Collection: Books and Periodicals > Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins

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Title: Volume 070-4 - October 2016 Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Collection Name: Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins # of Pages: 6 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2019-06-07 08:39:50 OCR Software Version #: tesseract 5.4.1 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 04:06:33 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 04:06:33

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

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Pioneer Ladies of Nevada City: The Tompkins and Butterfield Families by Maria Brower here were a great number of clubs and organizations in Nevada County in the 19th and 20th centuries that kept their members active with meetings, balls, picnics, lectures and receptions. In January of 1903 a number of Nevada City’s prominent “society women” formed the Shakespeare Club. In common, these women were great admirers and readers of the works of England’s great playwright, William Shakespeare. After drawing up bylaws the members decided to meet every two weeks at a selected place where they would read and discuss works of the famous poet. A “dainty luncheon” would be provided by each hostess of the event during the winter months. The founding members were: Mrs. Fred Searls (Helen), president; Mrs. L. S. Calkins (Hattie), vice president; Mrs. E. H. Barker (Clara), secretary; Mrs. George P. Finnegan (Margaret), treasurer. By 1907 the membership of the Shakespeare Club had increased to fifty members. On October first of that year the members of the Shakespeare Club announced plans to hold a reception for pioneer women as guests at the home of Mrs. William G. Richards (the former Mary Elizabeth Gluyas) on Broad Street the next afternoon. Mrs. J. M. Buffington (Hattie P.) current president of the Shakespeare Club said: It is our ardent desire to have every lady who came here fifty years or more ago, and who have since resided in Nevada City, present tomorrow afternoon. We have not issued any special invitations for fear that we might miss some, but are making the invitation public. The reception featured a musical program with piano and vocal solos as well as duets and choruses, with everyone joining in to sing “Auld Lang Syne.” The guests were encouraged to bring with them articles of historical or personal interest from their old homes in “the States” and asked to share reminiscences of their early day experiences in the mines of California. Among the invited guests it had been thought that Sarah Maloney, who currently lived on Commercial Street, would be the earliest Nevada City settler who Nevats County Historical soticty NUMBER 4 eo 70 OCTOBER a, still lived there. But at the reception, after each Pioneer signed the autograph book, they learned that Mrs. Petra Mooney, who arrived in 1848, was the earliest. Arriving in 1849 were Mrs. Sarah Maloney and Mrs. Bridget White.’ The Butterfields of Franklin County, Maine One of the guests who shared her memories was the featured speaker, Mrs. Ruth Butterfield Tompkins, who narrated the story of her family’s trip across the plains in a wagon train in 1853. Ruth Hope Butterfield, born April 24, 1831, was the oldest of five children born to Thomas Butterfield and Hope Eaton, who were married in 1827. Ruth’s brothers were William B., born March 4, 1837; George Mallet, born August 14, 1834; James Thomas, born May 5, 1936; and Charles, born March 25, 1842. At the time of her speech three of her brothers were n San Benito County, California. Ruth may have consulted with her brother James, who had written his autobiography, Journeys of James Butterfield 1836—1898,° or she may have used letters or her own diary to describe their great adventure across the country. What follows is Ruth’s account, as it appeared in the Nevada Transcript in 1907: Early in the year 1853 my father Thomas Butterfield, a native of Maine, left Appleton, Outagamie County, Wisconsin, with his family to cross the plains to California. We had two wagons, six horses and a little roan Indian pony called “Bub.” Bub lived many years after we reached California. We did not camp until we got to the Missouri river, for it was too cold and stormy, but stopped at hotels. We crossed the Mississippi near Dubuque. There was no towns near, so we stopped at the Captain’s home. His wife was a fine looking woman of Indian and white descent. A Swedish woman was the housekeeper and everything was clean and in good order. The next river we crossed was Red Cedar, at Cedar Rapids. That was quite a large town then. We got to the Des Moines river next, but passed the city on the right.