Asa arrives September 1, 1852 at the port of the City of San Francisco, gathers his luggage and personal possessions, and disembarks the ship. Then what? Where to find the gold?
The name A. Hartshorn shows on the list of passengers, left column, about 1/3 from the bottom, highlighted by a red arrow. No other A. Hartshorn was in the files of the California State Library in Sacramento as a Forty-Niner on any passenger ship during the Gold Rush years. The total number of passengers is not knowable, because counting the names there are 369 plus 5 families not enumerated., This is well below the number that set sail in New York City, but some may have planned to disembark in South America, and others may have embarked in those ports. It is likely there were fatalities, common on voyages of this length. Given the manifest record of a huge amount of cargo, the ship is obviously large. It is also likely that the ship dropped off and picked up new cargo and supplies at each port during its voyage but no records were found of that.
Auburn CA and Coloma CA and Placerville CA Gold Country
Asa must find a boarding house or hotel in a crowded and bustling San Francisco city full of other gold seekers. Then he must ask around for the locations where gold can still be found, because it is 3 years after the initial discovery and many gold veins are depleted. It can be speculated he headed up the Sacramento river toward Sacramento then most likely via horse drawn vehicle toward the gold discovery site some 120 miles east. It is located between Placerville (aka Hangtown or Old Dry Diggings) and the city of Auburn which became the county seat. We do know he went to Auburn, CA at some point.
In the newspaper “The Weekly Placer” of Auburn CA on Saturday May 7, 1853, there is an official notification to a list of names regarding a few dozen letters waiting to be picked up at the Post Office. Asa Hartshorn’s name is on the list. However, In those days, there were no addresses and there was no delivery. Letters were sent to the name, then General Delivery, and the post office city and state. There was no mention of the length of time any letter(s) was held.
Another data point is the “Weekly Placer Herald” which repeated the listing on September 21, 1853. After coming ashore in San Francisco, Asa likely made his way up the Sacramento River towards Coloma, then found out the gold was mostly gone months
ago. He then proceeds north roughly 150 miles to Weaverville CA (multiple hard evidence elsewhere in this website). It is unlikely that Asa ever backtracked to Auburn on his return trip because it deviates widely from a direct path to San Francisco, and the letter to him from his sister (most likely from other evidence) never reached him and was trashed.
Because a search of records in the California State Library in Sacramento turned up only one reference during the Gold Rush to an A. Hartshorn, who arrived in San Francisco in 1852, it is likely that Asa did write and receive letters around Auburn for a short time prior to moving on to other parts of California where gold nuggets were still being found.
Moving On to Weaverville for Better Luck
Trinity County. CA, has two jury records, with Asa’s signature, which were recovered [[Jury Records Courthouse, copy]
Superior Court of California County of Trinity, Weaverville CA, by the author on a first trip to the Courthouse dated July 2, 1986.
“Journals of District Court, Trinity County, California Book A, 1852-1855”, beginning on page 56. One case was Monday October 16, 1854. It starts on page 23 of the court record. The case was about The People vs Mrs. Charlotte G Jones for assault with a deadly weapon with an intent to inflict bodily injury (the exact spelling may be off due to the difficulty in interpretation of old script on faded paper with the back showing through, and the usage of old ways of handwriting both numbers and letters). The names of the jurors are listed and the script of Asa Hartshorn is very clearly included. The foreman, C. W. Pierce, wrote down the verdict of the jury: Guilty of assault with a deadly weapon. Asa also served on a jury in December 1855 and the author was shown a record of his participation, but the staff could not locate the details of the trial record. This is definitive proof of Asa’s presence in Weaverville.
Only one fragment of one letter from Asa, in his entire lifetime, has been found. It was sent to his younger sister Hannah. He must have sent several others, but they may be in the possession of Hannah’s descendants, or other relatives.The letter is most probably sent in the fall of 1856 because he mentions planning to return by the spring. That matches the family lore that he returned prior to his father’s death which occurred later in 1857. A copy of the letter is posted below. Following that, a translation of the letter. The lettering at the edges of the fragment was done by his grandson Rolfe and granddaughter Ruth Hartshorn to provide coherence.
The above letter translated with some difficulty:
(note – Hannah was age 11 when he left for CA, and she is now age 14, while her younger sister Elizabeth (Lib) was now age 11).
Weaverville May 1855 (date estimated from the next spring comment in letter)
Sister Hannah,
I received your letter two weeks ago and am happy with it for coming, and the improvement you have made in writing which seems so great for you was so small when I left. William says you are quite a large and fleshy girl which seems strange to me as you were so slim when I left. I would like to be there again and attend church with you, but you say there has been such a change, it would not seem natural.
Given if I have my health by next spring I think I will now return to greet you all again but I shall return there surely.
In the letter I wrote to William I sent a piece of gold to you but do not think you received it for Mama said you had not had a letter from me in many months.
I hear the death of John Alling in the Hamilton paper but I could not really believe it was him as I did not know he was out of health or that he had gone away.
I suppose you would like to know how I enjoy living here in California. It is a beautiful climate and not really cold in the rainy season nor very suffocating during the summer for there is snow on the mountains the year around within about fifteen miles of Weaverville.
Although the thermometer runs up to a hundred by day it does not seem to be so suffocating as it is drier and vegetation is in full bloom and there is quite a variety of flowers way around our cabin. I will enclose a few that you may see something grows beyond the Rocky Mountains. I have nothing more to write at present. Give my respects to any inquiring friends and to Lib.
Write as often as you can,
From your brother,
Asa Hartshorn
Weaverville Today
The original Court House is pictured above. The New York Hotel currently (in the 2000’s) displays a sign from the old days, 5 cents a bucket of beer. The water in the area was likely polluted because of the large number of gold hunters. Beer was safe. Because he arrived in 1852, he was there when the hotel was opened in 1854. The hotel is the first building on the right, in the photo below, with the word NEW painted on the brick. The Courthouse shown above was built prior to his arrival and is where the staff found jury records, but they did not have records of gold claims. It was likely a mad rush here and there to pan gold in streams, and gold claims may have been unmanageable. The author also found in the Mountain Meat Market an original log with record of a credit account for purchases with Asa’s name in 1855. The town is surrounded by mountains and is very picturesque. However, it is still remote to this day, because of lengthy curvy and steep mountainous roads in all directions.
Weaverville Events during Asa’s Stay
It seems to be an unruly pioneer town. Below are some notable incidents according to [Rita Hanover, Trinity County Historical Society, letter]
It seems to be an unruly pioneer town. Below are some notable incidents according to [Rita Hanover, Trinity County Historical Society, letter]
1850 – July 8, First cabin built, the three builders grew straws for naming, and Mr. Weaver won.
1853 – Mar. 7. Disastrous Weaverville fire, $100,000 in damages, started using brick. Anotther big fire in 1855 on remaining wood buildings, They rebuilt with brick.
1854 – Chinese Tong War fought between two belligerent Chinese Tongs. 2000 Chinese lived in and around Weaverville. On site of Weaverville Elementary School.
1854 – Sept. 16. Cram, Rogers, and Company established mule passenger train to run daily from Shasta to Weaverville.
1856 – Jan. Five Indians executed by a mob, on Trinity River, supposed to have been guilty of stealing mules and horses.
1858 – Road built from Shasta to Weaverville. Weaverville was isolated previously, and access was only by trails on which mule trains baked in supplies from Red Bluff (in the Central Valley) and Eureka (on the Pacific)
1850 – July 8, First cabin built, the three builders grew straws for naming, and Mr. Weaver won.
1853 – Mar. 7. Disastrous Weaverville fire, $100,000 in damages, started using brick. Anotther big fire in 1855 on remaining wood buildings, They rebuilt with brick.
1854 – Chinese Tong War fought between two belligerent Chinese Tongs. 2000 Chinese lived in and around Weaverville. On site of Weaverville Elementary School.
1854 – Sept. 16. Cram, Rogers, and Company established mule passenger train to run daily from Shasta to Weaverville.
1856 – Jan. Five Indians executed by a mob, on Trinity River, supposed to have been guilty of stealing mules and horses.
1858 – Road built from Shasta to Weaverville. Weaverville was isolated previously, and access was only by trails on which mule trains baked in supplies from Red Bluff (in the Central Valley) and Eureka (on the Pacific)
It seems to have been an unruly pioneer town. Below are some notable incidents according to [Hanover, Rita, Trinity County Historical Society, letter]
1850 – July 8, First cabin built, the three builders grew straws for naming, and Mr. Weaver won.
1853 – Mar. 7. Disastrous Weaverville fire, $100,000 in damages, started using brick. Anotther big fire in 1855 on remaining wood buildings, They rebuilt with brick.
1854 – Chinese Tong War fought between two belligerent Chinese Tongs. 2000 Chinese lived in and around Weaverville. On site of Weaverville Elementary School.
1854 – Sept. 16. Cram, Rogers, and Company established mule passenger train to run daily from Shasta to Weaverville.
1856 – Jan. Five Indians executed by a mob, on Trinity River, supposed to have been guilty of stealing mules and horses.
1858 – Road built from Shasta to Weaverville. Weaverville was isolated previously, and access was only by trails on which mule trains packed in supplies from Red Bluff (in the Central Valley) and Eureka (on the Pacific coast).