Gold Rush Memories

Speech given by Clyde Williams
Grubville, Missouri on the 3rd Sunday in August, 1949

Simeon Frost
waarnett originally shared this on 02 Dec 2011

We are met today to celebrate the annual homecoming of the descendants of Simeon Frost and also to commemorate the centennial of the trip of those sturdy pioneers who left this community in 1849 to cross the plains and climb the mountains in search of gold. So far as I can learn there were eight men in that little band who departed for that long and perilous journey from the home of E. F. Frost in Grubville about the 1st of May 1849. One of the men was Simeon Frost, who was born in Kentucky in 1789 and came first to Washington County, Missouri and then to Crawford County. He was the father of Franklin, George and Christopher Frost and Mrs. Robert Wilson and others. He died on the trip about 10 miles west of Independence and was the only casualty among the group. The others were George Frost, M. C. Atwood, Mr. Mothershead, Mr. Leroy Dover, Ewing Mitchel, my grandfather John Manion and my father Frank Williams. There may have been others. There were several others who went to California about that time from Jefferson County and surrounding counties. Among them were James A. Wilson of Bethlehem, James McCulloch, Booker and Skelton Richardson, Mr. Duckworth, Thomas Harbison, father of Dr. M. C. Harbison who was known to everybody in the surrounding country 50 years ago. So far as I have ever heard, Skelton Richardson was the only man who made the trip, returned to Jefferson County. and then made the second trip and stayed some five years. The one trip seems to have satisfied all the rest.

Most of what little I have been able to learn about the eventful journey of the eight who left here together comes from a letter written by George Frost to his brothers Franklin and Christopher. The letter was dated Nov. 12, 1849, and was written at Feather River, California, the mining settlement where they stopped and which is about 100 miles from Sacramento, the capital of California.  I have not been able to secure a description of the equipment of this adventuresome band as they embarked upon their long, tiresome and hazardous journey. We can imagine their confusion, excitement and anxiety as they made great preparations for their departure. It is known that they traveled by wagons drawn by oxen. How many wagons and oxen, I do not know. They, of course, did not have the elaborate equipment of the trade caravans of that and earlier days, which traveled over the Santa Fe Trail from Kansas City, Topeka and other points to the southwest. The wagons used in that business carried 3 or 4 tons and were drawn by 6 yokes of cattle. We can suppose our little band had two or three wagons with two yokes of oxen for each wagon. The wagons were, no doubt, homemade. There were a number of local blacksmiths and wagon makers of that day, among them was Geo. W. Haverstick, father of Chas. W. Haverstick, who lived near Victoria, and who made many wagons that crossed the plains. In the letter above mentioned it is stated that the writer and Mr. Manion left their wagon and double teamed with Frank Williams and got through with one wagon and 4 yoke of cattle. The wagons, of course, were well filled with provisions and bedding, covered with wagon sheets and I can imagine that each one of the party had his trusty rifle and at least one faithful dog to the wagon. The guns served the double purpose of protection from the Indians and providing game to eat. Our group, no doubt, was joined along the way by others who were on a like mission. The letter mentions that they passed many on the way who were carrying their packs on their backs and were begging their way. Perhaps those who were traveling by wagon fell in together and formed a kind of caravan and at night, as was the custom of the trade groups, would form a circle with the wagons as a means of protection from the wild beasts and the Indians. The day’s drive was likely divided into two parts, an early start in the morning and a drive of 5 or 6 miles, then a stop at noon for food and drink and then the afternoon drive of about the same distance. It took them 6 months and 7 days to make the journey and while it is not known just what route they took, they would have had to travel almost directly west a distance of at least 2,000 miles to reach their destination in the Sacramento Valley in California. There were many hardships and dangers and much sickness along the way but only the one death in this group.

Thomas Harbison who went about the same time but not with this band, died of cholera after reaching California. That dread disease was raging at that time and took its toll from among those crossing the plains as well as throughout the entire country. In St. Louis alone out of a populations of some 60,000 about one out of every 10 died of the terrible malady.

I have no information of how Mr. Frost’s letter was transmitted or how long it was on the way. The rush of thousands to California made necessary a quicker transit of the mail. To meet the situation the Pony Express was organized which carried mail from St. Joseph, Missouri to San Francisco, California, a distance of about 1,800 miles. The distance was covered in 8 days. There were 80 riders constantly in the saddle, 40 going each way at the same time. The mail was carried in relays, each rider making 40 or 50 miles and then transferring the mail immediately to another who at the end of his line delivered to the next rider and so on. $5.00 was charged for carrying each letter. When the Pacific Telegraph was completed and began sending messages the Pony Express was abandoned. At the writing of the letter it was stated that Mr. Dover had been sent to Sacrament to lay in winter provisions where the price was cheap compared to that at the mines. Here is a sample of the prices at the mines, pork $1.00 a pound, flour $.75, potatoes $1.50 a pound, corn meal $.50 per pound and the charge for hauling $.50 a pound. Mr. Frost in his letter said that he and my father had been out that day, fixed up their washer, carried the rack, dirt and gravel about 20 yards in a pan and washed out better than an ounce of gold which should be something like $20. While money was plentiful, the going was rough and rugged and in the letter he advised his brothers to stay where they were and that he hoped to return the next fall by water as he never expected to cross the plains again. Living in a tent in a mining camp in all kinds of weather without any of the comforts of home and the association of loved ones was enough to make them homesick and as he said he wished a thousand times that he was back on Jones Creek. He and my father stayed about two years and returned by water and across the Isthmus of Panama. Those were perilous and trying times and it took the greatest courage and fortitude to undertake such an adventure.

It took those pioneers over 6 months to make that journey. Today one can go from St. Louis to San Francisco in 6 hours, which is about 720 times faster than they traveled. I wonder if we today are living over 700 times faster than they did. During the 100 years which have intervened since these pioneers crossed the plains vast and momentous changes have taken place, changes far greater and more varied than all those which took place in the entire history of mankind before that time. If those living at the beginning of the Christian era, nearly 2,000 years ago, could have been brought back to earth in 1849, they would have recognized it as much the same as when they lived. But if Geo. Washington could be brought back here today, he would not recognize this earth as the same upon which he lived a century and half ago.Scientific research and inventive genius have transformed our manner of living and mode of life in every field of human activity. This has been truly a period of transition, a change from the old to the new.

Many material comforts and conveniences and even luxuries have been showered upon us. The improved means of communication and the modern methods of transportation have made us all neighbors and we should be friends. It is a long cry from that day 100 years ago when that little band of pioneers left Grubville on that long and perilous trek to California. But with all the progress and advancement that has been made, perfection has not yet been reached. Disease and crime are still prevalent; ignorance, prejudice, superstition and intolerance are still wide spread. Jealously, envy and greed are still common. Inequality, poverty and want are still to be found among us. Go with me today to the faraway places in other lands and into the big cities, see the little children hungry and ragged living in huts and hovels, in dark and dusty tenements. Children who have never breathed a breath of pure unpolluted air, who have never enjoyed a clear bright beam of sunshine, who have never heard the song of a bird or smelled the fragrance of a flower and as we look into their sad and forlorn faces we realize that all our boasted progress has not brought contentment and happiness to all the people. Strife, selfishness and unholy ambition are still with us. Within the last few decades our nation has been called upon to fight two of the most destructive and devastating wars in the world’s history. Wars which brought death, sorrow and suffering to millions of men and women and which have left in their (aftermath) wake hardships and burdens which will be felt for generations to come. If mankind is to survive on this earth, the 3rd world war must not come. Now, five years after our last war, the nations of the world are earnestly and feverishly striving to perfect an association of nations that will bring us universal and lasting peace. Let us pray that their efforts will not be in vain. Surrounded on all sides by the constantly rising, ceaseless surging tide of unsettled thought and unstable, uncertain conditions, during all these vast upheavals and terrible calamities, in the midst of all the confusion, turmoil and strife, the fundamental principles of human life and conduct have remained firm and unshaken. We must hold steadfastly to those sturdy traits of character which supported and sustained our forefathers, which made them great and noble and which they transmitted unimpaired to us. Brotherly love is just as important, relief of the distressed is just as imperative and truth is just as vital today as they ever were. Faith in God and man must remain solid as the Rock of Ages. Charity must be ever fleet of foot and ready of hand to serve humanity. Friendship, loyalty and devotion must live on. Patriotism, love of home and country must be true and lofty. Honor, integrity and virtue must ever remain unsullied and undefiled. These are the things worthwhile. They are the great unseen realities of life which are the same yesterday, today and forever. They must and they will abide. Let us all hope that these noble virtues may be enshrined in the hearts of men everywhere and that the nations of earth animated and inspired by these lofty ideals may at last find the path that will lead us to the way of peace, that broad highway along which we may all march together, side by side, shoulder to shoulder, hand clasped in hand and heart locked in heart until we reach that great tableland of tomorrow from which can be seen the dawn and sunrise of a brighter, a better and a happier day.

Thank you to A. L. Kaufman who transcribed this.  Many of these names are related to or descended from William Graham or Bromfield Long (my ancestors).  The Haversticks are related to my Reed Family.

Refugees

This was taken from Jason Fry's blog post---to read it all: click here

 In the 1650s my ancestor Gregorius Frey and his family fled Switzerland for the Palatinate. The Freys were Anabaptists, targeted by radical Catholics and Protestants alike to be tortured and murdered for interpreting Christianity differently than they did. 

In the late 1680s King Louis XIV invaded the Palatinate. When an alliance of German princes counterattacked, Louis XIV ordered his troops to burn everything they could reach. The region remained a battlefield for generations, ravaged by troops from both sides in a succession of wars sparked by religious differences and political ambitions. 

In 1708 a terrible winter killed half a million people in the Palatinate and sent a tide of starving refugees to England, where they were settled in tent cities on the outskirts of London. English politicians argued that the German newcomers were too poor and unskilled to be anything but a burden, and warned that their religious loyalties made them a threat to the Church of England.

Freys are really stubborn. My ancestors finally left the Palatinate in 1733, emigrating to Pennsylvania as part of another wave of refugees. Pennsylvania had long prided itself on tolerance, but the arrival of Germans with different religious beliefs alarmed many whose English parents and grandparents had settled there. “Why should the Palatinate Boors be suffered into our Settlements, and by herding together establish their Language and Manners to the Exclusion of ours?” asked a politician of the time. “Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a Colony of Aliens?”

"Was there a Catholic in the Family?"

Grandpa Wicker's cousin, Helen Williams Bateman, commented to me several times that someone in the Williams family was a Catholic (pretty unusual in Southeast Missouri Bootheel) and she wanted me to look into it.  I finally found it.

My great grandmother was Macy Williams (Helen's aunt).  Macy's mother was Mary Ann Pullam.  Her mother was Ally Jane Vaughn.  Her mother was Nancy Dyer the daughter of William Dyer.

Some families have stories about someone being an Indian Princess or on the Mayflower, but my family has stories about someone being Catholic.  Well, I did finally find that there is a possibility through Nancy Dyer's step mother.  So, my 4 great grandmother's step mother was a Catholic and possibly she also converted Nancy, who was born in 1811, the same year her mother Gracie McG(K)ee Dyer died.

I found this story on Ancestry: William Dyer Family from "History of Union County, Kentucky" 1886.

"If any family in Union County deserves the reputation of being a Union County family, it must be the Dyer family.  the founder of the stock was one of the first settlers, and he raised a large family, all of whom, except one, married and raised families.   Most of these children lived and died in Union County, and there are now probably more members of the Dyer family within Union County than any other race.

This family was founded by Wm. Dyer, a blacksmith, who was born in Virginia in 1780.  He came to Union Country in 1804, and settled where Morganfield now stands.  He married Gracie/Grizzell McGee in Virginia, before coming here.  His first four (sic) children were by her.  Family lore says that the family of William Dyer and the family of John Mason came to Kentucky together, by way of flat boat to Henderson County, Kentucky.  However, it was 1804, that the families arrived at the mouth of the Lost Creek after their trip down the Ohio River and pushed themselves up on shore and selected their home sites.  Per the 1810 census, the dyers had a household of three sons and one daughter under 10 years of age and four adults.  It is believed that Gracie McGee died around 1811.

William Dyer served in the War of 1812, so must have left his family of children with a neighbor or kin while he was away.  He served for six months as a private in the 11th Regiment of the Kentucky Militia under Slaughters; part of the time he was hospitalized at Baton Moure, Louisiana.  In 1816, William Dyer married Anna Harris and had six children with her.  the new Mrs. Dyer was a Catholic and raised their children in this faith.

Wm. Dyer is said to have been one of the men who located the county seat of Morganfield.  Tradition as it that he in company with other commissioners, were reclining on the bank near the spring, slightly feeling the effects of fatigue and Jeremiah Riddle's whiskey, when Mr. Dyer threw his cane up the hill toward where the Court House now stands, and proclaimed oracularly, that there would be the county capital.  He was a man of impulse, but integrity.

An illustration of this is seen in an incident of his life, that is related as follows:  A neighbor of his, by the name of Gwinn, had a horse that was constantly breaking into Dyer's cornfield.  After sending word to Mr. Gwinn several times to keep the trespassing horse off his corn, Mr Dyer shot the offending animal and then sent the price of the horse down to Morganfield to its owner.  Mr. Dyer died in 1832.  All his children died rather young.  There seems to have been considerable consumption in the family.  His trade has staid (sic) in the family.  His sons, John and Nathan, were good regular blacksmiths, and Harvey and James did the work for their farms.  John Will, the son of John Dyer and John Nathan, is the only one now in the business."  Additionally, the Dyer family also passed on to their inlaws the trade of blacksmithing.  This trade was shared with Roland Cecil Sr.  as he married Mary Huldah Dyer.

Supposedly, when William Dyer died, he was buried on the family property.  However, in 1966 a Waller Young owned the property and said that he never saw a tombstone there in the 20 years that he had lived on the property.  He did recall plowing throw (sic) the land where the old Dyer blacksmith shop had once stood.

Thanks to familyhistorycrw on Ancestry.com for these stories.

William Edward Reiter

THE DESLOGE SUN, Desloge, St. Francois Co. MO, Tues. May 5, 1925

W. E. REITER KILLS SELF AT STATE HOSPITAL NO. 4

W. E. Reiter, 42 years of age, who had made his home in DeSoto until three or four months ago when he was placed in the state hospital at Farmington for treatment, committed suicide by hanging, in his room in that institution, early Friday morning.

Reiter had seemed as usual, Thursday and had spent the day, or a part of the day, in doing certain work that had been assigned to him. He had always been quiet and had not given the attendants any reason to fear that he contemplated an attempt on his life.

The night attendant in the building where Reiter had his room, says he last saw the unfortunate man alive at 1 o'clock Friday morning, when he was making a tour of inspection of the building. Reiter asked for a drink of water at this time, which was given to him. The attendant next went to this room at 5 o'clock in the morning to awaken the occupant.

He found Reiter hanging, lifeless by a window. He had taken a sheet from his bed and had wrapped one end of the sheet around his neck, had passed the other end over a large hinge that held a shutter at the window, securing the ends deftly, and so they would not slip. Evidently he had stood on the window ledge while making these preparations and had then jumped off. The window was sufficiently high to prevent his feet from reaching the floor. Reiter had died of strangulation, his neck not having been broken.

Coroner J. R. Horne of Elvins conducted an inquest Friday morning at the state hospital. The remains were taken to DeSoto for burial.

William Edward Reiter was my great-great uncle (my great grandmother's brother).  For more on him, click here.  Thanks to Stephan W. who found this article and sent it to me.

Prince Family

Dolly Cates and Vennie Watson (standing)

Searching for my grandmother's family has been my quest for 40 years---DNA has done more in the past few years than all of my years of microfilm reading, trips and research.  Her father died when she was small and her mother was in a mental institution so she was in foster care with the Cates family.

First, I found her mother's family (well, not  Mattie's  parents so much as her grandparents and further back).  We had been searching Silas but the name was Sollis.  At least I'd known Mattie's name and death date.  Her husband, Vennie's father, was more of a mystery.

G. W. Watson was all I knew of his name (mother thought it might have been George).  The only document I had was his marriage certificate to Mattie "Silas" in Malden Mo. He died when grandma was a baby from a horse riding accident. One of the problems was the name Watson---I was already a Watson on my grandfather's side.  Finally, through DNA,  I found a woman whose great grandmother was from the family of Arthur Watson and Minerva Prince.  It sounded very promising since her great grandmother's name was Vinnie which was similar to my grandmother Vennie.  Also, my aunt had told me that Grandma's name was Minerva Lou at one time.  So, Grandma maybe had a grandmother named Minerva and an aunt named Vinnie. They were from Dyersburg, TN which is where Mattie Sollis was also from. Sounded very promising.

From there, I decided to see if there were any Princes I was related to.  And, YES, I found a Prince family in Tennessee who had a Sirilda Minerva Prince!

While we believe Grandma's grandmother Minerva to be Sirilda Minerva's first cousin, we don't know who Minerva's parents were.  However we believe Thomas and Jonathan Prince to be uncles (based on DNA where we can tell what generation our common ancestors are)  This is from a book that Robert Layton wrote on the Prince family.  He has given me permission to re-print the stories and notes.

Thomas Prince and family moved to Pike Co., MO ca 1842 where he was  supposedly murdered ca 1847, after which Rebecca took the kids and went with her brother (J.C. Davis) and family to Oregon Terr. (1849). 

Thomas and JE’s  sister Eleanor Prince married Jonathon C. Davis (“C” for “Carson “), Rebecca’s brother.

Here are some notes from the book written in the ‘80’s :

• “...our Prince roots go well beyond the second decade  of nineteenth century Tennessee.  Research has, however, been  complicated  by recurring erroneous recording of "Prince"  as  "Price",  by early clerks and census takers,  and by the lack  of  marriage records and wills for pre-1840 Tennessee.   As a  result,  the extensive work by the author,  Ina Layton  Lane,  Ivy  Whited Koher,  and others has thus far failed to turn up  more than the following series of coincidences:
• ·  the PRINCE name does not appear on census or tax records for White County, Tennessee prior to 1835. both OUR Thomas Prince and a Jonathan E.  Prince turn up  in  the  same  year in the same tax  district  of  White County, Tennessee
• ·  this Jonathan E. Prince married the daughter of Augustus Davis's neighbor, William Irwin.
• ·  descendants  of  this Jonathan E.  Prince note that  his mother was born in Tennessee and his father in  Virginia ?? remember  that our Thomas and Eleanor Prince's mother was also born in Tennessee and their father also born in Tennessee.
• ·  descendants  of  this Jonathan E.  Prince note  that  he "...had a brother by the name of Thomas who headed  West and  was  never heard from again.   They thought he  had gone  to join the Mormons"  letter dated  November  2, 1982 from Mr. Ralph Prince of Gladewater, Texas. 
• His mother  was  born  in  TN,  father was born in VA according to  the  1850,  1860, 1870, and 1880 census for Ellis County, TX.
• Referring to Jonathan E. Prince, Miller Prince wrote that "My  grandfather,  I  am told,  was either Holland Dutch or German  and was named Prinz.   He came to the U.S.  as a boy, grew to  manhood  in Virginia,  migrated to North  Central  Tennessee,  married  a half breed Cherokee Indian girl and came to  Texas  in 1837 or 1838.”
• The following account by Amanda Prince was provided by Mrs. Marjorie Rogers. "Thomas was a cabinet builder, furniture maker and horse trader. About July 1846, when his daughter Rebecca Jane was two months old, he left home with a load of furniture and some horses. After he was gone for a while, two men came and told Rebecca, his wife that they had found Thomas Prince laying in a spring dying. He became conscious long enough to tell them who he was and to give them her address and sent her $75 for a horse he had sold. The money for the furniture was never heard of. They told her they had buried him and marked the grave so she could find it. She always thought he was murdered and the money and load of furniture taken. She never thought for one moment that these two men were guilty. They were explorers. She sent two men to investigate and the grave was found just as the strangers had told her. She knew it was true. This happened in Mexico." The Mexico referred to in this account was probably Mexico, Missouri  - - county seat of Audrain County, which borders Pike County on the southwest. It should also be noted that some historians claim that Thomas died while enroute to Oregon with his family in 1849.
• NOTE:  I have remained somewhat skeptical of the account of Thomas's death in light of the fact that in 1850, a Thomas Prince shows up in Howard County, Missouri (dwelling 7, family 7, p. 142/283), age 38 (born Virgina) with wife Mary A. age 27  (born Missouri) and have speculated that Thomas may have simply left Rebecca and his "first family" for another.  -  RWL.   
• "Thomas was a happy good natured man with blue eyes and brown hair."
• In another account written by Amanda Prince, we are told, "Thomas Prince was English, a very large man, blue eyes, brown hair and of a very jolly disposition. Rebecca Davis was half English and half Irish, more of a serious disposition..."

Edited in 2022:  Some have suggested the name was originally Prinz (a German name), but recent DNA shows my mother to have had no German.