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

Murder that began an obsession

I was “talking” with a friend over email today about how frustrating it can be when folks have historical information and don’t share.  

Fortunately it only took me a few minutes to realize what a hypocrite I am.

I started this blog, and my obsession with our local history, because I found the record of an inquest that occurred after a Native American woman was brutally murdered in our county in 1862.

And while I’ve shared some of the details of Lucy’s murder  and the stranger-than-fiction fact that I found her son’s 1928 obituary on the wall of our new (very old) house two years AFTER I found the transcript,   I’ve never posted the transcript itself.  Perhaps because of my (maybe never to be realized) desire to write a book.  To tell Lucy’s whole story.  Whatever.  I have yet to write a book.  And may get hit by a bus tomorrow.

 And so here is the transcript.

There may be typos (ignore ‘em please).  There will also be some weird grammatical errors as the handwritten record is difficult to read in places but I wanted to keep my transcription as true to the original document as possible.

 Today I’ll just post the whole document and hopefully over the next few weeks I’ll add what I’ve learned about Lucy and her children in the years since I discovered the transcript.

  

Humboldt County Courthouse

Transcript of microfilmed records of Inquisition  into Lucy’s Murder-Union, 1862                                                                

 12 January 1862

Murder of Squaw in Arcata

Lucy (Indian woman) Coroner Inquest held 15 to 17, January 1862.

Ordered

 

Inquest held before Byron Deming Coroner of Humboldt on the 15^th day of January 1862 to inquire as to the cause of death of an Indian woman found dead on the premises of John Preston in the Township of Union, County of Humboldt, State of California, Sunday morning, January 12^th, 1862.

 

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.

Camp Curtis in Arcata

Camp Curtis, Arcata

Per the California State Military Museum:

Today, all that remains of Camp Curtis is a California Historical Landmark. Before its official establishment in September 1862, it was called Camp on Janes Farm and was used by local volunteer companies of the California Militia as early as 1858 during the “Indian Wars“. Camp Curtis was the headquarters of the 1st Battalion of Mountaineers of California Volunteers from 1862 until 1865. In 1863, Captain George Ousley and 34 soldiers of Company B of the Battalion first garrisoned Camp Curtis near Daby’s s Ferry [per LCM--this is at Essex, off Hwy 299 between Arcata and Blue Lake] and then moved to Fawn Prairie on the Hoopa Trail.

A bronze tablet commemorating the camp’s site was unveiled on October 5, 1930. Location: Take the Sunset Avenue off ramp from US Highway 101, go North 0.9 mile on L. K. Wood Boulevard frontage road in Arcata

[Click HERE for current photos of the location and bronze tablet]

From the War of the Rebellion Letters-correspondence records from the Civil War.

HEADQUARTERS HUMBOLDT MILITARY DISTRICT, Fort Humboldt, September 22, 1863.

Lieutenant E. HALE,

First Battalion Mountainers, Cal. Vols., Commanding Camp Curtis:

SIR: In placing you in command of detachment at Camp Curtis, the district commander had in view the protection from Indian hostilities the town of Arcata and adjacent settlements. This will be your special duty. With the force at your command it is believed that you can prevent the murder by Indians of any more citizens in that vicinity. It is not expected that you will send parties on distant scouts, but that your command will be constantly alert and use all possible endeavors to kill or capture all wild Indians which may venture into your neighborhood. You are at liberty in your discretion to send a few men at a time on short scouts, say, to Little River, Angel Ranch, Mad River, &c., but not when it will interfere with the protection of Arcata and its immediate vicinity. Upon Lieutenant Middleton’s arrival your command will be increased by five men of Company B. While you hold command at Camp Curtis it is expected the necessary discipline will be observed – a guard at night, the regular roll-cals, &c.

By order of Lieutenant Colonel S. G. Whipple.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

A. W. HANNA,

First Lieutenant and Adjt. First Batt. Mountaineers, Cal. Vols.,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

Living up to NO expectations

Sherman Institute Validictory Speech, class 1920

“…When the Indian girl or boy reaches a certain point aimed at it occurs to me that their problems are much greater than other races. The public eye is upon them, many to watch with pleasure and gratitude their success; others to look for, expect, and may we dare say, hope for the failures that will substantiate their belief that has prompted them to say, “does it pay.” So it seems to me our task is doubly hard. We must go out to meet the crude conditions of life and compete with other races who have the advantages of centuries of history-making ancestors, and upon our shoulders to a large extent rests the possibilities of schools for Indian generations.  How different is our case from that of our white brother and sister graduates.  They are under a certain obligation to their parents, the people in their community and their race in general. The Indian owes nothing in particular to his parents, nor to the members of his tribe.  No high standard of any kind has been set before him; there is no inducement but to follow the same routine that has been the custom for generations.”

I sensed at times, reading through this yearbook,  that perhaps some of the ” students’ ”  words were first suggested by their teachers and/or administrators.  These words, though, do ring true in many ways–though not necessarily as they apply to Native Americans.  

Through my job at the DA’s office I am fortunate enough to be working on a project to address homelessness.  Often I suspect that many of these folks suffer from a distinct disadvantage. Life is challenging enough and if one is raised in a low functioning family with low expectations… it takes an exceptionally strong person to recognize the possibilities and work, really work, to achieve more than is expected.  More than is even known or can be imagined.    

Though, though… I just read that yearbook excerpt to my daughter and realize how racist it is (sometimes I am so slow it scares me).  I wanted to use the quote to make a simple point regarding the challenges inherant in low expectations but this is about so much more than that.

It assumes that Native Americans in 1920, perhaps with different priorities, different values, had achieved nothing.  Just because they were different.  Though many had to give up everything they knew and loved just to live.  

They were forced to accept and grow dependent on a government that took away their freedom, their culture.

Oh boy, this is too complicated to adequately address right now. I need to think on it.

Sacred findings at Lyon’s Ranch, Bald Hills

Walk down this road and you’ll find this…

Enter the barn and you’ll find this…

In the barn

And this…

Then enter the Shepherd’s cabin and you’ll see this…

And this…

As well as the newspapers from 1912 that tell you how to rid yourself of gray hair (at your own peril, it seems).

At the risk of sounding hokey, it warms my heart to find all these great “artifacts” right where they belong…

If you visit, leave them there.  But take photos.  Lots of them.  And share, please…

Lyon’s Ranch is east of Orick on Bald Hills Road.  It is part of the park and open to the public.  If you go, bring your hiking/walking shoes as the homestead site is about two miles down the road.   But it is a beautiful road…

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.

Who are these people?

Unknown family

 

Every once in a while I like to get a little preachy and finding this photo among my family pictures has inspired me to do it again.

This photo came from my grandmother’s collection.  This little girl wearing what I’m guessing is dad’s jacket on the left is especially adorable.  And I’m guessing this is the early 1920s.  But I HAVE NO IDEA. 

 Because the photo wasn’t marked in any way. And my grandmother has passed away, along with (most likely) anyone else on the planet that can identify this family.

Mark your photos, people.  Please.

Vampires in Rio Dell?

When I was young I watched producers film parts of the movie Salem’s Lot in Fortuna and Ferndale.  Recent discussions, however,  have made me wonder if they weren’t a bit off in identifying towns of the undead.

I received a message not long ago from someone wondering where the cemeteries were in Rio Dell and Scotia. I grew up in Rio Dell and I don’t think there is a SINGLE CEMETERY in the whole town.  Perhaps Rio Dell was truly a town of the undead…?

That pondering, along with Wes Keat’s recent lack of success in finding a cemetery in Alton, made me wonder…

Where are all the dead people south of Fortuna?

Anyone have a clue?

Susie Baker Fountain Papers (or another description of local Indian Slave Labor)

 

Indian slave labor—Back in 1862 during Humboldt’s Indian hostilities, actions by the whitemen against the redmen were often on the verge of scandalous… today the occupants of Fort Humboldt would have been court-martialed for their activity…-Captured Indians who were held prisoner were often forced to build roads and do heavy labor of various types… They were not always treated humanely, and often the Indians died from disease and lack of proper feeding because of their captivity…-The prisoners on one occasion cut a military road from Elk Creek to Larabee Creek, named for an infamous pioneer. The road intersected near Cooper’s Mills not far from Hydesville.  The route shorted the distance several miles between Forts Humboldt and Baker… and armed guard kept the Indians at work… [Susie Baker Fountain Papers-Undated -volume 34, page 533]

Humboldt State University and the Humboldt County Library both house the Susie Baker Fountain Collection , an amazing collection of information regarding local history.

From HSU:

Susie Baker Fountain, Humboldt State University’s first graduate in 1915, was a local historian and professional columnist for the Blue Lake Advocate. She developed an extraordinary clipping file and collection of materials on Humboldt County and Del Norte County people, activities, and history from 1850-1966. The collection’s particular strengths include the early period of settlement and development, Indian-white interactions, early military history, real estate, the lumber and railroad industries, accounts of families and individuals, small communities, mining history, and a wide variety of other subjects not found in other sources.