Language of the Times

[Hellgate]

Hard Case,
Dropsy is an accumulation of fluids in the abdominal cavity usually from right sided heart failure, cirrhosis of the liver, or cancer. Also edema of the legs can be part of the above syndromes. Dropsy is an old term to mean an abnormal accumulation of fluids in a body cavity or the tissues.

[Hardcase]

I've been working on letters and photos from the other side of the family (gotta take 'em as they come), so I've had a bit of a dry spell of anything notable for you guys. But I ran across this one over the weekend while I was up at the cabin - it was mixed in with a foot-high stack of Harper's Bazars, some mining journals and an 1879 issue of Scientific American.

Anyway, the letter was written by William Cooper to his brother, my great, great, great grandfather, Charles "Chris" Cooper. At the time, William was in the middle of his crossing from Missouri to what is now just north of the California state line in Oregon. He had paused in Fort Laramie, Wyoming Territory to rest his ox team and his cattle.

Fort Laramie May 21st 1851

Dear Brother

This is the first oportunity I have had to write since we left the States. I left on the 23rd of april the left bank of Missouri river and reached here this morning, making the first eight hundred miles in less than a month. With ox teams, we are a week or ten days ahead of all emigration. We left Wolf river on the 24th with about 30 teams, horses mules and oxen and pack mules and if ever there was rushing and pushing to get ahead it was done thare. We all tried to start first. I was the 7th team that crossed the river. After we raised the bluff we doscovered Robinetts train about five miles ahead with 300 head of loose cattle, then the chase commencet to get a head. Grass being very Scarse it was evry body's object to get ahead. Three of the teams gave out in 5 hours drive by not taking time to water. The other four of us went about 2 miles farther and wattered our teams again. That time the loose cattle came up and before they wattered and raised the hill we ware a mile ahead and Kept gaining all day. We made 40 miles that day and campt at 9 oclock. The next day we counted 12 wagons about five miles in the rear. We camped before dark and made 32 miles. Four horse teams came up that night within a mile of us but we got a early start next morning and left them and ever seen them since.

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The Salt Lake Mail came up about 10 days ago and reported the horse teams one hundred and the ox teams from one to two hundred miles be hind us, and we have continued to travell from 25 to 30 miles a day ever since laying by half a day now and then to wash and bake and eat. Wood being very scarce sometimes carriing wood 3 to 6 days before we find timber but we have a good substitute in Buffalo chips. We intend going about four miles above the fort and wait for more company to go through the Snake as crow indians they are the worst we have to fear. They say the pawnee is the worst but we came through thair country without seeing one of them. The rest of the tribes was very friendly. We generally gave them a little provision as we passed through. We have had pleasant traveling all the way considering all things. We had a severe hail Storm on the platte but lost no cattle. Robidaux had 18 killed in the same storm. Hail stones fell as large as hen eggs and some larger.

If we have no bad luck in the Mountains we will make the quickest time ever made with oxen. We are 6 days ahead of the quickest time and they went through in 84 days. Our cattle all look well and in good flesh and walk faster now than we could force them up at first. We can go 30 miles a day and never use a whip. Grass is getting good and the road is a better one this far than thare is in Missouri - Just as level as a floor.

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Plenty of game, Buffalo and antelope &ct. Our cattle followed a herd of Buffalo of which took us half a day to get them again.

I haven't time to write any more at present. Our team is ready to start. We are going above the fort 4 miles and if the grass is bad we will go farther and I won't have a chance to post this.

Yours Wm Cooper

Excuse my bad writing as I am doing it in a hurry out in the wind.

[Hardcase]

Here's a fine looking feller! It's one of my great uncles, probably around 1910 or so. I don't imagine that he bagged that bird with a Winchester 1892 takedown rifle, but you never know...there were a lot of crack shots back in the day!



Sad to say, that rifle didn't make it down the family tree, at least not to any of the family that I know.

[KennyFSU]

Wow what an amazing piece of family history you have there, thanks for sharing them I loved reading through them all.

[Hardcase]

A while back, somebody asked if I had any letters about what mining was actually like back in the day. So far, I don't, but I did run across this neat old picture of my great grandmother getting ready to do a little prospecting somewhere between Idaho City and Centerville, Idaho. This was probably sometime between 1900 and 1910.



If nothing else, she was a really good sport

There is one of those family stories that's been passed down over the years about one of my great great grandfather's brothers (I don't recall which one off hand). As it's told, in the late 1800s, he had a mine near Idaho City that had pretty much played out, but with a lot of hard work, it would produce a pittance of gold. He'd go in and salt it a bit, then offer it for sale down in Boise. When somebody would come up to take a look, he'd offer to sell it "on terms", that is, to finance it himself. The, um, victim would take a sample of the ore that he'd "mined" into the assay office, find out that it was a pretty fair deal, make the down payment and set to mining.

Of course, he could never get enough out to make the payments, so the brother would be forced to take back the mine. Then, after a bit of a cooling off time, he'd do the whole thing again.

Now, to my skeptical mind, it's probably an apocryphal tale, but, still, who wouldn't like the idea of having such a scoundrel in the family line?

[Hardcase]

I found a clipping from the Idaho Statesman from almost 110 years ago. It's about my great, great, great uncle, Moses Kempner. He married my great, great grandfather's sister, Annie.

The Idaho Daily Statesman, Wednesday, June 25, 1902

MAIL CONTRACT
---
Mose Kempner, Pioneer Pathfinder, Assumes the Task.
---
TIME SCHEDULE OF THREE DAYS
---
Carrying of Thunder Mountain Mail Will Begin Next Monday from Idaho City - Passengers and Express Will Be Taken Through to the Camp.
---
Mose Kempner, designated by H. B. Eastman as one of the most capable mail carriers ever in the employ of A. H. Bodmer, will carry the mail between Idaho City and thunder Mountain over the Bear Valley trail. Mr. Kempner is a pioneer mail carrier in the mountains and has never been known to stop for blizzards or high water. Wild animals never bother him, and stage robbers are too wise to attempt to interrupt his progress.

He will start next Monday with the first batch of mail, which will weigh over 150 pounds. Mr. Kempner will go through himself with the first mail, selecting the route that will be followed. he will drive a two-horse buckboard over the wagon road into Bear Valley, and from there will ride one horse and pack the mail on the other animal. Returning, he will brin gthe mail in the same manner to the wagon and driver over the wagon road to Idaho City. As soon as the proper route has been selected, Mr. Kempner will establish stations where relays of fresh horses will be kept.

Under his contract he must make the trip in three days when the route is once established. he does not intend to carry mail himself after the distance has been covered, but will employ drivers. The mail will leave Idaho City every alternate day including Sunday. He intends to accept for transportation both passengers and express, but has not yet fixed the rates of tariff. he will not do so until the schedule for carrying the mail is determined. He must also be prepared to feed and shelter his passengers. Mr. Kempner was buying his equipment in the city yesterday. He purchased a two-seated buckboard mountain wagon that has a carrying capacity of three passengers with their baggage. He also bought several horses for the relay service along the route.

Idaho City is preparing to celebrate the departure of Mr. Kempner next Monday morning on his journey as a pathfinder. J. A. Lippincott and Ashby Turner are authority for the statement that there will be much band music and red fire. A boquet of mountain flowers will be woven into a circlet and placed on the brow of Mose Kempner, the mail carrier.

Now, with all that glowing praise above, consider this bit of salaciousness that I plucked from the Boise County Historical Society:

Old Mose Kempner was a raw hider from the Banner Mine. He seemed to have funds, but was often broke, and his notes of hand floated about. Being once sued, a trial was held in the old courthouse, and Mose’s note was shown around, passing from hand to hand and finally into the hands of Mose himself, who promptly shoved it in his mouth, chewed it up with his wad of cut plug, and spat it down between the boards in the courtroom floor. The note being lost, the debt went unproved. Mose escaped judgment, and for twenty years maintained absolute silence, confessing only in his old age his clandestine mastication in the judicial presence.

By the way, a "raw hider" is a packer.

Moses was born in Krakow, Austria (Poland effectively did not exist between 1795 and 1918) in 1838 and came to Idaho in the early 1860s where he owned a store (the tax records say that he was a "dealer in liquor and tobacco") and ran freight in what is now the ghost town of Banner, north of Idaho City.

After the business with his trial and after the mail route, he was also caught up in a huge federal fraud trial that involved Idaho's governor, Frank Steunenberg (who was later assassinated), one of Idaho's senators, William Borah (who prosecuted the assassin, defended by Clarence Darrow) and several other prominent Boise businessmen. They were all involved with the Barber Lumber Company, the predecessor to today's Boise Cascade Company, and were accused of conspiring to file illegal timber claims in the forests above Idaho City. Moses provided pack services and lodging to many of them, so apparently his testimony was somewhat crucial.

On appeal, all were absolved of wrongdoing.

[Hardcase]

Back in 1862, George Grimes discovered gold in his namesake Grimes Creek not too far north from where I live in Idaho. It was pretty big news and started yet another gold rush. For a while, the usual bunch of guys (including the Cooper boys, my ancestors) did the mining the old fashioned way, with pans, sluice boxes, rockers and cradles. But in the 1870s and 1880s, the work turned very industrial. Companies were formed and steam powered dredges were built in the various rivers in the Boise Basin to start pulling gold out in a major way.

By the end of the gold rush in the early 1900s, more gold came out of the 300 square mile area than had come from the Alaska gold rush. Not bad, I think.

Here's a typical gold dredge with its crew. The third man from the left is my great great grandfather, Frank Cooper.



Here's a link to a very, very large version of the same image.

As usual, there's a story that goes with the picture. My grandfather said that they had gotten into some fairly rough material and the dredge was bogging down, so the engineman tied down the pressure relief valve on the boiler to generate more steam and get more power to the engine. Of course, what ended up happening was that the boiler exploded, shooting the poor guy out one of the windows and at least a hundred feet out into the river. Nobody was killed (!) and they rebuilt the dredge. I don't know if they fired the engineman, though.

The other story is that about 35 years ago, McDonald's opened a new restaurant in Boise, only the second one in the city. It was a pretty big thing (yes, we were a little provincial). So, the whole family went down for a burger. We walked in and my grandmother stopped short and said, "Well, there's Grandpa Cooper!"

Now, that was an odd thing for her to say because he'd been dead for well over 30 years. But instead of losing her mind, in fact that the very picture that I posted above was hanging on the wall at McDonald's. Turns out that there's a copy at the Idaho Historical Society and the restaurant owner had picked it and a bunch of other mining pictures out as sort of a theme for the place.

[madmo44mag]

Really cool - thanks for sharing.
My mom's mother came to Texas in 1894 by covered wagon from Mississippi.
I remember the stories she told.

[Hardcase]

My mom's mother came to Texas in 1894 by covered wagon from Mississippi.
I remember the stories she told.

One of the (or possibly the only) smartest things that I did as a kid was listen to my grandparents and great grandmother when they told stories. My great grandmother's especially fascinated me - it was as if she lived in a completely different world back then!

[madmo44mag]

Hardcase: My dads mother was only a year younger and was a native Texan. She would tell stories of towns in Texas and how they grew. How times changed and why they changed.

The one thing that stick in my mind is a day I was about 19 or so, my mothers mother told me she had seen all she ever wanted to see. Two world wars, the great depression, automobiles, radio, TV, man on the moon, a president killed and many other events.

I marveled at all the 1st she had seen.

[arcticap]

I hate to say this but that was only one generation of hundreds of generations that go back for thousands and thousands of years.
Oh if the previous generations could only speak then whatever they may have to say just might exceed our wildest imagination, and they go all of the way back to the beginning. It's an unbroken chain...

[Hardcase]

I hate to say this but that was only one generation of hundreds of generations that go back for thousands and thousands of years.
Oh if the previous generations could only speak then whatever they may have to say just might exceed our wildest imagination, and they go all of the way back to the beginning. It's an unbroken chain...

Amen, brother and well said!

The hardest thing, I find, is actually authenticating the stories that I've heard. Some stuff is easy, most is hard. I've been told about one branch of the family that emigrated from Germany to Russia, then back to Germany, then to North Dakota. That part was easy to see from birth records in census data, but the real jigger was that they supposedly walked all these distances - it seems reasonable, given the time period, but there's no way of really knowing.

Or, even crazier, that if you go back far enough, supposedly the McNeils are descended from a band of either tyrannical pirates or proud sovereigns of their own island (it depends on your point of view, I guess.) But to verify? As much as I'd like to travel to Germany, Russia, Scotland and the Outer Hebrides, it's not going to happen anytime soon.

But that's OK - I guess that all stories have, at the very least, a germ of truth to them. That'll do me for now!

[Hardcase]

In my family tree, there are many Christopher Coopers, so keeping them straight is a challenge sometimes. But there is one Christopher who sticks out because of the manner of his death - he was shot in a saloon over, apparently, a girl. Yesterday, I found a letter from his father, also a Christopher Cooper (this one being my great-great-great grandfather Charles Christopher "Chris" Cooper) to his brother Edward who was working in the mines east of San Diego, CA.

From Chris C Cooper
April 8th '72
Houses Springs
Jeff Co Mo

Dear Brother Edward,

I hast to write you a few Lines Sad news, Rather. I snatch from time a short Space and from my urgent labour, thairfore, Excuse my Brief. My Son Chris was Shot ded instantly in a Beer Saloon at Eureka P.R.R. Station, Mo, St Louis Co by the hand of one John Stoker on Sunday 24 day March between 5 and 6 O'clock in the Evening and was Buried on 26th on the Farm in the old Family Burying Ground. Stoker is in St Louis Jale. Strong Evidence against him willful and deliberate Murder without provication. Our house is a house of Mourning.

My wife is in Feble Helth.

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No cause assigned for the deed, pled axident at first but witness too strong against sutch Bosh. Alax was up to se us Sunday. It hapened Chris worked at Arlington a few miles above Eureka. Came down to Eureka Sunday Morning. Had a Settlement with Stoker to make, before going back to Alington. Going for Medison for a sick child. Met an old Man aquantance. Went into a Beer Saloon, plaid a game of Cards for Beer 4 handed. Got up from the table and was going out when Stoker fired a pistol of and Shot him through the heart from behind. Chris had no Idea of his intention fro the game had nothing to do with the provocation of the act. Had no bearing on the subgect whatever. Frank my son Learned at Church yesterday Stoker had threatened a few days before

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to shoot Chris. They had worked together geting out RR ties. Partners before Chrismass but Chris quit that buisness. They had had a settlement, mutual and agreable about that work before witnesses. Now I have heard also that Stoker was Engaged to be Married to a Miss Shoultz. Stoker, Miss Shoultz & Chris went to a party. Chris is a great hand to dance, did dance with this girl. She discarded Stoker. Told him She liked Chris. This is Rumer. I do know know. All will be made clear yet.

Sister Ann, Mrs Logan, Billy Finagan came up from Eureka with the numerous friends of Chris and Alax on Monday when the Corps was brought here. Preacher Stevens Preached the Funeral Sermon.

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I have just finished in hast a Letter to Bro Frank and it is late in the Eavening and Frank is waiting for the Letters as the mail goes in the morning. I must write again to you as I am Confused and harried. I am planting oats. Have in 8 acres up and looks promising. Planted 2 Bns Potatoes. Trimmed the orchard, Cleaned out some of the Creek. Broke up Sod Land. Mutch to do. Sorly embarassed in pecunary matters. To me it looks so at present but maybe I will overcome all after all with perseverence.

Well I am writing at Random trying to crowd in all my thoughts at wonce but time and space forbids. I have not heard from my son Ed for a long time.

Rily Hills widdow Buried her daughter 3 weaks ago (the Eldest).

Stoker is in St Louis Jale. Strong Evidence against him for murder, willful and deliberate.

I found this report from the Jefferson Democrat of Hillsboro, Missouri, April 5, 1872:

Murder of a Citizen of Jefferson County - On Sunday the 20th ult,
Christopher COOPER, John STOKER, and to other men were engaged in a game
of cards for drinks at Eureka. Mr. COOPER and his partner lost one game
and STOKER and his partner two(?), some one proposed to "saw off" to see
who should pay, when STOKER pulled out his pistol and laid it on the
table saying that it was the thing to saw off with; whereupon his
partner said he would pay for the drinks and they all walked up to the
bar. STOKER comming up last presented his pistol and fired at COOPER,
the ball passing through his body and killing him almost instantly.
STOKER was arrested and sent to the St. Louis Jail by a Justice. No
provocation having been given it is heard to account for the shooting by
STOKER. A large mob gathered at the time and would have hung STOKER
only for the interference of COOPER's brother who advised them to let
the law take its course.

[Hardcase]

Here's a letter from 1882, written by my great-great-great grandfather's sister Nettie to his other sister Annie. Nettie was living with her parents (my great-great-great-great grandparents) and Annie lived with her husband in St Louis. This is pretty much just a bit of chit chat between sisters, but I kind of chuckled over Nettie's admonition to Annie to take care of her dental problems.

At Home; Nov 27th 82
Houses Springs
Missouri

Dear Annie

You asked me to write you this week, so I will write tonight and send it by Frank to Fenton tomorrow as he is going there with wheat. Pa and Mother have gone to bed, and I have anice fire so I locked the door and sit up by myself to write. Mother & I are quite well. But Pa is not well tonight. A glass of Beer made him sick. Mary was glad to get home and she stood the trip pretty well. Pa, Mother and I were the recipients of three nice handkerchiefs, presented by her. Well, I too was glad when they got back, for I had my hands full. I hope you have your teeth out

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by this time. I can't help but think of you and wonder every day how you are getting along with your teeth. Be brave Annie and get them out. Pay will send you some money just the first time he or Frank goes in, but if I sent it by mail, it would cost 90¢ to register it, so Pa says for you to wait till some one can take it to you. And that won't be long. I liked the Slippers very much, they fit too. I made the new bed today and my new bonnet. I finished quilting the comfort Friday and was glad to get it done, my fingers got so sore. I have not wrote to Auntie yet, but will just as soon as possible. I did want to go to town for a few days and as it has been so long since

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I have been off this place for one day, but I guess I'll wait till a better time. Martin says he believes I don't want to go (that is all he knows about it, ain't it.) Well Annie I'll stay home and can do without things that I would need if I was there. But one thing I want and you can get it - if you can, before Christmas and that is a piece of Calico for a wrapper for me, something bright - I am wareing that dress you lift me every day now and Martin is comeing up to spend Christmas week, so i want something to look neat in. I'll send you the money to get mine and one for Mother too if I can. I did think sure I would go in a few days before Christmas and see

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all the folks and get to ware my new dress, but Mary said you would have come home yourself if you had your teeth pulled out, so if that is the case, I'll stay to home. I baked some nice pumpkin pies for Alex Sunday, but he did not come to get them. Tell him to wait till some one goes in again, as the walk from Fenton is to long. Love to Puss & children from Mother and I and Pa. I guess there is a letter at the office for me from you. Good night - with much love and prayers for you & all. I remain Sister, Jennett C.

Love from all to all..

Since paper and postage cost money (two cents to mail a letter!), I guess that folks used up every square inch of paper back then, so, along the top margin, upside down, was this message:

If you see Aunt Ann, tell her I am not going in for a while and give her my love. Poor Mammie Logan. I cried my eyes nearly out about her hair being cut off. Kiss Bennie for me and Mother and you come home Christmas and Bring him with you. N..C. to A.C.

By the way, Houses Springs, MO is still around, although it's an unincorporated town now. But the farm is still in one piece, except for a half acre that was set aside in perpetuity (and a right of way to access it) as the family graveyard back in 1890 when the farm was sold. The graveyard is still there, but of the nine graves, only two have headstones now - Chris Cooper, the one who was shot, and his mother Eliza.

[BlueTrain]

Fascinating thread and this is the first time I've ever looked at anything in this section. The past is barely past.

I don't have any old letters but my wife has a lot, including one from Lee's wife (Yes, Lee of Arlington), and one from an antecedent who was in Pickett's charge (and live to tell about it). While the old letters are fascinating, they sometimes disappoint when they don't mention things we might like to read about. They largely mention the same sorts of things we'd write about, if we still wrote letters.

My father never finished grade school, yet he had a very passable hand when it came to penmanship. I'd even say it looked a little like some European penmanship from people the same age.

In many places, you know, people lived in the "horse and buggy" era, as we used to say, until quite recently. If you go "deep enough" in, say, West Virginia, you will find log houses (never called cabins) still being lived in probably by the same family that built it before the Civil War. That was the case where I lived for a time in the 1960s. I met an old man who delivered mail on horseback. That was also a mining area (coal) and until the 1960s, it was booming. There were little villages every few miles along the roads, all gone now but for the names. It seems very sad to see what remains now. The people in the "coal camps" were mostly immigrants and some of the names linger on the the towns that remain but the old families from before the coal boom lived out on the family farms.

Thanks for sharing.

[Hardcase]

That's so very true, BlueTrain. It's kind of funny what passes for "old" history here in Idaho. Things didn't really get going until around 1861 or 1862, with the discovery of gold. That's only 150 years ago - a pretty short time compared to the east coast and the blink of an eye to Europe.

Anyway, I ran across one page of a letter from William Cooper to my great, great, great grandfather Christopher Cooper last night. It's got no date, but I would put it at 1858 or 1859, based on where everybody in the family was at the time. It talks a bit about the down side of mining - it ain't cheap!

I am keeping Billiard Saloon here although I am interested in bed rock mining claims and it will be probably another year before we get in to pay dirt. The assesments in these bed rock tunnels just keeps me doing all I can to keep out of debt. We pay fifteen dollars a foot for running the tunnel and I expect to have to run it from 12 to 15 hundred feet. The rock has been very hard and we get a long slowly. Money has got so scarce here. Just now we have concluded to only keep two hands in the tunnel this dry and dull season, which will make our assesments very light.

I will try and get George to write to Edward by this mail. John Cracoft was over here yesterday. He is completely gone in. John was worth at one time here some forty or fifty thousand dollars but now I suppose he is ten or twelve behind. He was burnt out not long ago in Downieville. John Eaton lived here with us a long time but got a situation in the custom house. He sent me a letter the other day to say he had resigned and gone to Fraser. James O'Niell is with Frank up at Fraser. Pat O'niell is here in town. Perry Handan and Bony Vandyke has been over to see me several times this summer, neither of them worth a cent. I will write as soon as I hear from Frank.

From your brother,

Wm Cooper

The Fraser River strike in British Columbia just about wrecked the northern California economy - I've got another letter that is sitting around here someplace that talks about how miners packed up with whatever money they had and lit out north without paying off their debts in California. And when the strike did not pan out, many of them returned to the old gold fields even more broke than before - but this time, the merchants were almost as destitute! By that time, though, the Cooper boys had headed over to the west central mountains of Idaho to take advantage of the gold strike there.

[BlueTrain]

You know, there were several gold rushes, including one in Canada just after the war. While not all of them included mayhem and murder, they were sure all something of an adventure for those that went. In that one I just referred to, many of the prospectors went by airplane to stake claims but many went the old fashioned way. A few had fathers who had gone to the Yukon in 1898, too.

By a coincidence, my wife had an ancestor who was a Cooper, here in Northern Virginia. If I remember the connections correctly, the one was my wife's grandmother's grandfather. That Cooper was Samuel Cooper, adjutant general of the United States Army and later, when his boss, the Secretary of the Army, became President of the Confederate States, he became Adjutant General of the Confederate Army. He married George Mason's granddaughter. Think he's related to you?

[Hardcase]

No, other than the original Christopher, almost all of my Coopers started out in eastern Missouri, then ended up out west. Apparently none of them ever served in the military - they were too busy trying to eke out a living or recovering from some sickness or injury.

[Mac1]

Hardcase, this is a gold mine of heritage and I am intrigued at reading these letters. Somebody on page 2 mentioned Ancestry.com and if you haven't already, I highly recommend it. (No, I have nothing to gain by this recommendation) but I did it, and found my Mother's side back to right at the Revolutionary war. I placed my family to Ireland, Whales and England. The U.S. records cost $150 for a years subscription and the international version is another $150. Do some detective work, I have been fascinated by it. You also seem to have a lot of the women's maiden names, which is very valuable to ancestry. Thanks for sharing, Mac.

[BlueTrain]

While this is getting off the subject, I've done a little research on my family. My wife grew up knowing everything about her family because her ancestors were a little more distinguished than mine were. But I never used any of the commercial sites, just what I could find otherwise. There are lots of people with interests in geneology. But there are shortcomings.

I found that, even in places, with a lot of information, there were gaps. For instance, some place that had my father's name did not list all of his brothers (he was one of eleven). The more obvious difficulty is that ultimately you are trying to construct a family tree and everyone has a unique ancestry and except for your siblings, no one else has the same one you do. But I also discovered that it is a little easier when distant cousins married. That cuts down on the number of ancestors, you know.

I still find it hard to believe I'm descended from anyone that lived a thousand years ago.

[Hardcase]

But I also discovered that it is a little easier when distant cousins married. That cuts down on the number of ancestors, you know.

That made me laugh!

Mac1 I do use Ancestry.com and, since BlueTrain was speaking of cousins, I've found several of them through that site, which has helped a great deal with research that I've done on my dad's side of the family. For those who have an interest, it's the gold standard of genealogy sites.

[Hardcase]

Found it! The folks who made money in the California gold rush were the ones who got there right at the start. By the time this letter was written, in 1858, the easy pickins were long gone and mining was hard work with middling returns. But the new strike on the Fraser River in British Columbia (or, as they called it then, "New Caledonia") got the miners fired up and ready to make big money. Unfortunately, it left the merchants of the northern California gold towns in the lurch.

Another unrelated problem was that my great-great-great grandfather was trying to wrap up his father's estate, but because he had died intestate, the probate court needed to contact all of the children - a bit harder than it would be today, especially since they were scattered to the four corners of the continent.

Oh, and by the way, what I thought was another letter was, in fact, the first two pages of the letter that I posted yesterday. Apparently the third page had become separated from the first two. So, this is the first two pages of the letter to Christopher Cooper from his brother William.

Port Wine Aug 1st, 1858

Dear Brother Chris

I received yours this morning dated June 25th directed to Frank. I also received on from your son Alexander by last mail stating the difficulty you laboured under by not having a propper power of atorney. I intended to answer his letter this mail, by this mail, as it was too late when I received it last mail. The mail closes here in the mountain tomorrow at 9 o clock and I don't know as I shall have time in the morning to write but however tell little Aleck I shall not forget him.

Immediately on the reciet of Aleck's letter I write to Frank and expected to have an answer before this steamer left. I explained the difficulty in my letter to him. I also asked him to find out whether there is a notary public, consul or any other American officer in the Brittish posessions that is Qualified to take acknowledgements. Frank is away up in the Brittish Teritory and I don't expect him back for several months and if we all have to acknowledge a power of atorney seperately it will take some time to do it. I will go to a notary in the morning and if it can be done I will send it up for him to sign.

Page 2

I think we will be able to have a power of atorney properly aknowledged and ready by the steamer of the fifth of Sept.

I received two letters from Frank since he left here. He is well but dont give a very good account of the Climate and Country although he intends to stay and give it a Thorough prospecting. Fraser River is reported very rich and the Excitement and rush for the new gold fields of new Caledonia was so great that it almost threatened the depopulation of Calafornia at one time. The effects of so many people leaving Cal is is beginning to show it self. Nearly Every body that could raise a few hundred dollars was bound to go, regardless of their obligations to their creditors. The consequences is the mountain merchants cant make their monthly remittances as usual to the lower houses. There has been some very heavy failures in Marysville in consequence.

There has been 30 or 40 thousand people left Cal for the new diggins and taking all the money they could get a hold of with them and now, if it should prove a humbug, and they all get back here broke it will make times ten times worse than it is now for we will have to feed and clothe them for one year on credit until they have a chance to make a raise.

As it turned out, the Fraser River strike was a bit of a "humbug", although it did lead to the establishment of a formal British government - with the huge influx of Americans, there was a fear of losing the colony to its neighbor to the south. That in turn created the Colony of British Columbia...and so forth.

Within a few years, William and Henry Cooper would pack out of California to the new gold rush in the Boise Basin of Idaho. Frank would join them later and eventually most of the Cooper family would settle in Idaho City.

[Hardcase]

Turning the way-back machine up a little more, this one is dated September 28, 1820. It is a letter from Evan Thomas Ellicott, owner of an iron mill in Ellicott Mills, Maryland. The Ellicotts had quite an influence from Pennsylvania to New York to Maryland from the middle of the 18th century until the middle of the 19th. Although their biggest contribution to the Baltimore area was in flour mills (and in giving their name to a town), Evan was fairly successful in the iron business.

Christopher worked for Evan at the iron mill for at least a year, but at this point, he had moved up to the Pittsburgh area to work the iron mills there, possibly as an extension of Ellicott's business. The Cooper family did a lot of moving during their first several years in America as Christopher tried to find good-paying work. From what I can gather from other letters, due to an influx of immigrants from England and Ireland, wages were somewhat depressed. Also, there was a certain degree of resentment towards the new immigrants (as in, "taking our jobs"). I guess the wheel turns...

The letter:

9th month 28 1820

Christopher Cooper,

Nothing has transpired favorable to thy interests in the case which thee placed in the hands of Purviance. The parties have made several attempts to come to a settlement but have in every instance failed. There appear but little chance of an immediate settlement. I have therefore recommended the lawyer to proceed with the court of law. John Griffith has been very industrious and zealous in his efforts to bring the business to a close. He is just starting for thy neighbourhood and carries thy letter. He will explain the minutia of the business.

We keep our mills mostly at work, but have sometimes to stop for want of orders and from the scarcity of scrap iron. When we commence the business of scrap iron, we calculated with great confidence that when we could not get scraps that we could work cast iron by puddling, but in this we have been disaffected. Our workmen make so small a quantity in a pour that we find if we got the cast iron for nothing the business would

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hardly answer. I would be much obliged to thee if thee would inform me the quantity of bar iron that ought to be made in a pour and the quantity of coal that ought to be consumed. Also the loss heat that ought to be sustained. I allude to cast iron not scrap iron.

If anything transpires relative to the mortgage I will communicate it.

Are the works in which thee is engaged doing anything at present? And what is the price of bar iron?

Respectfully
In haste

Evan T Ellicott

It appears that it didn't take long for Christopher to become embroiled in legal troubles (and it wouldn't be the last.) "Purviance" is, as best as I can tell, either a judge or a lawyer in the Baltimore area. Based on an almost incomprehensible draft letter, it appears that the matter was about some missing iron and accusations against the port master of Baltimore.

Also, in case you hadn't guessed, Evan Ellicott was a Quaker - in fact, his family went quite a ways back in the Pennsylvania Friends community.

[Zenkoji]

I have been reading while at work (extremely boring job, far below my experience, and wish I had something in the firearms industry!), and have found this site, and this thread in particular, amazingly fascinating reading. Thank you so much for sharing your family history!

I am on the cusp of becoming a BP addict... I am a huge fan of firearms in general, and have long wanted to experience BP weapons but have never taken the plunge. After finding this site and reading some of the marvelous posts, it's only a matter of (a short) amount of time before I take the plunge!

Thanks!

[Hardcase]

Thanks for the kind words, Zenkoji, and welcome aboard!

There's more to post. Right now, I'm sorting through some more modern stuff from the other side of the family - since there was no rhyme or reason to the filing system I inherited, I sort of get this stuff as it comes. I'm also blessed with wonderful extended family members who have been dropping off their collections, so I try to sort through their stuff first so that I can get it back to them as quickly as possible.

My office looks like a small museum exploded in the middle of it.