Wilson, Luzena Stanley, 1819-1902. According to her journal entries, lawbreakers were dealt with quickly and harshly. On July 22, 1850, she witnessed the severe punishment inflicted upon a man who had stolen a mule. After a few days in Sacramento, the Wilsons sold their oxen to purchase a stake in a hotel. Using the profits made from the Wilson Hotel, Luzena bought lumber and bricks to build the familys home and a new boarding house business. He did not travel far before he was overtaken and brought before a jury, the Sacramento Transcript newspaper reported on the scene. We built the fire at night close to the wagon, under which we slept. Mrs. As a woman, Luzena Wilson would find herself a rarity in the adventure that lay ahead. (Enter your ZIP code for information on American Experience events and screening in your area.). The hotel, Luzena remarked, consisted of two rooms, the kitchen, which was her special province, and a living room. Mason became an agent for the Wells Fargo Company and operated the Wells Fargo office out of the hotel.26, In December 1872, after twenty-eight years of marriage, Mason abandoned his wife and family to travel to Missouri and Texas. 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. To verify accuracy, check the appropriate style guide. 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. Luzena Stanley Wilson (c. 18201902), Luzena Stanley Wilson '49er: Her Memoirs as Taken Down by her Daughter in 1881, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Luzena_Wilson&oldid=1066877984, Wilson, Luzena Stanley. Guidebooks purchased by miners (49ers) spoke of how the crucial timing was to a successful journey; therefore, it was not uncommon to have multiple groups of men traveling together. Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! Luzena, Forty-Niner, was a determined and strong-minded personage a woman of the real pioneer type, Jepson noted. In 1881, Luzenas daughter helped her compile her remembrances into a book entitled, Argonaut: A Womans Reminiscences of Early Days, . With her new determination to set up a rival hotel, she chopped her wood and drove her stakes into the ground. As time went on, the area became more populated. Hence, when he received a microscope for his 15th birthday, the first thing he did was try and examine a snow flake. [2] The family had moved to Andrew County, Missouri by 1843, and in 1844 Luzena married Mason Wilson there.[3]. She eagerly agreed to the payment, imagining the mine would be a quick way to renew the fortune she had lost. By the end of 1859, Luzena and Mason owned a considerable portion of the Vaca Valley town site and more than five hundred acres of surrounding lands. the '49ers found a lot of gold and built homes there. The $10 Biscuit Wilson was a noble woman and her death will be profoundly regretted.29. Here are some interesting Ghana facts which were chosen and researched by kids especially for kids. var googletag = googletag || {}; Her final statement in her memoirs remarked how the difficulties of her earlier pioneer days are left far behind in this current age of plenty. Others perceived you as an idealist illuminating path to the future. She resided in a hotel, living off real estate transactions. We took possession of a deserted hotel which stood on K Street, Luzena wrote in her memoirs. 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. Government: Presidential Republic. According to her journal entries, lawbreakers were dealt with quickly and harshly. On July 22, 1850, she witnessed the severe punishment inflicted upon a man who had stolen a mule. Guests slept behind a hay bale. French girls charged an ounce of gold just to sit next to a customer and a Swiss woman working an organ grinder made $4,000 in a few months. 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. Luzena found a few pieces of unburned canvas and some wooden planks; Mason pulled her stove from the ruins of the boarding house, and the pair set up another eatery. We built the fire at night close to the wagon, under which we slept. 15 15. Sex Trade In the rapidly growing city of Sacramento, the Wilsons sold their oxen and bought an interest in a small hotel. } Sex Trade Some careless hand had set fire to a pile of pine shavings lying at the side of the house in course of construction, Luzena recorded in her memoirs, and while we slept, unconscious of danger, the flames caught and spread, and in a short half hour the whole town was in a blaze. The Wilsons lost nearly everything they owned. The courts were called upon to intercede and settle the matter; in the interim, the Wilsons moved from Benicia to Vaca Valley. Mrs. In early July 1850, a prospector who appeared as though he could not afford anything gave Luzena a gold claim in exchange for one of her delicious dinners. Found insideI've seen a number of walkoff home runs by Kent Hrbek and Kirby Puckett. Luzena etched "Wilson's Hotel" on a board and made chairs from stumps. Body length: 2.2-2.5m. Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! The hotels reputation grew, attracting more and more customers. 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. Her culinary skills were popular during the rebuilding of the mining camp. 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. To add to the miseries of the trip it rained, and one night when the wagon was mired and we could not shelter under it, we slept with our feet pushed under it and an old cotton umbrella spread over our faces. Using the profits made from the Wilson Hotel, Luzena bought lumber and bricks to build the familys home and a new boarding house business. He could stand Luzena no longer and went away from Vaca Valley. During the two months she operated the boarding house there was never a vacant room. Torrential downpours, swollen rivers, prairie fires, and knee-high snowdrifts impeded their progress and at times exhausted their resources. This historic memoir, My Checkered Life, is Luzena Stanley Wilson's classic account of her family's 1849 overland journey and life in early California. As a result of the California Gold Rush, San Francisco can today be described as a unique city because______________ . He could stand Luzena no longer and went away from Vaca Valley. Their goal was to purchase land and stay there for the rest of their lives. Water and food for the livestock was hard to find and the beasts grew bone thin. 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. Luzena Stanley Wilson The account of Luzena Stanley Wilson is one of the most vivid and charming of all the Gold Rush stories that have come down to us. There was no place of deposit for money, Luzena noted in her memoirs, and the men living in the house dropped into the habit of leaving their [gold] dust with me for safe keeping. Everyday more and more immigrants poured in from the plains or got off the steamers that brought them to California via the Isthmus of Panama each one was eager to get to the mountains to hunt for gold. In 1872 Mason Wilson abruptly abandoned his family and moved to Texas. Once everything was in place, Luzena wasted no time returning to what she did best, which was cooking. 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. 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. Mason agreed, and the two decided to go into the hospitality business. I little realized then the task I had undertaken. 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. This looked hopeless, and I told him I guessed we wouldnt go as we had no money, she explained in her memoirs. On the off-chance Mason never found a fortune in gold, the couple left behind funds with the justice of the peace to make another payment on their homestead. Her meager beginnings with the Wilsons Hotel grew once again into a money-making business. Once everything was in place, Luzena wasted no time returning to what she did best, which was cooking. Abandonment of possessions by caravans traveling the perilous overland trek was common to lighten loads of the wagons through dangerous or muddied roads. Luzena Stanley Wilson, ne Hunt was a California Gold Rush entrepreneur. Luzena had went with her husband and brought along their two kids. Her culinary skills were popular during the rebuilding of the mining camp. 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. You could have seen your future lives. [1]The family had moved to Andrew County, Missouri by 1843, and in 1844 Luzena . 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. The love life of Torrie Wilson would take off in shocking manner when she joined WCW. She was thirty years old. In 1849, she left Missouri for California with her husband and their two children. 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