Collection: Books and Periodicals > Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins

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Title: Volume 078-1 - January 2024 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: 2024-01-09 16:06:50 OCR Software Version #: tesseract 5.4.1 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 04:06:35 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 04:06:35

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

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NCHS Bulletin January 2024 where he, his wife Mary and their children Joseph Reed, Richard, and infant Mary would later be buried. Joseph and Mary’s son Andrew met Victoria Cole while driving his team through Bridgeport on route to the Northern Mines. They were married at Marysville on March 17, 1886. Following their marriage, Andrew and Victoria also established their home in Spenceville, located near a spring on the south side of Spenceville Road about one mile east of the town and about one mile west of his parent’s ranch. Andrew and Victoria had five children born on the ranch: Charles Reed Kneebone (September 21, 1888), Joseph Russell Kneebone (February 17, 1890), Alfred Alexander Kneebone (September 30, 1892), James Budd Kneebone (February 17, 1895) and William Henry Kneebone (June 15, 1897). Andrew and Victoria Cole Kneebone and sons. Courtesy of the South Yuba River Park. The ranches of Joseph and Andrew Kneebone were typical of ranches in the Spenceville area during the late 19" and early 20th centuries. The remnants of Andrew’s home are located on the south side of Spenceville Road, 500 yards below the turn-off to Fairy Falls.’ Only foundation remnants of both Joseph and Andrew’s homes remain today. An American Tragedy The Kneebone families of Spenceville and Joseph’s descendants at Bridgeport on the South Yuba River are closely connected by commerce and lineage. They tell the story of pioneer emigrant success and regrettably, American tragedy as well. Kneebone family oral history provided by Karen Hill, Joseph’s great-great granddaughter, relates that Joseph and Mary’s two-year old son Richard, drowned in the pond near their Spenceville family A late 19th or early 20th century photograph of Andrew Kneebone’s home (not shown) has a team of six mules hitched to the wagon. Poles shown crossing over the road may have been telephone poles. Many rural homes by the late 1890s had phone service.° Victoria died at the Spenceville ranch on March 15, 1930. Andrew remained on the ranch until old age required him to move in with his son Alfred and his wife Lucy Moynier Kneebone at Bridgeport, which was also the home of Alfred’s grandfather and Victoria’s father, Charles Cole. Andrew died there on February 25, 1934.° Andrew and Victoria are buried at the Kneebone Bridgeport Family Cemetery not far from the 1862 Bridgeport Covered Bridge, alongside Kentucky Creek. home in 1876. Mary Reed Kneebone, and her infant child Mary, both died from complications due to childbirth at the Kneebone family ranch on December 21, 1878. Mary was only 38 years old. Joseph Kneebone must have been grieving at the loss of his wife, baby Mary, and his two-year-old boy Richard. As if this was not enough loss, his son Joseph Reed, already a master teamster at twenty-three years of age was murdered in 1888. While driving a twelvemule team from Indian Springs to Spenceville, two men suddenly jumped out in front of him and shot him dead. It is said they dragged his body through a fence and pulled off his boots to make it appear to be a robbery. The team continued down to his ranch where his wife Mary Dougherty Kneebone was waiting.