, the weapon was a shotgun and of gold when he was ambushed, robbed and murdered. Accident, suicide or murder? The truth lies tangled in conflicting reports. English’s wife reportedly set the slaves free and most of them drifted to Grass Valley and Nevada City, Edmund Kinyon, in Northern Mines, reports that the Colonel’s heirs threatened them with return to slavery if they did not buy their freedom. One of English’s former slaves, Caroline Allen, remained in Rough and Ready where she worked as a domestic. She was the daughter of Frank Allen, and accidentally created a landmark when she stuck a cottonwood switch into wet ground near a Rough and Ready blacksmith shop in 1851. The branch she had used as ariding crop sprouted and grew into a huge tree, known as the Slave Girl Tree. It toppled in July of 1962. In her later years, Caroline lived in a cabin near the Nevada County Hospital (present HEW building) where the centenarian died in the early 1900s. An obituary in the February 21, 1875 Grass Valley Union tells the story of Fanny Green, the wife of John Allen. She was born a slave in Moscogee, Georgia circa 1840 and was sold, with her parents, to English. They were taken by him to Key West, Florida, then to Grass Valley. Four children survived her, but an infant died two months later. Another black pioneer who came to Grass Valley with English was Isaac Sanks. He was born at Sumpter, North Carolina circa 1814. Sanks had been a pilot along the Florida coast with headquarters at Key West. He bought his wife’s freedom and she came to Grass Valley, where she worked as a cook at an Osborne Hill boarding house. She bought his freedom, possibly before he came to Nevada County. He mined at Rough and Ready. wae a janitor at Wells Fargo and Company's office and id dik odd jobs. Sanks was a leader in the black community. For a number of years, with black partner Joseph Thomas, he conducted an ice cream parlor at Hamilton Hall in Grass Valley. After Hamilton Hall burned in December of 1881, Sanks and Thomas moved their business to the Cabinet Building on Church Street. In 1861 Sanks homesteaded his home and another lot on Church Street. He also had an undivided third of the West Point Mining claim in the Grass Valley Mining District from 18’. 0 until 1892. Among other men who brought slaves to this county was hotelman U.S. Gregory. One of them created an incident when she was seen abusing Gregory’s wife. The observer, Alexander Brown, struck the black woman, A fight ensued between Brown and a man named Smith, who was angry because Brown hit a woman. After Brown shot Smith in the hip in self defense, he would have been lynched if a newly elected judge hadn't quieted the mob. Brown was later acquitted. By 1860 there were small black neighborhoods in Grass Valley and Nevada City, but not all Blacks lived in them. These neighborhoods acquired derogatory names. One near the Nevada Foundry on Spring Street in Nevada City (American Victorian Museum) was called “Washerwoman’s Valley.” Another was “Aristocracy Hollow.” Grass Valley had its ““Hayti Hill,” later called “Nigger Hill.” With the rise in quartz or hardrock mining in Grass Valley came an increase in unemployment for black miners. Blacks were simply not hired in the am quartz mines. -—English-was headed for Nevada-City with saddle bags--—— Phil Keast, anemployee “of the Empire Mine-from 1920-1963, recalled one black mule skinner who worked there. “There were others who worked at other mines,” Keast said. BLACK CHURCHES Many of the larger towns in the mining country had African Methodist Episcopal Churches. Marysville’s AME Church was organized in 1854 and among its founders was Rev. Darius P. Stokes who helped organize many AME churches in California. The distinguished Rev. Thomas Mayers Decatur Ward and G.A. Cantine, later a teacher in Nevada County “colored” schools, also assisted in the founding of the Marysville Church. Ward was born in Hanover, Pennsylvania in 1823 and came to the Pacific Coast in 1854 as a missionary. He was the nephew of the noted orator, Samuel Reinggold Ward of New York City. T.M.D. Ward became a bishop in California in 1868. He helped establish the AME Church on Church Street in Grass Valley in 1854, A house of worship was built that summer at a cost of $1,400. Two white ministers, Rev. J.B. Hill of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Rev. Joseph G. Hales of the Congregational Church, assisted at the dedication. First officers were the pastor, Rev. Emory Waters, Sanks, Thomas, Abraham Holland, George Miller and Edward Mills. AME services were held in Nevada City by Ri Robert Tyler in 1858. A church was organized and n/N