Reminiscences Of A Ranger

Source

"Los Angeles, at the time of my [Horace Bell's] arrival, was certainly a nice looking place--the houses generally looked neat and clean and were well whitewashed. There were three two-story adobe houses in the city, the most important of which is the residence of Mrs. Bell, widow of the late Capt. Alex Bell; then the Temple, building a substantial two-story, at the junction of Main and Spring streets; and the old Casa Sanchez on what is now Sanchez street."

An Army Wife On The Frontier (Met Her Future Husband)

An Army Wife On The Frontier: the memoirs of Alice Blackwood Baldwin 1867-1877:

California: An Intimate History

California: An Intimate History,  By Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton:

For more recent, and detailed, history, older editions of California newspapers are online.

The Boy Emigrants

Routes Of Others Heading West

Source

The (Early) Life Of Pauline Cushman

Life of Pauline Cushman: The celebrated Union spy and scout. 

Pauline's father....abandoned his enterprises in the Queen City of the South [New Orleans] and removed to Grand Rapids in the State of Michigan when Pauline was about ten years of age. He there opened an establishment for purposes of trade with the Indians, as Grand Rapids was still little more than a frontier settlement... . 

Pauline's memorial at FindAGrave.

He Built Colton Hall

Three years in California [1846-1849] was written by Rev. Walter Colton, U. S. N.  Colton Hall (pictured below) was "built by the Rev. Walter Colton, a chaplain of the frigate Congress, who was appointed provisional alcalde on July 28, 1846, by Commodore Stockton...".

Source

Source

Since Our Flag Was Raised In California

Source (U.S. Flag would have had fewer stars in the 1840's)

Three years in California [1846-1849] ̈ by Rev. Walter Colton, U. S. N...

Thursday Feb. 11: Two of the officers of Gen. Castro sent through me to day to Com. Shubrick, applications for permission to return to Mexico. They are very poor, having received no pay since our flag was raised.

There has been, I apprehend, quite as much love of country in the Californian as the American, in the storm of battle which has swept over this land. 

Ide's Horse From The Mexican War

Source - The Mexican War (Not Ide's Horse)

A biographical sketch of the life of William B. Ide:

 When Father came home from the War late in November, 1846, William came with him. He had earned two good horses, and Father rode home on one of them, leaving his own faithful horse, which he brought with him from Illinois, in a pasture to recruit a U. S. officer had rode him, and, for want of proper care, had made his back so sore that Father could not bear to put a saddle on him. Through this means he lost this valuable animal, for, while thus necessarily recruiting in the pasture, he was stolen, and never recovered. On loaning the use of this horse to ' Uncle Samuel,' the ' U. S. brand was put on the top of Father's  "W. I.", and afterwards the horse was claimed as U. S. property; but Father proved it to be his.

California Dreaming

Source

From A Natural and Civil History of California: Containing an Accurate ..., by Miguel Venegas printed in London in 1759:

Annexed Texas....

From The New Nation Grows, Volume Two:

"Exuberant, bumptious, the young republic annexed Texas, picked a quarrel with Mexico, and then sent thousands across the plains and mountains to the newly discovered gold fields."

"By 1850, California had entered the Union, and the United States had preempted the whole vast territory from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Lake of the Woods to the Rio Grande." "And in the federal census of that year, it counted 23,191,876 inhabitants."


An 1850 letter from Wm. Carey Jones.

A Piece Of 19Th Century Southern California

A Southern California Paradise, (in the Suburbs of Los Angeles.):....

"There may be more than one "Paradise" in Southern California; but the one to whose description these pages are chiefly devoted is situated on the northeast of the city of Los Angeles, at a distance of from five to fifteen miles."

A Pasadena Home

A New York Soldier In New Mexico

JAMES A. BENNETT: A DRAGOON IN NEW MEXICO, 1850-1856 

From the University of New Mexico. New Mexico historical review (Volume 22):

In the words of Elizabeth Warfield Bennett, her father was born at East Avon [Livingston County], New York, January 8, 1831. At the time he was eight years old his father, Augustus A. Bennett, was robbed and murdered. This left my grandmother with three girls and three boys to support. Maria Pierson Bennett moved to a home on Prince Street in Rochester, New York, where she made a living by taking boarders. James supported himself by going from one relative to another to work a little and have his board. When he was eighteen he was visiting his mother in Rochester and so became aware of her financial need. Gold had just been discovered in California and that fact, together with his mother's hardship, was too strong a lure for him. He enlisted under the name of James S. Bronson because he was afraid his mother would not let him join the army in order to get to California.

Bennett enlisted in November, 1849. The following summer he was assigned to the 1st Dragoons and sent to New Mexico where he served for eight years. The memoirs end in 1856, after he had spent time in a hospital. Elizabeth Warfield Bennett writes :

He told me that he was sick again in the hospital at Albuquerque. Although he was on duty for two more years, his ill-health continued and rendered him unfit for his arduous army duty. Following the termination of his army service, he journeyed south into old Mexico in a desire to gain strength and wealth before returning to the States. While there he made good as a practical doctor and Trader. On his homeward way, all his possessions were seized or destroyed by Comanche Indians who demolished the Mexican wagon train with which he was traveling. His companions were killed but father escaped with his life but without arms, money, or means of transportation. He walked to Texas, borrowed money and finally reached Lima, New York, where he took up the study of medicine under his brother, Dr. George Bennett. He graduated from the University of the City of New York where he finished his medicinal studies just before the Civil War. He served as a doctor (Assistant Surgeon) in the New York Heavy Artillery Regiments during the war. He then took up the practice of medicine at Prattsburgh, New York. 

Dr. Bennett married Rowena E. Warfield on September 19, 1860. She died on December 19, 1889. In partnership with her brother, Myron Frank Warfield, he operated a drugstore, and was also active in fraternal order and civic affairs.

A nephew, Brigadier General Augustus Bennett Warfield, writes of his uncle :

Ofttimes I sat in wonderment listening to tales of his soldier and Indian adventures, in the far away southwestern territory where he was twice wounded . . . both times while he was on scouting duty 
with that famous Indian Scout, Kit Carson. 

Despite the hardships of army life in the Southwest in his time, Dr. Bennett lived a long life. He died on January 14, 1909.

Battle of Cieneguilla from Wikipedia:

"A combined force of about 250 Apaches and Utes laid an ambush for the U.S. dragoons. In his report two days after the battle, Davidson stated that "[He] came upon the Apaches near Cieneguilla who at once sounded the war whoop." According to Private James A. Bennett (aka James Bronson), a sergeant who survived the ambush, the battle lasted about four [or two] hours."

New York, State Census, 1875

Event Place: Prattsburg, Steuben, New York, United States

Household Gender Age Birthplace

James A Bennett M 43

Wife Rowena E Bennett F 40

Daughter Lizzie W Bennett F 11

United States Census, 1900

ED 102 Prattsburgh Township, Steuben, New York

Household Gender Age Birthplace

Head Ira L Smith M 36 New York

Wife Elizabeth W Smith F 36 New York

Father-in-law James A Bennett M 69 New York [Physician]

Servant Alice Mcgrain F 18 New York

Arthur Stringer And The Gibson Girl

A search for an unrelated "Howland" in the Saginaw County, Michigan, Library's Obituary Index revealed the following entry:

Obituary Index

Index: SAGINAW DAILY NEWS

Tuesday, May 21, 1912 (9)

Name: STRINGER, ARTHUR

Spouse's Name: JOBYNA HOWLAND

Married: 00/00/1900

Death Date: 05/20/1912 [sic]*

Death Place: NIAGARA FALLS, NY

Misc: FORMER SAGINAW RESIDENT/AUTHOR

*September 14, 1950

Now who was author Arthur Stringer (1874-1950) and his wife, Jobyna Howland?  Arthur John Arbuthnott Stringer was born in Chatham, Ontario, Canada.  They were married in 1900 in New York City.

New York, Marriages, 1686-1980

groom's name: Arthur John Arbuthnott Stinger

bride's name: Jobyna Lulu Bird Howland

marriage date: 02 Oct 1900

marriage place: Manhattan, New York, New York

groom's father's name: Hugh A. Stinger

groom's mother's name: Sarah Dehuzes

bride's father's name: Job Howland

bride's mother's name: Mary Benstiry

Several photographs of Jobyna Howland (1880-1936) can be seen at the photo gallery of the NYPL's Billy Rose Theatre Collection.  She was an actress and a Gibson Girl model.  Jobyna can be seen here at YouTube.  Ms. Howland's brother, Olin, was an actor.  Jobyna Howland's father, Joby, was "the drummer boy of Shiloh," the youngest enlisted drummer boy in the Civil War at age 11.

Jobyna and Arthur Stringer were divorced.  She was single and living in California in 1930:

United States Census, 1930

event place: Los Angeles (Districts 0001-0250), Los Angeles, California

marital status: Single

birthplace: Indiana

estimated birth year: 1882

relationship to head of household: Head

father's birthplace: New York

mother's birthplace: Illinois

Household Gender Age

  Jobyna Howland F 48

Germaine Gerard F 32

Arthur was remarried and living in New Jersey:

United States Census, 1930

event place: Mountain Lakes, Morris, New Jersey

Household Gender Age

  Arthur Stringer M 55

spouse Margaret Stringer F 36

child Robert Stringer M 12

child Hugh Stringer M 11

child Arthur John Stringer M 2

Ethel Terry F 24

A picture of Arthur Stringer as well as a partial list of his books can be found here.

Suter And Sutter

Sutter of California is a biography of Johann Augustus Suter who was born February 23, 1803, in the village of Kandern to a family of paper-makers.  Note: According to Wikipedia, Kandern is near a landmark...from which one can see parts of Germany, France, and Switzerland.

After noticing that the surname was also spelled SUTER, I remembered that my niece and nephew's step-grandfather was a Suter.  Was there a relationship with Sutter of gold rush fame?

Hans Suter, Johann's grandfather, lived in Basle at one time.  Hans' son, Johann Jakob Suter and his wife, Christine Wilhelmine Stoberin (Stober) Suter, moved to Neuchatel from Kandern about 1819.

After four years of attending a military academy, Johann A. Suter, along with his younger twin brothers, Heinrich and Friedrich, were apprentices in Basle.  Johann A. also served as an officer in the reserve corps of the Swiss Army.

Johann, who met and married Anna Dubelt in 1823, had Johann Augustus, Jr., Anna Elisa, Emil Victor and William Alphonse.

Dreams of the United States were beckoning.  In July of 1834 Johann landed in New York with the promise of sending for Anna and the children whenever possible (it was 17 years later except for the oldest son).  He changed his name to John A. Sutter.  His adventures had just begun.

General John A. Sutter died June 18, 1880, in Washington, D.C., and is buried in Pennsylvania.

Included in Sutter of California were diary entries by Mr. Sutter.  Some of John Sutter's diary entries are online as well.

No connection between the step-grandfather Suter, son of George and Lucille (Cross) Suter of Vermont, and John A. Sutter was found (though Switzerland is a common denominator).  George Suter's ancestor, Samuel Suter, was born in Ober-Entfelden county, Aaran, Switzerland.

Author, Explorer and Soldier Willard Glazier

 Sword And Pen: or, Ventures And Adventures Of Willard Glazier In War...by John Algernon Owens, tells the story of Glazier, who was a captain in the Union Army during the Civil War when he was captured and held in Libby Prison.  His imprisonment at Libby and other venues as well as his escape(s) were documented in Glazier's book, The Capture, The Prison Pen, and the Escape..., published in 1867.

This post in my "Relatively Fiction" blog featured Captain Glazier's book because Capt. James A. Rice, my great-great grandfather, had similar experiences while being held as a POW.  They were both held at Libby Prison as well as Columbia, South Carolina and Macon, Georgia the same time frame.

"The early married life of Ward Glazier (Willard's father) was passed upon the farm first cleared and cultivated by his father (Jabez) and which has since become known to the neighborhood as the Old Glazier Homestead This farm is situated in the township of Fowler (New York) midway between the small villages of Little York and Fullersville."

As Willard Glazier grew up and continued his education, he eventually secured a position as a school teacher and became known as the "Soldier-Schoolmaster."

Soldier-Schoolmaster Glazier became a bona fide soldier in the Civil War as part of the Harris Light Cavalry (2nd NY Cavalry).  On this roster of the 2nd New York Willard Glazier was listed as killed in action!

"...the young corporal (Glazier) was successful in his recruiting service and on the second day of December rejoined his comrades who were then at Camp Palmer Arlington Heights. This spot was one of peculiar beauty Its associations were hallowed There stood the ancestral home of the [Robert E.] Lees... ."

"As the Harris Light enjoyed throughout this campaign of magnificent possibilities the honor of being Little Mac's (General McClellan's) body guard... ."

There were other actions before Capt. Glazier was captured and sent to Libby Prison was was recounted in his own book, The Capture, The Prison Pen, and the Escape... .

After the war "...our soldier author found himself not only famous but through the enormous sale of his books in comparatively affluent circumstances.

Willard Glazier embarked on a journey from Boston to San Francisco on horseback in 1876 in part to commemorate the 100th anniversary of America's independence.  While enroute and "in Cleveland the terrible news of the massacre of General Custer by the Indians reached Captain Glazier who as a cavalry officer had seen service with him in the late war and felt for him that respect and love which only a true soldier knows for a brave leader."  Glazier went to Monroe, Michigan, where he donated his lecture fee to the Custer Monument Fund.  While in Monroe, Glazier conferred with General Custer's aged father.  Glazier then spoke in Detroit, at St. Andrew's Hall on July 31, 1876, and also donated those fees ($40.00) to the Custer fund.

As Glazier continued his journey, he was subjected to another capture: "Suddenly over a slight elevation in the land appeared a body of Indians in number about thirteen or fourteen. The Indians now advancing upon them were clearly not on a friendly errand and were pronounced by the herders to be a detachment of the Arapahoes. They were decked in their war paint and on seeing the white men immediately raised their war shout which as travelers on the plains are aware always indicates an intention to attack."  He subsequently escaped and continued to California.

After the return trip East Glazier purchased his old homestead for the comfort of his aged parents. 

The book, "Sword and Pen..." was published in 1882, many years before Willard Glazier's death in 1905.