In Others perceived you as an idealist illuminating path to the future. 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. She, Mason and the children ran to the top floor of the hotel and stayed there for seventeen days as the floodwaters lapped outside. Once everything was in place, Luzena wasted no time returning to what she did best, which was cooking. Finally Wilson found her tongue and accepted the offer. They exchanged a smile, and Mason picked up the trunk and carried it outside. "I hesitated he repeated his offer to purchase, and said he would give ten dollars [about $240 in 2005 dollars] for bread made by a woman," wrote Wilson. With a full table at every meal, they had ten thousand dollars invested in the business within six months. She was eighty-three years old. 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. 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. It was the work of but a few days to collect our forces for the march, Luzena recorded in her journal shortly after they left on the first leg of their trip. Kirby Puckett's family is auctioning off hundreds of pieces of . Seven months later they bought three parcels in Vaca and another one hundred acres south of town.22, Masons hay business was as profitable as Luzenas boarding house. Edith Wilson served as the First Lady of the United States from December 18, 1915 until March 4, 1921. Guests were charged $17.50 a week for a clean room, laundry services, and savory meals. Like 25,000 other Americans that year, the Wilson family was headed overland to California to seek gold. Luzena Stanley Wilson, ne Hunt (c. 1820-1902) was a California Gold Rush entrepreneur. 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 . from Luzena Stanley Wilson, '49er by Luzena Stanley Wilson Luzena Stanley Wilson was born around 1821. Once everything was in place, Luzena wasted no time returning to what she did best, which was cooking. Income from her real estate transactions supplemented her income during the later part of her life. Her kitchen was also her bank vault. The Value of Domestic Arts During the two months she operated the boarding house there was never a vacant room. These are fifteen fun facts about Torrie Wilson you may not have known about. At the time, Sacramento was infested with the horrible creatures.20, After three months, the Wilsons moved on to a valley north of Sacramento called Benicia. So, I bought two boards from a precious pile belonging to a man who was building the second wooden house in town. In 1850 the California legislature passed and act that essentially forced many Native Americans into servitude. The Wilsons moved to Augusta, Georgia, after their son's birth. My husband was furious, Luzena recalled in her memoirs. 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. Luzena Wilson died at age 83 of thyroid cancer on July 11, 1902, at the Hotel Pleasanton in San Francisco. Late in 1850, Luzena expanded her commercial enterprise, hiring cooks and waiters.14. 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.17, 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. This hotel was tenanted only by rats that galloped madly over the floor and made journeys from room to room through openings they had gnawed in the panels. After a few days in Sacramento, the Wilsons sold their oxen to purchase a stake in a hotel. They were scorched by heat, enveloped in dust that reddened their eyes and parched their throats; they were bruised, scratched, and bitten by innumerable insects.5, Luzenas Quaker upbringing in North Carolina had not prepared her for such a grueling endeavor. There were few women in Sacramento or the outlying gold mining camps. Mason Wilson, Luzenas husband of five years, marched into the house just as she closed the lid on the trunk and fastened it tightly. The son of a Presbyterian minister, Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) was a president with strong moral convictions. 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. They were scorched by heat, enveloped in dust that reddened their eyes and parched their throats; they were bruised, scratched, and bitten by innumerable insects. Most of the belongings Luzena packed in their prairie schooner would be lost or left behind on the trail because they proved to be too burdensome to continue hauling. Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clapp, who wrote about the mining camps under the name Dame Shirley, observed a woman making $100 a week washing clothes at Rich Bar. A major flood in Sacramento, combined with a flurry of excitement about gold nuggets lying in the streets of Nevada City, prompted Mason to uproot his family again and head for the hills in March 1850. Weight: 200-450 kg. Unlike the time it took for the Wilsons to travel to Nevada City, it was only a two-day journey returning to Sacramento. In the event the Wilsons were able to stake out a claim for themselves in the Gold Country, they would sell their Missouri home and use the proceeds to aide in their new life. I must have carried my honesty in my face, for he looked at me a minute and said, Ill take you, Maam, if you will assure me the money. I promised him it should be paid, if I lived, and we made the money, So, pledged to a new master, Debt, we pressed forward on the road. Introduction by Francis P. . The September evening before the Wilsons finally descended the Sierra foothills into Sacramento, Luzena Wilson got a taste of how she would make her fortune in California. Get the latest on new films and digital content, learn about events in your area, and get your weekly fix of American history. She, Mason and the children ran to the top floor of the hotel and stayed there for seventeen days as the floodwaters lapped outside. During the six-month stay in Sacramento, Luzena saw only two other women. Employees and customers are welcome to bring their well-behaved pets to our stores. [1]The family had moved to Andrew County, Missouri by 1843, and in 1844 Luzena . Torrential downpours, swollen rivers, prairie fires, and knee-high snowdrifts impeded their progress and at times exhausted their resources. 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. He swore that he would either have the land or kill every man who disputed his ownership. Mason agreed, and the two decided to go into the hospitality business. As time went on, the area became more populated. 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. Not long after that, government surveyors came to officially lay out the town of Benicia in Vaca Valley. The native tribes of California saw themselves as stewards not owners of the land. The world will never see the like again of those pioneers of 49, Luzena recalled in her journal. The majority of boarders at the Trumbow House were men. I little realized then the task I had undertaken. Birth Place: North Carolina Country: United States Birthday: 1819 Death Date: January 1 , 1902 ( age 83 ) Birth Sign : Some women worked in the gold rush's notorious sex trade. In her memoirs, she remarks how they later laughed at the idea that those few items would have really made a big difference. Since there were virtually no women to tend to the men's needs, men often interacted with women they didn't know. Once in Sacramento, Luzena quickly learned the value of being a female minority in a male-dominated group. Luzena, Mason, and their children were among the more than twenty-five thousand people who came west in 1849. Jacqueline Wilson is an English children's author . 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. 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 Stanley Wilson, ne Hunt (c.18201902[1]) was a California Gold Rush entrepreneur. Many a night have I shut my oven door on two milk-pans filled high with bags of gold dust, she wrote in her memoirs, and I have often slept with my mattress literally lined with the precious metal. He told her he had removed $16,000 from the mine the day before. El Dorado burned to the ground, taking with it the Wilson's fortune. Name: Republica de Colombia or Republic of Colombia. So, I bought two boards from a precious pile belonging to a man who was building the second wooden house in town. In the next e 2) The most common species is the plains zebra, which roams grasslands and woodland of . At last we caught a glimpse of the miners huts far down in the gulch and reached the end of our journey.8. Three payments had been made on the plot of land the Wilsons purchased in January 1847. } 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. Mason had $500 in his pocket he had forgotten to place in the stove the night before. 15 15. [4] Luzena remained in Vacaville for 27 prosperous years. You could have seen your future lives. Gravel markers lined the wagon trail west. Get the latest on new films and digital content, learn about events in your area, and get your weekly fix of American history. Names Wilson, Luzena Stanley, 1819-1902. 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. She was thirty years old. 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. She was treated, as she put it, like a "queen." The $10 Biscuit Wilson came overland to California from Missouri with her husband and two small children in 1849. 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. 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. Mason Wilson farmed and the family prospered. Title:: Luzena Stanley Wilson, '49er: Memories Recalled Years Later for Her Daughter Correnah Wilson Wright: Author:: Wilson, Luzena Stanley, 1819-1902 But most women stayed home. The wooden structure was the first one of its kind built in Vaca Valley. A wife usually stayed behind and managed the home while the man tried his luck at striking gold. Her mere presence meant she could command top dollar for her meals. 3. Luzena Wilson died at age 83 of thyroid cancer on July 11, 1902, at the Hotel Pleasanton in San Francisco. 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. 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