ALMON BEAVERS, MY GOLD RUSH UNCLE

 According to family lore, my 3^rd great uncle Almon Beavers had gone to the California gold rush where he became ill and was nursed back to health by Native Americans. Afterwards, he married a Native American. I recently found myself on FindaGrave, looking at his memorial.¹ There were two posts I hadn’t seen.

 The first was posted In March 2024. Brian Y wrote: “Great (x3) grandfather. Pioneer. Rescued Konkau Maidu from the Nome Cult Trail. Married Wistome (Wildflower), daughter of Mo-Lay-Yo, and possibly an aunt to Ishi.”

 The second was a newspaper clipping I had not yet found, a clipping from the Oroville Daily Register, 19 July 1919, titled “Short History of Deceased 49er is Told”:

  The following account of the life of Alman Beavers, one of the ‘49ers of Butte county, who passed away a few days ago, has been submitted by Mrs Edith Jensen, of Berry Creek:

The death of Almon Beavers, the aged pioneer, who was buried July 2, revives much of California’s early history in the minds of his old friends.

Mr. Beavers was born in North Carolina, moving with his parents to Texas when but a boy, from that state he came to California in 1853 and was affectionately called “Texas” Beavers by his friends on account of coming to California from that state.

Fifty years ago he conducted a butcher shop in partnership with Mike Kesselring at Peavine, now known as Merrimac, a stage station and post office on the Oroville and Quincy road. In those days mail was carried on dog sleds over the mountains in winter and Mr. Beavers often told of Buck Whiting, father of E C Whiting and Capt. Frank Whiting, carrying the mail in this fashion and coming to his butcher shop after a hard trip in the snow and buying the best cuts of meat to feed his dogs.

About this time he married Mary, the daughter of the Chief of the Peavine tribe, who still survives him.  Two sons and two daughters are the result of this union; a son Alfred L. Beavers, and an infant daughter, preceded the father to the great beyond; besides his wife he leaves to mourn his loss, his son, J Allsey Beavers, of Chico, his daughter, Mrs. Stacie M. Walsh of Oroville, two granddaughters, Mrs. Doris Weaver and Miss Lillie Walsh, six grandsons, Harold A, Almon B., and Alfred L. Beavers, Charles, Alvin and Jimmie Walsh, and an infant great-granddaughter, little Watt Thomas Weaver.

Mr. Beavers was a man of sterling worth and respected by a host of friends.

 

After reading this article, I was able to find “A Beavers” in the 1860 US federal census living in Butte County, California with Michael Kesseling and they are butchers,² lending credence to that part of the story.  Although I knew about Mary, Alfred, Alsey, and Stacie, I was unaware of the death of an infant daughter. But, I knew he likely didn’t arrive in California in 1853.

 Almon’s mother, Stacy Roberts, became a 15-year-old widow when her husband died in 1823 in Wake County, North Carolina, 2 1/2 months before her first child was born, my 2^nd great grandfather Umpstead Rencher, named for his father. Stacy remarried in 1825 in North Carolina to Alfred Bevers by whom she had 10 children, according to a grandson.³   Alfred died and Stacy married a younger Frenchman, Louis Cannon, in 1846 in Sumter County, Alabama. I have spent years searching for the Beavers children.

 Almon Beavers, born 2 Feb 1831 in Wake County, North Carolina, first shows up in records in 1854. I cannot find him in the 1850 federal census of Sumter, Alabama where his mother and known-to-me-siblings are living, nor in Texas.  After the 1850 census, Umpstead Rencher moved his young family to Liberty, Texas. In 1854, Almon is in the  Washington L Jolley wagon train headed for the Salt Lake Valley with his brother Umpstead.⁴  The Renchers left their Texas home in February 1854. Almon Beavers is still with them in Utah in April 1855.⁵

 Now, as to the small blurb left by 3x grandson Brian Y which, on first reading, may as well have been written in Greek, “Great (x3) grandfather. Pioneer.  Rescued Konkau Maidu from the Nome Cult Trail. Married Wistome (Wildflower), daughter of Mo-Lay-Yo, and possibly an aunt to Ishi.”

Googling Konkau Maidu brought me to California Trail Interpretive Center which stated the Konkow Maidu was a group of tribes who lived in the northern California valleys and the Sierra Nevada. The Konkow Maidu were hunter gatherers and during warm weather lived in temporary cedar bark wickiup or teepee-like structures that they could carry with them as they roamed between the mountains and valleys. In wintertime, they lived in permanent underground houses which could be built up to 15 feet below the surface. A central fire would provide heat and there were openings to let in light and air and allow smoke to escape. The homes were accessed from rooftop ladders. ⁶

 The Nome Cult Trail is California’s Trail of Tears. The Maidu were forced to march over 100 miles in just two weeks in September 1863 after wrongly being accused of murdering two children. A military escort rounded up 461 Konkow Maidu and forced a rapid march. Many died of heat and thirst, illness and malnutrition. Descendants “describe whippings, shootings, and the beatings of children to speed up their mothers.” Two days before reaching their final destination, 150 sick and malnourished Maidu were left behind at Mountain House Camp supposedly with food for a month. When news of the abandonment reached the fort, Superintendent James Short was sent to take food and bring them to the fort. Contrary to the report, he found “…about 150 sick Indians were scattered along the trail for 50 miles … dying at the rate of 2 or 3 a day. They had nothing to eat … and the wild hogs were eating them up either before or after they were dead.” Of the 461 Konkow Maidu who began the journey, only 277 arrived.⁷

 The United States Senate never ratified the 18 treaties signed 1851-1852 between the California Native American tribes and the US. One such peace and friendship treaty was signed August 1, 1851 at Bidwell’s Ranch with the Indian agent, and the chiefs or headmen of several tribes:  Mo-Lay-Yo signed his mark for the Es-kuin.⁸ 

Ishi was the last known member of the Yahi tribe who wandered starving and alone into Oroville, California in 1911 after forest fires in the area. He had been among the 40 who had escaped when his tribe was massacred in 1865, and by 1908, only his mother, uncle, and another woman who may or may not have been his wife survived. By 1911, at age 50, he was alone. The name Ishi means man in the Yana language and is an adopted name. (The Yana is the parent tribe to the Yahi.)⁹   I’m choosing to ignore Bryan’s reference to Wistome being a possible aunt to Ishi due to the word “possible;” plus, she was still alive when Ishi was declared the last of his tribe.

I don’t know that records exist to prove the Native American name of the wife of Almon Beavers is Wistome nor that she is the daughter of Mo-Lay-Yo. However, Mo-Lay-Yo did exist and had the authority to sign a treaty on behalf of the Es-kuin tribe.

 I never would have discovered this information had I not revisited a source. My find was truly exciting. But I wonder if the family story was backwards. Was Almon the one who was nursed back to health or did the story refer to the Konkau Maidu who he rescued and nursed back to health?

 

———————

1.   FindaGrave memorial for Alman Beavers https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6076406/alman-beavers

2.  1860 federal Census https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDK6-CRC

3.  Autobiography of Joseph Alvin Rencher, 1868-1929 https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KWJ8-HRJ

4.  Washington L. Jolley Company https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/chd/individual/almon-beavers-1831

5.  Memories for Alman Beavers https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KCWX-MGY

6.  Konkow Maidu, California Trail Center https://www.californiatrailcenter.org/konkow-maudi-tribe/

7.  Nome Cult Trail, California Trail Center https://www.californiatrailcenter.org/the-nome-cult-trail/

8.  1851 Treaty https://treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-mi-chop-da-es-kuin-etc-1851-21831

9.  Wikipedia entry for Ishi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VETERANS DAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2024

Submitted by George Wolfmeyer

On the eleve

 

ROGERS SAVAGE

A CONTINENTAL SOLDIER 

WHO SERVED NEAR THE END OF THE REVOLTION

3rd great grandfather of Jessie Larson

My 3rd great grandfather, Rogers Savage, first enlisted in the New York Militia as an eager 17-year-old in July 1781; however, he did not serve at this time.  Instead, his 19-year-old brother Joel was persuaded to take his place during which time Joel was captured by Indians, taken to Fort Niagara where he was twice forced to run the gauntlet, and was held captive for 15 months–first in a dungeon and later on an island above Montreal–until he was released by the British in a prisoner exchange on 28 November 1782. 

Five months before his release, in June 1782, now-18-year-old  Rogers enlisted in the Continental Army at Richmond, Massachusetts. His Revolutionary War Pension Application tells of his two-year military experience which, luckily for him, did not involve fighting, being captured, running the gauntlet, nor being held prisoner.

[Note: Rogers’ writing in his pension application is here separated into paragraphs for ease in reading.] 

“On or about the first of June 1782 I enlisted as a soldier at Richmond, Berkshire Co., Mass for the term of three years and immediately marched to Springfield, Mass where I was mustered by Captain Bannister (given name not recollected) an officer sent from the regular or Continental Army for that purpose, and after drilling sometime at that place we were ordered to march for West Point. 

“When we arrived there Capt John Kilby Smith, being muster master for the Massachusetts line, took me into his Company and the remainder of the new [recruits] were ordered to different companies and regiments. I served in the sixth Massachusetts Regiment commandeered by Col Smith until the next arrangement took place that year when we marched to Verplanks Point where we were when a part of the French Army marched through that place. 

“In the fall of the same year, we received orders to march back to New Windsor [state of New York] and erect huts for Winter Quarters. We lay in time until we finished the huts for officers and soldiers. Then we erected a large building for meetings and a conference house for the officers. 

“We remained at this place until the news of the treaty of peace1 arrived when there was great rejoicing, and those who had enlisted for during the war was discharged upon six months furlough. This produced a decampment in the line and Col. Tupper took the command of the regiment to which I was attached. Shortly after we received orders to march to West Point where Col. Sprout was appointed to the command of the regiment to which I belonged. 

“We soon after received orders to march to Philadelphia as some of the Southern troops attempted violence on Congress and proceeded to break open the Bank to obtain their pay. On our march we passed by a number of the members of Congress in Princeton who had fled there for safety who stood with heads uncovered and their hats in their hands until our brigade had passed them. When we arrived at Philadelphia the mob was dispersed, two of the leaders having been taken and sentenced to be shot but were subsequently reprieved. 

“In the fall (1783) we returned to West Point where my captain John K Smith left the army and Capt Jackson, Christian name not recollected, commanded the company to which I belonged until I was discharged which I think was about the first of May 1784. I received a written discharge but do not know what has become of it. I know of no person living by whom I can prove any part of my service except my brother Joel Savage whose affidavit is hereunto annexed. 

“I was born at Middletown Connecticut in the 14th day of May 1764. It appears from a record of my age in an old family bible now in possession of one of my sons, and also in the Presbyterian Church at Middletown in which I was baptized. 

“I resided at West Point about 2 years after my discharge when I remove to Lake Champlain with the French refuges where I remained a short time and removed to Canaan NY at which place and Argyle, Washington Co I remained until 1800 since which time I have resided at different places where any business as a mechanic has called me until the month of May last when I removed to Mexico Oswego Co where I now reside. I am acquainted with several persons in the neighborhood where I now reside who can testify as to my character for truth and veracity and their belief of my services in the revolution, among whom is Isaiah Kuln [or Keeler?] a clergyman with whom I have been well acquainted for the last thirty years, and William Goit whose affidavits are hereunto annexed. I hereby relinquish every claim whatever to a pension or annuity except the present, and declare that my name is not on the Pension Roll of the agency of any state.”

Rogers Savage

---------

“Joel Savage of the town of Mexico in said county being duly sworn, deposeth and saith that in the year 1781 he joined the regiment under the command of Col. Willet as a four-months man during which four months he was taken captive by the Indians and Tories and was absent in Canada or from home 16 months, 15 of which he was in close confinement or prison in Canada.

 “That on his return home he understood that his brother Rogers Savage had enlisted for three years in the Sixth Regiment of the Massachusetts line, commanded by Col. Smith and Company of Capt. John Kelby [sic] Smith, according to the best of his recollection. Believed his brother Rogers enlisted in the summer of 1782—the summer this deponent was absent in Canada.

 “That in the Spring of 1783 he visited his brother Rogers at the Cantonment of huts back of New Windsor in the state of New York for the purpose of obtaining his discharge, but which he was not able to procure.

 “That in the November following he found his said brother with his regiment at West Point and obtained a furlough for him for three or four weeks.

“His brother returned to the Army on the expiration of his furlough and was discharged, as this deponent believed, the following Spring and remained at West Point two or three years after.

(signed) Joel Savage

20th day of Sept 1833”

 

 —----

1 After the British defeat at Yorktown, peace talks in Paris began in April 1782 between Great Britain and Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams. The preliminary articles of peace were signed on 30 November 1782. This is likely the “treaty of peace” referenced by Rogers Savage and when Joel Savage was released. The Treaty of Paris which formally ended the war was not signed until September 3, 1783. The Continental Congress ratified it January 14, 1784.

A PORTRAIT OF 

ELIZABETH JEMIMA (PHILPOTT) RENCHER

 How important is it that extended family members you may have never met know that you are very interested in preserving your extended family history and researching your genealogy?  How important? Extremely!

My maternal grandmother Jessie Mary (Wiltbank) Burgess died in July 1938 at age 51 when my mother Virginia was only 12.  Therefore, I never met this grandmother for whom I was named.  Jessie Mary’s mother Mary Ellen (Rencher) Wiltbank died at age 57, in October 1907, when Jessie was 20, and 19 years before the birth of Virginia, so my mother never met her grandmother, either. Mary Ellen’s mother Elizabeth Jemima (Philpott) Rencher died at age 80, January 1909, 15 months after the death of her daughter Mary Ellen.

My mother Virginia (Burgess) Whetten recently passed away in my home at the age of 96.  After her funeral here in Mesa, she was buried next to my father in the small town of Eagar AZ, the town of her birth.  Some of her extended relatives were at this burial service. One of these elderly men, surnamed Rencher whom I’ve only met once before, said he had something for me.  He had recently discovered among his deceased father’s possessions the original portrait of Elizabeth Jemima (Philpott) Rencher.  He explained that he wanted the photograph to go to someone who would treasure it.  He thought of me (rather than either of his two sons or his sister and her children) because of a book I compiled in 2016 containing life stories of 46 of my mother’s ancestors—a book which included many of his Rencher ancestors.  He said since I had compiled the book which had included the story I wrote about Elizabeth Jemima, he felt I would appreciate and care for the portrait.  Wow! [You have to realize that professional genealogist David Rencher, CG, AG, FUGA, FIGRS, past president of FGS and the Director of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, is also a descendant of Elizabeth Jemima (Philpott) Rencher, and he could have chosen David to receive this treasure.  Instead, he gave it to me.  Wow, again.]

The picture is slightly damaged which could easily happen as it is not currently framed and the charcoal image is easy to smear.  Of course, I do not know the type of camera nor the process used to create this portrait, but I find it quite interesting that is was finished with charcoal.

Maureen Taylor in Family Tree Magazine states these charcoal portraits are both a drawing and a photograph. They belong to the hand-coloring tradition and date from the 1860s into the 20^th century. Portraits could be enhanced with India ink, charcoal and crayons, and they were large so they could be displayed on a wall.  Evidently hand-coloring first started in the daguerreotype era of the 1840s. Although mine is black and white, she says the photographs sometimes have a bit of pink on the cheeks and a touch of gold to make them more lifelike, plus the clothing might be colored. Maureen wrote that the images could be enhanced to fix graying hair and wrinkles¹, which I think is possible in this portrait of Elizabeth Jemima.

Another article² describes solar cameras, the first patented in 1857, where a negative was placed at the back of the enlarger and a mirror reflected the sunlight into it.  Concentrated by a condenser before passing through the negative and lens, the image was projected onto a screen holding photographic paper.  By 1859 a solar camera was invented that could be operated unattended.  The 1864 version was supported on a stand with rack-and-pinion movement so that it could be pointed towards the sun.  The progress of enlargement was observed through a yellow window on the side of the camera.  Some say this is the camera which became the most popular in America.

Albright and Lee, in the article mentioned above, state the most common enlargements were albumen and salted paper photographs and that there were two methods for making solar enlargements.  In the 1^st method, albumen or salted paper was exposed in the camera from 30 minutes to several hours until the image was visible.  Then it was washed, toned, fixed, and rewashed.  In the 2^nd method, the image was partially printed with only 3 or 4 seconds of sunlight exposure. The final procedure was the painting or coloring the photograph to increase contrast and reduce streaks or blemishes which were not as noticeable when the photo was not enlarged.³    

Whatever the method used, I am thrilled to be owner and caretaker of this portrait of my 2^nd great grandmother, Elizabeth Jemima (Philpott) Rencher.

 

¹               Maureen A. Taylor, “A History of Charcoal Portraits”, Family Tree Magazine, https://familytreemagazine.com/photos/a-history-of-charcoal-portraits/

²               Gary E. Albright and Michael K. Lee, “A Short Review of Crayon Enlargements: History, Technique, and Treatment,” American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, http://resources.culturalheritage.org/pmgtopics/1989-volume-three/03_05_Albright.pdf

³               Ibid.

 

 

 

 

PETER ATKIN & WILLIAM HAYNES





CIVIL WAR, WISCONSIN 38th & FORT MAHONE

   

The Civil War started in April 1861, the year before Peter Atkin left England at age 15. Peter was my great grandmother Sophia Atkin Whetten's younger brother.  In August 1864,  Peter enlisted in the Union Army at age 17.  Peter lied about his age as his enlistment paper states he was 18. Since the minimum age for enlistment was 18, boys did lie about their ages. The Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, 38th Regiment, Company G, recruited Peter and his cousin William Haynes in Cross Plains. Cousin William, age 32, was married with three young children.  
[ Photo: Peter Atkin on left side, William Haynes with beard]

The Wisconsin 38th, organized only four months earlier, was stationed in Virginia to assist with the 292-day Siege of Petersburg from April 1864 to July 1865. During the Siege of Petersburg, Union General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant conducted trench warfare to wear down General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and to cut off needed supplies and supply lines.  The Army of Northern Virginia managed to defend Richmond, the Confederate capital, and the important railroad and supply center of Petersburg, 23 miles south, for over nine months.

With the Union victory at the Battle of Five Forks, on April 1, 1865, the Confederate right flank and rear were exposed. Robert E. Lee’s instructions had been to “defend Five Forks at all hazards” due to its strategic importance. Now Grant and the Union Army  of the Potomac held Five Forks and the road to the vital South Side Railroad. Confederate casualties, prisoners, and desertions caused the thinly held Confederate lines at Petersburg to be stretched beyond the ability of the Confederates to man them adequately.

A year earlier, the Confederate Army had established Fort Mahone to defend Petersburg.  Fort Mahone, called by the Union troops Fort Damnation, was thought to be their strongest fort. William Haynes and Peter Atkin were among the 14,000 men ordered to take Fort Mahone.  They charged at the first appearance of light on April 2, 1865, going against 1500 Confederate defenders.  

The Confederate sharpshooters had clear targets and the fort’s defenses were formidable. Defenses included a double row of wooden abatis [formed by felled trees with sharpened branches facing the enemy], 

fraise [pointed stakes driven into the ramparts in a horizontal or inclined position], 

and chevaux de frise [a portable frame or log covered with many projecting long iron or wooden spikes or spears], 

 plus a waist-deep ditch filled with muddy water. Union soldiers with hatchets and axes cut through these obstacles during the night to clear a path for the charge at dawn.

Fighting back and forth, both sides held parts of the fort into the night. Meanwhile, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, most of his cabinet, and all the gold in the Confederate treasury left Richmond by train heading southwest for Danville, Virginia, before midnight, the night of April 2-3. Most of the remaining Confederate Army also fled.

While charging Fort Mahone, Peter was hit in his left side by a piece of a shell, but the wound was not serious. Cousin William Haynes, though, received a musket ball to his right wrist that required amputation.

Taken to Carver Army General Hospital in Washington, D.C, roughly 140 miles away, the lower third of William’s right arm was hacked off one week after he was shot.  This surgery, on April 9th, would have been performed with no anesthesia to dull the pain nor antibiotics to kill infection.  Suffering an additional three weeks, William died May 1, 1865, and was buried that same day on the confiscated grounds of Robert E. Lee’s home. 

The Custis-Lee Mansion, originally called Arlington House, overlooked Washington D.C. and had been inherited by Robert E. Lee from his father-in-law. Union soldiers took over the plantation when he accepted a command in the Confederate army, set up a tent city for the troops, and began burying their dead in his garden. The military burial ground later became known as Arlington National Cemetery.  

President Abraham Lincoln and General Ulysses S. Grant visited Fort Mahone the day after its capture on April 3, 1865, even before the Union and Confederate dead had been removed. Lincoln was seen with a tear in his eye as he recognized among the dead, troops he had seen on guard just days earlier. 

Most of the Union Army pursued the Army of Northern Virginia until they surrounded it, forcing Robert E. Lee to surrender that army on April 9, 1865, after the Battle of Appomattox Court House in Virginia.

The following week, April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth.

Confederate forces across the South surrendered as news of Robert E. Lee’s surrender reached them.  On April 26, 1865, Joseph E. Johnston surrendered not only the Army of Tennessee, but also the remaining Southern forces, to Major General William T. Sherman in North Carolina, effectively bringing the war to an end.  Jefferson Davis was captured May 10, 1865.

Peter Atkin returned to Cross Plains, Wisconsin, after his discharge June 2, 1865.  Three years later, he married Mary Ann Noon Haynes, his cousin William’s widow. He then purchased a farm next to his brother Henry’s in Cross Plains. Peter and Mary Ann had an additional four children.

[Mary Ann and Peter Atkin]