09/21/2024
๐ช๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ฆ ๐
. ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ซ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐จ๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐กโฃ
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By the late 1840s William Keeler was out of sorts. His dry goods business in Bridgeport, Connecticut had burned down for a second time and business prospects looked grim. Dissatisfied with his lack of success, and with a young family to feed, the discovery of gold in California in 1848 provided him with a chance to reverse his fortunes. Later that year he and a group of sixty men from Connecticut formed the New Haven and California Joint Stock Company and in March 1849 set sail from New Haven on the bark ๐๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข ๐๐ฆ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด.โฃ
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Joining William were his younger brothers, 25-yr old James Plant and 17-yr old Edward. Neither brother returned: Edward died at their camp along the Sacramento River, James at sea on his way home. In January 1851 William returned to Bridgeport and to his wife Anna and 3-year old son Henry after an absence of nearly two years. Although he returned richer than when he set out, the fortune he had sought eluded him. Six years later his second son was born. William named him James Edward after his two brothers.โฃ
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Although none of Williamโs letters from the Gold Rush have survived, the journals of two fellow Forty-Niners give us a glimpse of what he experienced. The first is his brotherโs journal, which covers their voyage to San Francisco and is filled with beautiful pencil sketches and watercolors of ships, places and people he encountered. The second is the ๐๐ช๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด๐ญ๐ฆ๐บ, ๐ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ข ๐๐ณ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ท๐พ๐บ๐ฟ, which covers both the voyage and their time in California, and contains descriptions of life on board the ๐๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข ๐๐ฆ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด and in California, as well as several references to the Keelers. While Kingsleyโs journal is available online, Jamesโs is not. The ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐. ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ช๐ข๐ณ๐บ, ๐ท๐พ๐บ๐ฟ-๐ป๐ถ resides at the California Historical Society in San Francisco, which I visited in 2013.โฃ
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During their long and tedious voyage to California the men entertained themselves by holding debates, attending prayer meetings and even studying mathematics. Their questions for debate, which are relevant even today, included (1) โWill the discovery of gold in California be beneficial to the United States?โ (decided in the affirmative), (2) โWas the manner in which our forefathers treated the aborigines justifiable?โ (decided in the negative) and (3) โDoes the abolishment of capital punishment tend to abate crime?โ (decided in the negative). A fourth question, which Kingsley provides no answer to, was โwhich exercises a greater influence on the mind of mankind wealth or women?โ โฃ
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Their route took them as far east as Cape Verde off the west coast of North Africa and from there south westward to the Falkland Islands where they encountered the huge storms of Southern winter. James Keelerโs journal describes those dreadful conditions, which would have made life on board the ๐๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข ๐๐ฆ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด miserable and terrifying. On June 26, 1849, he reported that a heavy sea โ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ง๐ต & ๐ง๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ค๐ค๐ถ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ด.โ Another terse entry two weeks later speaks of โ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต, ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ & ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฉ, & ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด & ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด & ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ.โ Describing their passage around Cape Horn on August 20, James wrote: โ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต. ๐๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐บ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ต. ๐๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ง ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ.โ The remainder of the trip was smoother sailing, although it took them another three months before they reached San Francisco in November 1849.โฃ
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Having decided to go into the timber business before heading to the gold fields in the spring, they set up camp along the Sacramento River about forty miles downstream of Sacramento City. The winter of 1849-50, however, proved to be one of the wettest on record. The river rose above its bank, flooding the camp. Many of the men fell sick with dysentery, five of them died, including Williamโs youngest brother whose death in late January 1850 Kingsley recorded as follows: โ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐พ ๐ฐ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ ๐๐ณ ๐๐ฅ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ท๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ต ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ. ๐๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐ต ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ฎ & ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐บ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ฐ๐บ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ง๐ต ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐บ.โโฃ
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By the time spring arrived, the company had been dissolved and the men had gone their separate ways. Kingsley briefly mentioned working with William on the Yuba River in early June 1850 but gave no particulars. โฃ
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By mid-June 1850 William and James had had enough and sailed for home on the ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ, a clipper ship used in the China trade. Tragedy befell William once more when his brother died on their way to Honolulu. Williamโs voyage home took him by way of Canton, China where he stopped for a month on business and finally to New York City where he arrived in January 1851.โฃ
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Among the attached images are two pages from James Keelerโs journal, one of his watercolors (possibly of San Francisco Bay), and three pencil sketches: the ๐๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข ๐๐ฆ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด in a gale, camp along the Sacramento River where Edward Keeler lived prior to his fatal illness, and a view of San Francisco. Placed loose in the journal are photos of James and Edward Keeler taken in Brooklyn in 1849 before they sailed for California, as well as a newspaper clipping of a poem about Jamesโs death. The poem, whose writer is identified only as โEโ (a sweetheart back home perhaps?), appeared in the ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ in 1851. โฃ
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To read more about William F. Keeler go to
https://www.sealriverpublishing.com/
