Volume 044-4 - October 1990 (8 pages)

a ao at six and four, little Edward was allowed to start school with Lillian. Double seats were then used and Edward sat with his sister. The teacher pleased Edward by giving him a report card at the end of the term. After the family moved to the ranch on Pittsburg Road, Father Wasley and his eight boys were busy raising up to 10,000 hens and fryers, selling eggs, raising potatoes, garden vegetables and fruit. This called for early rising; the boys carrying 100 pound sacks of feed for the chickens and tending other chores before school and after. This was before the large markets had come to be and mother Kate with Cecil drove the spring wagon to deliver vegetables, chickens, eggs and fruit from house to house through the towns of Grass Valley and Nevada City. George took one side of the street and his mother the other. Later, the spring wagon was put aside for a Model T truck. During the snowy weather, it was nothing for the boys to carry a thirty dozen crates of eggs from their home on Pittsburg Road to the Town Talk Station of the time. Some time they would hitch a horse to a sled for the delivery and pick up a load of chicken feed; the horses would be belly deep in the snow. One of the jobs none of the boys relished was the weekly delivery of fryers to the ‘Houses of the Ladies of the Evening.” Howard and George used to spend time at the old Davey slaughterhouse, helping the butcher with his work. The butcher felt the need to initiate the boys and offered them blood from freshly killed animals to drink. The Sunday School picnics were a fun time as they rode the Narrow Gauge Railroad to Chicago Park each summer. The Saturday matinees were also a joy, shared when the chores were all done. During the heavy snows of the twenties, Broad Street would be closed to traffic and the kids of the town would take their sleds and could slide from the top of the hill down through the Plaza and up Boulder Street. This was great fun until the City Constable, Hi Shearer was crossing the street and was hit by a sled causing his death? As the boys grew older, they picked pears, berries, beans and dug up potatoes, helping with the gardening in general on Shaw’s Ranch, Prisk’s Ranch and Peterson’s Ranch, where is now Litton Manufacturing Center. They worked for up to nine hours a day for one dollar for the younger ones and one fifty for the older A tunnel crossed over where the freeway now goes through and the boys used to climb up on the timbers in the tunnel while the Narrow Gauge went by. They would come out crying as the smoke burned their eyes. As the boys grew older, jobs were taken in the local mines. Their father had preceded them in mining. Cecil and Howard worked at the Empire, Howard running the jackhammer and mucking machine at the 7000 foot level. Tom and George worked at the Pennsylvania and Murchie mines. Cecil, Howard and George worked at the IdahoMaryland also. As with others, the War interrupted the boy’s lives. Howard went into the Army, Gus was in the Navy Land Station, but was discharged. Later he was drafted into the Army and was sent to the Philippines, and there met his death. Edward was in the Navy. One by one, the boys married. William married a local belle, Marie Louise Meyers. They continued to live in the Nevada City area. He was Postmaster in Nevada City for thirty odd years. He had three boys and died in 1985. Cecil married another local girl, Opal Simmons. After the mines were closed, Cecil worked at the DeWitt Hospital until his retirement. He had one daughter and one son. George married Anita Rossi, who came to this area as a small child. He was a carpenter and built many of the houses in the local area. He had one daughter and two sons. Howard married Bertha Chapman, who died during the War. Later he married Gladys Southern, who also passed away and in 1977 he married Lorena Bentz Smirl. He worked in the Nevada City Post Office for thirty-one years. He died in August 1989. Tom married Fleda Poindexter from Oklahoma. He was a woodsman after his mining years. They had one son and two daughters. Lorrin married Mardel Kitts, a local girl; they had one daughter. He worked for the City of Grass Valley until his retirement. He died in 1976. Gus had worked in the mines until he joined the Services. He was married to Marie Page, a local girl. As was already mentioned, he lost his life in the War. Lillian married Mario Valeschini, who had been a bus boy in the Old Owl Tavern. Later he was a bar tender and still later, joined the others at the Post Office. They had one son and one daughter. Edward brought his bride back from Japan. After the War he was a Park ranger, living in Felton, California. They had one son and one daughter. Father Wasley passed away in 1949. Mother Kate, a true Yankee Doodle, was born on the Fourth of July, 1880 and departed this world in December 1980, after celebrating her 100th birthday. At least 58 children were born through the William and Kate Wasley line. NOTES 1 Howard Kenneth Wasley was born in September 1909. Hence the family gathering which prompted the following memories, happened in 1987. 2 The accident to Hiram Dual Shearer happened on January 12, 1930. Memories of Days Long Gone in California This information is based on the diaries of Louise (Lulu) Isabelle Hall (Green), my great-grandmother. The days of yesterday are gone forever except through the memories of others. It is hoped that this information on one pioneer family in California, the Samuel A. Hall Family, will help preserve some of the local color and history that is unique to California. Samuel Hall, was of English descent, a direct descendant of Oliver Cromwell, lord protector of England in 1653. He was born in Berkshire, Massachusetts, later living in Iowa close to his wife’s parents. His first trip to California was in 1852, two years after statehood, with his brother-in-law, John Bandy. Arriving in San Francisco, they invested what money they could by Merlin Chesnut spare in supplies for miners. They bought a wagon and ox team at Marysville from emigrants who had crossed the plains and freighted supplies to different mining camps for the first year. They then sold the team and wagon to purchase a forty-mule train in order to have access to mountain claims that were inaccessible to wagons. In the spring of 1854, they opened a store in Smith’s Flat' in Sierra County to supply the needs of that mining center, and Mr. Hall returned to Iowa for his wife, Rachel, and his only child, Lulu, who describes their trip: Crossing the Isthmus It was the custom that any well-known Californian, returning East for his family, should also take charge of any families of friends wishing to make the journey back, so in our New York hotel we were joined by eight ladies (one was the sister of California’s governor") and one boy about my age (who later served as one of San Francisco's most prominent judges for many years). Our party of twelve crossed the Isthmus on the first through train of the Panama Railroad. It took nearly a month for the trip from home to San Francisco. The steamer trip left little impression upon my memory, but crossing the Isthmus, and the “natives,” speaking a language I could not understand, made an indelible impression. We arrived too late to be taken aboard the steamer lying at anchor in the bay; there was no wharf on that side of the Isthmus. There were no hotel accommodations for us, and most of the passengers camped on the sand of the beach, but the ladies of our party positively rebelled. 29

a ao at six and four, little Edward was allowed to start school with Lillian. Double seats were then used and Edward sat with his sister. The teacher pleased Edward by giving him a report card at the end of the term. After the family moved to the ranch on Pittsburg Road, Father Wasley and his eight boys were busy raising up to 10,000 hens and fryers, selling eggs, raising potatoes, garden vegetables and fruit. This called for early rising; the boys carrying 100 pound sacks of feed for the chickens and tending other chores before school and after. This was before the large markets had come to be and mother Kate with Cecil drove the spring wagon to deliver vegetables, chickens, eggs and fruit from house to house through the towns of Grass Valley and Nevada City. George took one side of the street and his mother the other. Later, the spring wagon was put aside for a Model T truck. During the snowy weather, it was nothing for the boys to carry a thirty dozen crates of eggs from their home on Pittsburg Road to the Town Talk Station of the time. Some time they would hitch a horse to a sled for the delivery and pick up a load of chicken feed; the horses would be belly deep in the snow. One of the jobs none of the boys relished was the weekly delivery of fryers to the ‘Houses of the Ladies of the Evening.” Howard and George used to spend time at the old Davey slaughterhouse, helping the butcher with his work. The butcher felt the need to initiate the boys and offered them blood from freshly killed animals to drink. The Sunday School picnics were a fun time as they rode the Narrow Gauge Railroad to Chicago Park each summer. The Saturday matinees were also a joy, shared when the chores were all done. During the heavy snows of the twenties, Broad Street would be closed to traffic and the kids of the town would take their sleds and could slide from the top of the hill down through the Plaza and up Boulder Street. This was great fun until the City Constable, Hi Shearer was crossing the street and was hit by a sled causing his death? As the boys grew older, they picked pears, berries, beans and dug up potatoes, helping with the gardening in general on Shaw’s Ranch, Prisk’s Ranch and Peterson’s Ranch, where is now Litton Manufacturing Center. They worked for up to nine hours a day for one dollar for the younger ones and one fifty for the older A tunnel crossed over where the freeway now goes through and the boys used to climb up on the timbers in the tunnel while the Narrow Gauge went by. They would come out crying as the smoke burned their eyes. As the boys grew older, jobs were taken in the local mines. Their father had preceded them in mining. Cecil and Howard worked at the Empire, Howard running the jackhammer and mucking machine at the 7000 foot level. Tom and George worked at the Pennsylvania and Murchie mines. Cecil, Howard and George worked at the IdahoMaryland also. As with others, the War interrupted the boy’s lives. Howard went into the Army, Gus was in the Navy Land Station, but was discharged. Later he was drafted into the Army and was sent to the Philippines, and there met his death. Edward was in the Navy. One by one, the boys married. William married a local belle, Marie Louise Meyers. They continued to live in the Nevada City area. He was Postmaster in Nevada City for thirty odd years. He had three boys and died in 1985. Cecil married another local girl, Opal Simmons. After the mines were closed, Cecil worked at the DeWitt Hospital until his retirement. He had one daughter and one son. George married Anita Rossi, who came to this area as a small child. He was a carpenter and built many of the houses in the local area. He had one daughter and two sons. Howard married Bertha Chapman, who died during the War. Later he married Gladys Southern, who also passed away and in 1977 he married Lorena Bentz Smirl. He worked in the Nevada City Post Office for thirty-one years.

He died in August 1989. Tom married Fleda Poindexter from Oklahoma. He was a woodsman after his mining years. They had one son and two daughters. Lorrin married Mardel Kitts, a local girl; they had one daughter. He worked for the City of Grass Valley until his retirement. He died in 1976. Gus had worked in the mines until he joined the Services. He was married to Marie Page, a local girl. As was already mentioned, he lost his life in the War. Lillian married Mario Valeschini, who had been a bus boy in the Old Owl Tavern. Later he was a bar tender and still later, joined the others at the Post Office. They had one son and one daughter. Edward brought his bride back from Japan. After the War he was a Park ranger, living in Felton, California. They had one son and one daughter. Father Wasley passed away in 1949. Mother Kate, a true Yankee Doodle, was born on the Fourth of July, 1880 and departed this world in December 1980, after celebrating her 100th birthday. At least 58 children were born through the William and Kate Wasley line. NOTES 1 Howard Kenneth Wasley was born in September 1909. Hence the family gathering which prompted the following memories, happened in 1987. 2 The accident to Hiram Dual Shearer happened on January 12, 1930. Memories of Days Long Gone in California This information is based on the diaries of Louise (Lulu) Isabelle Hall (Green), my great-grandmother. The days of yesterday are gone forever except through the memories of others. It is hoped that this information on one pioneer family in California, the Samuel A. Hall Family, will help preserve some of the local color and history that is unique to California. Samuel Hall, was of English descent, a direct descendant of Oliver Cromwell, lord protector of England in 1653. He was born in Berkshire, Massachusetts, later living in Iowa close to his wife’s parents. His first trip to California was in 1852, two years after statehood, with his brother-in-law, John Bandy. Arriving in San Francisco, they invested what money they could by Merlin Chesnut spare in supplies for miners. They bought a wagon and ox team at Marysville from emigrants who had crossed the plains and freighted supplies to different mining camps for the first year. They then sold the team and wagon to purchase a forty-mule train in order to have access to mountain claims that were inaccessible to wagons. In the spring of 1854, they opened a store in Smith’s Flat' in Sierra County to supply the needs of that mining center, and Mr. Hall returned to Iowa for his wife, Rachel, and his only child, Lulu, who describes their trip: Crossing the Isthmus It was the custom that any well-known Californian, returning East for his family, should also take charge of any families of friends wishing to make the journey back, so in our New York hotel we were joined by eight ladies (one was the sister of California’s governor") and one boy about my age (who later served as one of San Francisco's most prominent judges for many years). Our party of twelve crossed the Isthmus on the first through train of the Panama Railroad. It took nearly a month for the trip from home to San Francisco. The steamer trip left little impression upon my memory, but crossing the Isthmus, and the “natives,” speaking a language I could not understand, made an indelible impression. We arrived too late to be taken aboard the steamer lying at anchor in the bay; there was no wharf on that side of the Isthmus. There were no hotel accommodations for us, and most of the passengers camped on the sand of the beach, but the ladies of our party positively rebelled. 29