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Volume 069-1 - January 2015 (8 pages)
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Page: of 8
NCHS Bulletin January 2015
man of the board of trustees, and became the president of
the board of education. While there, Sarah and William
had two more children, both daughters. Emma was born
in 1858, and Sarah Esther in 1860.
William Elder went to Rochester, Minnesota, for four
years’ and participated in the mercantile business, probably in partnership with his brother James; then he returned to Petaluma and resumed his former business.
Before the family moved to Sonoma County, Alexander
went into business with his father (W. Elder & Son) in
San Francisco, and may have stayed involved with the
company after his father left. He married Julia Gilbert
and they had two sons, Robert Clayton, born in 1866, and
William Gilbert, born in 1874.
In 1870 William, Sarah and their daughters were living in Oakland, California, as part of the household of
their son Alex (along with Alex’s wife Julia Gilbert and
their sons Robert and William G. Elder). In 1880, following her husband’s death in 1876, Sarah and her daughters were still living with Alex’s family. Alexander died
July 15, 1891, in Oakland, and Sarah died three months
later on November 4, 1891. Alexander’s widow Julia, and
their children and grandchildren are buried in Phoenix,
Arizona.
William and Sarah’s daughter Emma married Stanton
Cady and had two daughters, Catherine C. and Frederica
C. Emma Cady died in Sonoma County on January 2,
1933. William and Sarah’s other daughter, Sarah Esther
Elder, married Arthur K. Munson and had four children,
Eleanor M., Clinton G., Esther M. and a child that died
young. Sarah Esther Munson died in Alameda County on
May 9, 1940.
James (Jamie) W. Elder, youngest son of William and
Sarah, married Eleanor L. Longee who died February 21,
1907; it is not known if they had children. Later, several
members of the Elder family lived with James, including
his sister Emma Cady and her children. James became
the deputy county clerk in Petaluma, and a bookkeeper
in San Francisco. He died in Sonoma County on July 29,
1933, at age 86.
The Elder family is a good example of the thousands
of gold-seekers who came to California, intending to remain only so long as it would take to “make enough”
to enable them to go back home and have a better life.
As California matured and a larger number of families
arrived, they helped to create a society that was stable
and more like home, no matter where they came from.
Historians agree that the Gold Rush was over by
the mid-1850s. It might have pleased William Elder to
know that before the end of the 1860s Nevada County
would have post offices in Alpha, Clinton (later changed
to Moore’s Flat) , Grass Valley, Little York, Nevada
City, Patterson, Rough and Ready, Washington, Red
Dog, Little York, North San Juan, North Bloomfield,
Omega, Sweetland, Indian Springs, French Corral, North
Columbia, Globe Ranch, Anthony House, Painesville,
Donner Lake, Meadow Lake and Graniteville.’
Endnotes
1. Fillmore, Millared “State of the Union Address”
December 2, 1851. ThisNation.com: http://thisnation.com/library/sotu/1851mf-html
2. Extra edition, Nevada Journal, November 18, 1851.
3. Bolton, Herbert E. Papers of the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance of 1851. The Academy of the Pacific Coast
History: University of California Berkeley Press 1919 page 1.
4. Passengers, Sacramento Daily Union, 12 January 1852.
California Digital Newspaper Collection: http://ucr.edu/cig/
bin/cdnc?
5. Women in the California Gold Rush, Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the Califonria Gold Rush
6. Post Offices in Nevada County, Nevada Journal, October
1, 1851, page 3.
7. Gregory, Tom, History of Sonoma County, California.
Los Angels, CA: Historical Records Co.; page 805.
8. Gregory, Tom, History of Sonoma County, California.
Los Angels, CA: Historical Records Co.; page 804
9. Ancestry.com. U.S., Appointments of U.S. Postmasters
1832-1971 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA.
What the Elders Didn’t Mention
by David A. Comstock
ILLIAM ELDER AND HIS FAMILY RESIDED IN
Grass Valley during its earliest days and thus are
helpful in providing new glimpses of a brief moment in
history. Their letters are long and carefully composed,
something as rare then as it is today. Oddly, however,
they failed entirely to comment upon certain public
events that fascinated their fellow citizens. Seemingly,
both children and adults were entirely preoccupied by
their own lives, to the exclusion of rather exciting events
in a rather exciting environment.
For example, no comments whatsoever about the wellpublicized activities of the scandalous Lola Montez, who
not only performed on the local stage but established
herself in a rented cabin in downtown Grass Valley.
Were these Scots too shocked to share the news with relatives? Or had they never read about the world-famous
bigamist? Although the Irish adventuress came to town a
few months before the Elder family decided to leave, the
overlap was sufficiently long that it is even possible that
her presence helped persuade them to go.