Luzena recounted her memoirs to her daughter Correnah, in which she describes her journey from the early days in Sacramento, her founding of the "El Dorado" hotel in Nevada City, and her purchase of land in Vaca. Luzena, while her husband was busy fixing the wagon, decided to clean the apron and render the fat out of the bacon to refill her lard can and leave the rest as he requested. } The Wilsons were farmers with two sons: Thomas, born in September 1845, and Jay, born in June 1848. Donner Pass, a seven-thousand-foot barricade of naked rock lay beyond the camp. document.documentElement.className += 'js'; You were a seeker of truth and wisdom. Mason Wilson, Luzena's husband, told her it would be necessary to abandon her dirty, but prized calico apron, and three sides of bacon to spare the oxen on the ever-worsening roads. In 1849 Luzena Wilson set out for California in a covered wagon with her husband and two little boys, hungry to join the tide of gold seekers. The son of a Presbyterian minister, Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) was a president with strong moral convictions. Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! Weight: 200-450 kg. The buildings were of the roughest possible description, Luzena noted in her journal. Masons hay business was as profitable as Luzenas boarding house. Wilson came overland to California from Missouri with her husband and two small children in 1849. Luzena Wilson cooked meals and quickly learned her own value. The Value of Domestic Arts [1]The family had moved to Andrew County, Missouri by 1843, and in 1844 Luzena . I bought provisions from a neighboring store, and when my husband came back at night he found, mid the weird light of the pine torches, twenty miners eating at my table. Edith Wilson had two spouses in her lifetime. Luzena recounted her memoirs to her daughter Correnah, in which she describes her journey from the early days in Sacramento, her founding of the "El Dorado" hotel in Nevada City, and her purchase of land in Vaca. Nevada City was sixty miles from Sacramento. It was clear to Luzena that the best way to strike it rich in a gold camp was to provide the necessities of life to the miners swinging pick axes and dumping dirt into rockers and gold pans. Wilson was born 17 January 1996 in Leeds to Sally and Neil Wilson and is the great nephew of Duncan Fearnley. At times I have had a larger amount of money in my charge than would furnish capital for a country bank. Luzena did provide capital for Nevada City residents at ten percent interest on loans. But most women stayed home. Women in a Sea of Men She, Mason and the children ran to the top floor of the hotel and stayed there for seventeen days as the floodwaters lapped outside. In total, immigrant women numbered about 800 in a sea of 30,000 men. $2.03. He was found guilty of theft, not only of the mule, but also the earnings of the young man who had placed confidence in him, [and who] gave him his bag of gold dust to take out. In 1872 Mason Wilson abruptly abandoned his family and moved to Texas. The Wilsons packed up and moved to the rough mining camp of Nevada City. Using the profits made from the Wilson Hotel, Luzena bought lumber and bricks to build the familys home and a new boarding house business. Her nickname was Wilson Luzena Stanley; Hunt Luzena Stanley. Label Description Also known as English Luzena Wilson California Gold Rush businesswoman Luzena Stanley Wilson Statements instance of human 0 references sex or gender female 0 references family name Wilson 0 references date of birth 1819 1 reference stated in Open Library Open Library ID OL2332783A subject named as Luzena Stanley Wilson retrieved The gold claim was a half a block from where her business stood before the fire. He felt the painstaking effort seldom resulted in a rich find and that the prospector had probably located all the gold to be had on that spot. Luzena recounted her memoirs to her daughter Correnah, in which she describes her journey from the early days (Enter your ZIP code for information on American Experience events and screening in your area.). In a few short moments they were off on a journey west to California. On her last known visit to Vacaville in November 1901, the newspaper noted her presence, calling her "one of the earliest settlers, coming here in 1851.". The winter rains and melting snow saturated the earth like a sponge, and the wagons sunk like lead in the sticky mud, Luzena wrote in her journal. Their goal was to purchase land and stay there for the rest of their lives. Like thousands of others, Luzena undertook the nearly 2,000 mile journey to an unknown land, where she'd rise from flood and fire, a survivor of the wild frontier. When Luzena's husband made up his mind to go west, she stated that where he went, so too could she and her two small children. Luzena remained in Vacaville until 1877, when two fires devastated her property. If I had, I think I should have stayed in Andrew County. It would take five months for the Wilsons to reach their westward destination. The population was about two thousand wood buildings, forty-five cloth and tent, three hundred campfires, etc., in the open air and under trees, Luzena recorded in her memoirs about the Gold Rush town. Others perceived you as an idealist illuminating path to the future. Willis Jepson, one of Masons friends, wrote a letter to the Wilsons oldest son Jay explaining why he believed Mason chose to leave his home and family. As she worked, she contemplated how she was going to help make good on the cost it took to transport her family to the area. Fern Henry draws upon her considerable skill as a researcher to bring to light intriguing details, following the Wilson family from their Quaker beginnings in North Carolina, to their . Queens of the Mines features the authentic stories of gold rush women who blossomed from the camouflaged, twisted roots of California. With my own hands I chopped stakes, drove them into the ground, and set up my table. The family moved toward the coast and settled beneath an oak tree in a little valley called Vaca, named after the property's Californioowner. She also expanded and renovated the hotel and purchased a new stove. However, having found it much changed, they lingered for a few months and decided to venture on to the valley. The two started dating and quickly fell in love with each other. Luzena Wilson died at age 83 of thyroid cancer on July 11, 1902, at the Hotel Pleasanton in San Francisco. most people who came from China stayed in San Francisco. googletag.cmd = googletag.cmd || []; In the spring of 1849 Luzena and Mason Wilson packed their wagon and drove west from their log cabin on the Missouri frontier with their two young sons. Luzena Stanley Wilson's memoirs present an alternate view of the California Gold Rush in which women are often left out. Luzena Stanley Wilson, ne Hunt (c. 1820-1902) was a California Gold Rush entrepreneur. Luzena quickly went to work unpacking, making beds, and firing up her stove. A man approached her as she cooked supper and offered her five dollars for a biscuit. So, I bought two boards from a precious pile belonging to a man who was building the second wooden house in town. The fire howled and moaned like a giant in an agony of pain, and the buildings crashed and fell as if he were striking them down in his writhings. Luzena lived on the family farm until she and Mason wed on December 19, 1844. One afternoon in late December 1849, after days of heavy rain, Wilson was cooking supper in Sacramento when she heard the cry "the levee's broke!" Other people insisted that he had simply become miserable living with Luzena. Our first campfire was lighted in Indian Territory, which spread in one unbroken, unnamed waste from the Missouri River to the border line of California, she shared in her journal. He told her he had removed $16,000 from the mine the day before. Burials were common, especially when cholera struck. 120 seconds. A whole night costs from $200 to $400." She also expanded and renovated the hotel and purchased a new stove. The couple expanded their holdings. Mason Wilson, Luzenas husband of five years, marched into the house just as she closed the lid on the trunk and fastened it tightly. As time went on, the area became more populated. These women had to take on responsibilities they had never anticipated, such as caring for their families alone and running farms by themselves when their husbands went away. Luzena, Forty-Niner, was a determined and strong-minded personage a woman of the real pioneer type, Jepson noted. Eventually, Luzena and Mason Wilson became substantial landowners in the town of Vacaville. Luzena Stanley Wilson (c. 1821-1902) was a California Gold Rush entrepreneur. William Bentley, was a homeschooled child, with a deep affinity for nature. via pinterest.com. The hotels reputation grew, attracting more and more customers. Sometimes a whole day was consumed in going two or three miles, and one day we made camp but a quarter of a mile distance from the last. However, as they began their travels into the West and encountered the vast deserts reality set in. Like thousands of others, Luzena undertook the nearly 2,000 mile journey to an unknown land, where she'd rise from flood and fire, a survivor of the wild frontier. It wasnt until the sun began to slowly sink in the sky and Mason announced it was time to make camp that Luzena became terrified. Finally Wilson found her tongue and accepted the offer. During the two months she operated the boarding house there was never a vacant room. The new business had two stories, a billiard room, and a large parlor. Luzena, Mason, and their children were among the more than twenty-five thousand people who came west in 1849. The Wilsons packed up and moved to the rough mining camp of Nevada City. Luzena wrote of their desire to settle in the valley. Luzena enjoyed eighteen months of prosperity before she, Mason, and her sons, along with eight thousand other Nevada City residents, were left homeless and virtually destitute. Wilson came overland to California from Missouri with her husband and two small children in 1849. Within six weeks of opening her business, Luzena had earned enough to pay the money owed to the miner who brought the Wilsons to Nevada. On April 21, 1851, the Wilsons were able to purchase two hundred acres of land along Alamo Creek. Wilson, Luzena Stanley, 1819-1902. "Nothing but the actual experience will give one an idea of the plodding, unvarying monotony, the vexations, the exhaustive energy, the throbs of hope, the depths of despair, through which we lived," Wilson recalled in her memoir. I had read and heard whole volumes of their bloody deeds, the massacre of harmless white men, torturing helpless women, carrying away captive children the most precious in the wide world, and I lived in an agony of dread that first night., Luzena noted in her memoirs that the Indians never posed any threat to her or her family. With her new determination to set up a rival hotel, she chopped her wood and drove her stakes into the ground. There was no start at all. When she and her husband moved from Missouri to California in 1849, she was just following his dreams of striking it rich in the gold fields. Luzena Stanley Wilson (c. 1821-1902) was a California Gold Rush entrepreneur. The world will never see the like again of those pioneers of 49, Luzena recalled in her journal. Wilson was a respected pioneer of Solano County, and was for many years a resident of Vaca Valley, the notice informed readers. All of her worldly possessions were tucked inside it: family Bibles, two quilts, one dress, a bonnet, a pair of shoes, and a few pieces of china. Names Wilson, Luzena Stanley, 1819-1902. Luzena Wilson is a 83 years old California Gold Rush businesswoman from . Once everything was in place, Luzena wasted no time returning to what she did best, which was cooking. He told her he had removed $16,000 from the mine the day before. Luzena sold the property for $100 to a miner. Summary Eliza Marshall Gregson (b. Luzena Wilson, an average pioneer woman, was offered a ten-dollar gold piece to cook a miner some breakfast, simply because he "wanted bread made by a woman." (Levy 92) An anonymous letter from a California woman published in the Merchant's Magazine and Commercial Review in 1852 reads: " I have made about $18,000 worth of pies. Like 25,000 other Americans that year,. Luzena Stanley Wilson, '49er (Dodo Press) | Luzena Stanley Wilson (c. 1821-1902) was a California Gold Rush entrepreneur. Luzena Stanley Wilson, '49er; Memories Recalled Years Later for Her Daughter Correnah Wilson Wright. In 1881, Luzenas daughter helped her compile her remembrances into a book entitled, Argonaut: A Womans Reminiscences of Early Days, . Wilson was a noble woman and her death will be profoundly regretted.. A hungry miner amazed at the presence of a female in the camp approached Luzena while she was cooking dinner for her family. Abandonment of possessions by caravans traveling the perilous overland trek was common to lighten loads of the wagons through dangerous or muddied roads. With my own hands I chopped stakes, drove them into the ground, and set up my table. The verdict of guilty was givenand his punishment twenty-five lashes on his bare back, and [he was] compelled to work at $5 per day.. In six weeks Luzena had made the money to pay back the teamster. Late in 1850, Luzena expanded her commercial enterprise, hiring cooks and waiters.14. 1822), a blacksmith, were natives of England who married in Rhode Island in 1843 and almost immediately schemed to escape to the West. But even so her husband, your father, became wearied. Birth Place: North Carolina Country: United States Birthday: 1819 Death Date: January 1 , 1902 ( age 83 ) Birth Sign : He grew up on a plantation called Montpelier with 11 younger siblings. The majority of boarders at the Trumbow House were men. Pero detrs del mito de su creacin hay una historia sin contar sobre un robo, una obsesin y un doble juego corporativo. Luzenas new business was as successful as her previous one. Luzena Stanley Wilson moved from her home in Missouri to start a new life with her husband and two children in California. The world will never see the like again of those pioneers of 49, Luzena recalled in her journal. Rumors that the mother lode awaited anyone who dared venture into Californias Sierra Foothills prompted Mason to abandon the farm and travel to the rugged mountains beyond Sacramento. At times I have had a larger amount of money in my charge than would furnish capital for a country bank. Luzena did provide capital for Nevada City residents at ten percent interest on loans. BusyB . Income from her real estate transactions supplemented her income during the later part of her life. In, This page was last edited on 20 January 2022, at 15:43. Population: More than 51 million people live in Colombia (2022) Capital : Bogot with 11 million inhabitants is the country's largest city. We were again penniless, however, and felt that we must get to work, Luzena noted in her journal. But behind the myth of the games creation is an untold tale of theft, obsession and corporate double-dealing. Solano County historian Sabine Goerke-Shrode called Luzenas book an important historical source illustrating the Gold Rush from a womans perspective., On July 11, 1902, Luzena died of thyroid cancer. The buzzards and coyotes, driven away by our presence from the horrible feasting, hovered just out of reach. The enormous lure of gold led to many people embarking on the same westward trails. He left the house on an errand of ejectment, taking with him a witness, in case he should be killed or be forced to kill the squatters, many of whom knew and feared his reckless and determined purpose, would not have hesitated to dispose of him with a bullet.23, The courts were called upon to intercede and settle the matter; in the interim, the Wilsons moved from Benicia to Vaca Valley. Luzenas homemaking skills were well received and in high demand. . 3. The third source is a diary kept by Luzena Wilson detailing the journey to California and then what life was like living in the Gold towns of California. 16 . i n t e r a c t i v e s t u d e n t n o t e b o o k Teachers' Curriculum Institute Life in the West 1 Listen to the song "Sweet Betsy from Pike." Luzena Wilson was born on January 01, 1819 (died on January 01, 1902, she was 83 years old) in . Luzena Stanley Wilson, '49er (1937) contains reminiscences of her overland journey and early years in California dictated to her daughter in 1881. The Wilsons lacked the funds to purchase a wagon and team to get to the boomtown. The Wilsons continued to invest the money made from Luzenas boarding house in real estate. While some kids grasp information quickly, others take their sweet time to learn. As time went on, the area became more populated. She was one of the most-borrowed authors from British libraries in the early 2000s. Mrs. Luzena's memoirs do not specify if her husband came with them or if he found other transportation beforehand or afterward. Mason Wilson farmed and the family prospered. The last days were spent in digging out both animals and wagon, and the light of the campfire was utilized to mend broken bolts and braces. Luzena Stanley Wilson, ne Hunt (c.18201902[1]) was a California Gold Rush entrepreneur. She was eighty-three years old. They were part of the great westward movement of Americans in the 1840s and 1850s. He put as much distance between himself and Luzena as well as he could. Ten years after Mason left Luzena and California, word came from an attorney in Waco, Texas, that he had passed away.27, In 1881, Luzenas daughter helped her compile her remembrances into a book entitled Argonaut: A Womans Reminiscences of Early Days. As a woman, Luzena found herself a rarity in the adventure that lay ahead. Sometimes a whole day was consumed in going two or three miles, and one day we made camp but a quarter of a mile distance from the last. I bought provisions from a neighboring store, and when my husband came back at night he found, mid the weird light of the pine torches, twenty miners eating at my table. Each man as he rose put a $1 in my hand and said I might count him as a permanent customer.12, Within six weeks of opening her business, Luzena had earned enough to pay the money owed to the miner who brought the Wilsons to Nevada. El Dorado burned to the ground, taking with it the Wilson's fortune. Sometimes we went down the mountains, they were so steep we tied great trees behind to keep the wagon from falling over the oxen; and once when the whole surface of the mountain side was smooth, slippery rock, the oxen stiffened and their legs, and the wagon and all literally slid down a quarter of a mile. Introduction by Francis P. . In the next episodes, we will hear the story Initially Luzena Wilson thought going to California "a small task," but the journey was not to be taken lightly. Like 25,000 other Americans that year,. Here are a handful of love lessons Luzena learned: 1. He could stand Luzena no longer and went away from Vaca Valley. "Nothing but the actual experience will give one an idea of the plodding, unvarying monotony, the vexations, the exhaustive energy, the throbs of hope, the depths of despair, through which we lived," Wilson recalled in her memoir. The winter rains and melting snow saturated the earth like a sponge, and the wagons sunk like lead in the sticky mud, Luzena wrote in her journal. Rumors circulated during that time suggested that Mason might have been suffering from a mental illness. Luzena, Forty-Niner, was a determined and strong-minded personage a woman of the real pioneer type, Jepson noted. Mason had $500 in his pocket he had forgotten to place in the stove the night before. Luzena recounted her memoirs to her daughter Correnah, in which she describes her journey from the early days in Sacramento, her founding of the El Dorado hotel in Nevada City, and her purchase of land in Vaca. After the typical rough journey to reach the promise land of Nevada City, California, a tent city set in two ravines. In January 1855, Luzena and Mason welcomed a third son to their family, Mason Jr. They divided the valley including all the land the Wilsons had purchased. Born: December 28, 1856 in Staunton, Virginia Died: February 3, 1924 in Washington D.C. Married: Ellen Louise Axson Wilson and to Edith Bolling Galt Wilson Children: Margaret, Jesse, Eleanor Nickname: Schoolmaster or Professor $100,000 bill by the US Government Biography: What is Woodrow Wilson most known for? Mason supplied the variety of meat Luzena served to her boarders. Three payments had been made on the plot of land the Wilsons purchased in January 1847. COWGIRL inspires the Modern Western Lifestyle, Luzena Stanley Wilson stood in the center of her empty, one-room, log home in Andrew County, Missouri, studying the opened trunk in front of her. Also a trained anthropologist, Hurston collected folklore throughout the South and Caribbean reclaiming, honoring and celebrating Black life on its own terms. [5], Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Luzena Stanley Wilson | American Experience | PBS", The Gold Rush: People and Events. As she worked, she contemplated how she was going to help make good on the cost it took to transport her family to the area. Toggle text. We never gave a thought to selling our section [of land], but left it. It was May 1, 1849, Luzenas birthday. It was May 1, 1849, Luzenas birthday. Under a progressive provision of the 1849 California Constitution, her status as a married woman allowed her the right to own property separate from her husband. Women came to California from many countries -- including France, Mexico, Peru, Chile and China -- to make money in the gold rush economy.

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