Seeking info re: Margaret Cobb (b. 1871) from SoHum

Hi everyone,

I was contacted by someone seeking information on Margaret Cobb, author (authoress ?) of Blaxine , which Cobb published in 1910 (quite a story and I urge you to click the link if you haven’t read my post). 

Anyone out there with stories, documents or photos?  I am confident that anything you have and are willing to share  would be very much appreciated…

If you can help, please email lynette.mullen@gmail.com

Thanks !

~L

Arcata Cemetery, Present Day

We have blog visitor Bill Alden to thank for these photos, taken in approximately the same location as the historical photos  I recently posted of the Arcata Cemetery and Isaac Minor’s mausoleum.

Minor’s Mausoleum

Isaac Minor's Mausoleum, Arcata Cemetery

I guess this was what he wanted…?

Squirrel or a lamp post?

Or Camp Grant?

That title was about as random as I could make it for a reason–and blog visitor Skippy is helping to make my point.

No one could identify Fort Grand or the Hausels. Maybe (though I’m not claiming we know for sure) that is because this is CAMP GRANT and the HANSELLS (Skippy’s very plausable theory).

I’ve lectured on this type of thing before but it has been a while.   Please, everyone, mark your photos clearly.  Then scan ‘em if you haven’t. Print ‘em if all you have are electronic copies.  Both are vulnerable. 

And if you have cool old photos and want to share, email them to me  at historyaddicts@gmail.com  and I’ll post them here. We’d love to see them.

The following came from Skippy.  Thanks Skip !

Here’s my guess about this picture:
 
It’s not Fort Grand, but Camp Grant near Dyerville on the Eel River.  It’s an easy misnomer to make.  Camp Grant was a military camp under the jurisdiction of Fort Humboldt.  Perhaps Fort and Camp were used interchangeably or confused altogether, and also Grand vs. Grant, too.  When I first saw the picture, this was the location I had immediately in my mind.

Bucksport, c. 1858

Bucksport, c. 1858 (County of Humboldt Collection)

So many things make this cool that it is really a wonder I haven’t posted this picture before.

I love Table Bluff in the background. And the pennisula to the right. The rider on the horse and someone walking on the road. This photo does make me wonder, though, where the Indian Village was located.

Two years after this painting was done, it was believed that all who lived in that village were killed…  I may enjoy the tangents, but the original driver for this blog, the murder that began an obsession.  is never far from my thoughts.

Where is Hausel Ranch, Fort Grand ?

Fort Grand, Hausel Ranch (County of Humboldt Collection)

Couldn’t find Fort Grand and Ancestry.com came up with ”zero good matches”  for Hausels in Humboldt County.

Anyone out there know anything about the Hausels or Fort Grand? And I realize I may be making the erroneous assumption that a photo in the Humboldt County Collection is actuallly from Humboldt…  Either way I liked the photo and hope you guys do too…

Lucy’s Children

After finding the inquest,  I became compelled to learn more about Lucy and began hunting for information where ever I could find it.  Fortunately members of the Preston family wrote a book about their history and included information about Lucy…  

From The Preston/Lindsey Trail, 1995 ( Rosaline Preston and Carol Huber) [A copy of this book is in the Humboldt Historical Society]

page 105

“The eldest girl was named Carrie and the old pioneers Bowls raised her. She married and came to Blue Lake about six years ago, where she died.”

“The other girl was named Annie and my father and mother Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Preston, took her to raise and she grew womanhood with my father’s family and when she was about nineteen years old she was married to a man by the name of James … at my father’s ranch, known as Blue Slide, in 1876, by L Foster. Soon after Annie and her husband move to Covelo, Mendocino County. Some time ago Mr. … died and Annie married a man by the name of Arthur … and they were living at Covelo the last time I heard from them.”

…

“Some stories told of only one baby surviving the massacre, others of two or three but actually there were several survivors who stayed hid for fear of also being killed. The three children that were known about were two sisters and a brother. In an article in the Arcata Union, 12 Apr 1928, under the title of “Pioneer Makes A Correction” Mrs. Sarah Jane Preston Bates tried to clarify some of the confusion after the death of Charles Muhlberg when his obituary said he was the lone survivor of the island massacre. She says the obituary was not entirely correct as the Indian mother was found murdered in a cabin which stood on the old Preston ranch north of Arcata, about where the Twin Park building addition is now located. The Preston family took one of the three children, a girl, which they named Annie Preston and raised’

1928, March AU (29 March 1928) Death Recalls Tragic Incident-Charles Muhlberg, a painter and paper’ hanger, who has made his home in Arcata and Blue Lake for many years past, died at a hospital in Eureka Thursday from heart trouble from which he had been suffering for some time past.

Muhlberg was born in Arcata in 1860 and was 68 years of age. His mother was an Indian woman and from Mrs. Marie Todd, one of our early day pioneers, is learned a tragic incident connected with his childhood. The mother lived in a small cabin on the edge of the old Preston ranch which is now Twin Parks Addition, north of town, with three small children, two girls and an eight months old infant son, who was Charles. The mother was found murdered in the cabin, Charles being at her breast. Gustav Muhlberg took the boy and girl to raise, the other daughter being taken into the home of the pioneer Bowles family. Who killed the mother always remained a mystery.

One of the sisters grew to womanhood and became the wife of Jack Wright, passing away some years ago. As near as can be learned, a half sister, whose name was Mrs. Minnie … survives, her last known address being Sacramento. A niece whose first name was Emily, at one time lived in San Francisco.

The funeral was held from the Dolson-Devlin Funeral Parlors on Monday afternoon, Rev. C.P. Hessel officiating

Eureka National Bank, c. 1925

Eureka National Bank, c. 1925 (Woods)

This beautiful baby still sits in downtown Eureka at 350 E Street.  It is known as the Commercial Building and has much of her architectural detail still intact.

And I, through some wonderful stroke of fortune, will now be working in this building-albeit very part time. In an office with windows.  And fresh air…  (I love my co-workers at the DA’s office and feel incredibly lucky to be there-but that doesn’t change the fact that my office is a windowless closet and I have to walk to the end of the hall  just to see if it is raining or dry.  Daylight or dark).

Our office is collaborating with a group called the Homeless Task Force (a consortium of public and private entities) and the owner of the Commercial Building is providing office space in which to work.  I will be acting as coordinator for the task force.

Once upon a time, Humboldt County residents took care of their own through the Indigent Fund, but this is a different world. During the settlement period this county was extremely isolated and I think this fostered a sense of community (among the white/non-indigenous folk, at least).  The county took care of its disadvantaged and helpless.

Sherman Institute (Indian School), 1919 & 1947

Sherman Institute, 1947

 Orvel Allen was my husband’s grandfather.

Sherman Institute, 1947

And Mamie, graduating in the class of 1919, was Orvel’s mother. 

Mamie Lamberson

This seems like the distant past, but my guess is that each of us knows someone today (whether we realize it or not)  whose family, whose life, was altered by this history.

A more compelling story (Indian Boarding Schools)

One of Kym’s photos , which was incredibly beautiful, inspired me to share my own.

Just ’cause…

Sherman Institute, 1939

As you may have guessed, this is not the photo I had in mind.

 I truly meant to post a lovely landscape photo, but couldn’t find it on my computer.  This one came up instead and is certainly more important than a grove of trees.

The young man on the left is my husband’s second cousin.  He attended the Sherman Institute , along with many of his family members,  in the 1920s and 1930s.

During that time Native Americans were not able to attend “white” high schools.  Local tribal members attended Hoopa High or went to Riverside.