Collection: Books and Periodicals > Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins

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Title: Volume 069-1 - January 2015 Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Collection Name: Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins # of Pages: 8 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2014-12-05 14:03:10 OCR Software Version #: tesseract 5.4.1 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 04:06:32 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 04:06:32

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

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NCHS Bulletin January 2015 SELLING OPF af COST. Messrs. Parker & Elder, ESPECTFULLY informa the public, that an they are desirous of closing up their business in Grass Valley, they will sell their larpe ard fine asaoetube vf Goods at cost, of which the following cosngmiee portion— =60 lbs. Quicksilver, 70 Sacks Fleur, 16 boxes Candles, 15 Firkine Gochan Leof Lard in teh 1b. Togethor with a gtreral agsortwent of Crockery re wt te Groqerias Piovisions, &¢ a& which they will sell at extrepely Ww prices. talsty bappyla Cable Lope gm sae ws y. Alex said he thought his folks were going to close up the business of Parker and Elder in a month and sell the stock off at cost “quite soon.” As of now they were thinking of moving to San Francisco and speculating on goods, and it would give them an opportunity to see some of Nevada County, as they had traveled very little after their arrival because of Grass Valley being so busy. From what Alex had heard from people who had been in different parts of the state, it was thought by many that Grass Valley had the best society of any place in California. Alex wrote that it also had the reputation of being one of the prettiest places in the mountains. He had a great deal of leisure time except when he was at the post office (he earned $50 a month). There were 3,000 people living in a half mile area. Sarah wrote a letter on July 27, 1853 to James and his wife Mary in which she defended herself against their complaint that she did not write very often. She noted that she had written at least four letters a month ever since she has been in California. William had never been so thin and he had not had a “play day” since she came to Grass Valley—the “toll and anxiety that is necessarily connected with business is very hard.” Sarah worried that they were very much exposed to fire and there were no practical measures in “this country” to defend against it. While their plans after leaving Grass Valley were uncertain, Sarah said maybe they might come “home” next spring, and by way of China and England. In September 1853 a new paper was established in Grass Valley by J. Wing Oliver and Wilkins Lilley, called the Grass Valley Telegraph. At the beginning of October Parker and Elder advertised that they were selling their stock at cost. By the end of November their business had been sold, and new owners, Dean and Morehouse, had taken over at their location on Mill Street and were selling general merchandise. In December Elder’s former partner placed an ad in the Telegraph announcing his real estate business in San Francisco, selling homes, lots amd exchanging property. By this time the Elder family had relocated to San Francisco. In a letter to James Elder, dated July 31, 1854, William discussed the possibility of he and his brother going into business together, but warned his plans could soon change. Nine months earlier his partner bought five acres of land adjoining the city that was covered by a Spanish Land Grant. They had examined the grant before the land commissioner and thought it to be fraudulent and supposed it would be rejected. Since the land was now located in the city the value of the property was not less two million dollars, and would eventually be worth double that. The Spanish claim had to be rejected for William and his partner to retain title. After going through a lot of red tape and waiting for months, a new claim suddenly was found “perfect and unobjectionable” but it looked suspicious, appearing just before the case came up before the land commissioner. William told his brother it wouldn’t be prudent for him to leave in the spring as it would be unsafe with the possibility of the claim being jumped. NOTICE, LL persons indebted to us are requested to call and settle, as we are about to leave, and our demands will be placed in other hands for collection. PARKER & ELDER. Grass Valley, Dec. 1,—n11—tf. He might send the family on home without him. William reported that business was still dull and he thought he could do better at home in the East than in San Francisco, since the city was full of goods “which sell generally much below cost and charges.” In 1854 William and his family moved to Petaluma, north of San Francisco in Sonoma County’. Although settlers there were fewer and scattered, he and his new partner, George Harris, opened a merchandise store. After Harris retired Mr. M. H. Hinman came in as the junior partner. William Elder was active in the new and growing community. He was one of the founders of the Congregational Church in which he and his wife Sarah were active; he was chosen first mayor of Petaluma and the first chair-