We do not know the exact date Asa Hartshorn returned to his home town in Lebanon, Madison County NY, but in his letter of May 1855 from Weaverville to his sister Hannah, he stated he plans to return “next spring”, also a comment that he will return there to see her soon. He also served on a Jury in 1855 confirmed in Trinity County Courthouse records viewed by the author. We also know from family lore that he was home prior to his father’s death which was 28 September 1857.
Family records say he returned via the Isthmus of Panama (of course the Canal was not yet built). The typical path was to book a steamship from San Francisco to Panama. The paper by [Delgado, James “To California by Sea” on p.53] claims that a railroad was completed in January 1855. Puzzled by some family information that a 3 week trip was involved in Asa’s return, it might be possible that the entire trip from San Francisco only took 3 weeks, using that Isthmus railroad. Steamships from San Francisco to Panama were common, then across the Isthmus by railcar, then on the Atlantic side another steamship to New York City. From there, railroad travel was available to cities like Oneida and Utica, close to Lebanon NY. Obviously there continues to be uncertainty.
Family lore from his son, Ryal, and all three of Ryal’s children, and some associated documentation, point to his returning home with $3000 in gold. That would be his net amount from his adventure, after many costs listed below:
1.Travel from Lebanon to New York City, plus room and board awaiting to board the ship.
2. Fare on the clipper ship to San Francisco, and food, as well as the stopovers in cities along the way.
3. Travel, room and board for the time learning where gold was to be found, and after some time, arriving in Weaverville.
4. Highly elevated costs for food, clothing, tools, rooms/tents due to the remote location of Weaverville, requiring mules because of mountainous terrain from the Central Valley of California near Redding, up the Trinity Mountains with no road, more of a path. Most items like clothing, tools, lumber, dishwater, were manufactured on the East Coast and delivered by ship around South America’s Cape Horn.
5. The return trip using steamers, trains, and carriages.
No wonder that many of those who headed to the Gold Rush went broke, depending on their skill and luck in panning or mining. The obstacles to saving significant gold to take back home include the very high costs of everything, the great difficulty finding enough gold dust or nuggets, avoiding theft or robbery, safety from accidents, wild animals, and maintaining one’s health.
There are verbal family stories, with no evidence from him or his son, that Asa was approached by robbers in Weaverville who, after failing to find gold on him, threatened to kill him if he returned to pan in that spot. Yet another family lore is Asa was mugged in New York City upon his debarking from the ship, but emerged unscathed (likely because of his four years of rugged life, and that he carried the gold in a money belt).
Let’s look at the valuation of $3000 in gold. A book by Weaverville historian Hicks, states the price gold miners were able to get in the 1852-56 timeframe was in the range of $14-17 per ounce. $3000/$14 = 214 oz and by 17 = 176 oz. Averaged, it is most probable there was 12.5 lb of gold when Asa arrived home, after expenses. He must have left Weaverville with much more.
Today, the price of gold is around $3300 per ounce, which translates to about $660,000 in 2025. A farm of two hundred acres of pasture and crops with a house and barn, nowadays iwould cost somewhat less in the Township of Lebanon. So it was a great nest egg for Asa at his young age of 27.
Amazing Story of Asa’s 175 Year Old Watch
A pocket watch owned by Asa Hartshorn was passed down to his son Ryal, then grandson Rolfe, and eventually to one of his Hartshorn great-grandsons who is one of my several cousins. That is why we are certain of the provenance.
This watch of the 1850’s-to 1860’s era is in great condition and still operates!
Many sources, including using the [AI by ChatGPT], were used in piecing together all the information about this watch. It consumed a great deal of time by my cousin who at one point had to create a spreadsheet of dates comparing the markings on this watch, to the life of Asa, to the life of Asa’s uncle who was a watchmaker. Very useful was the [NAWCC, the National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors], including posts to their website, and a personal visit by the author to their headquarters in Columbia PA where they maintain a library. In that library, only one entry in one document pointed to a book by Chamberlain who in turn had brief information on Dimier Freres embossed on the watch. That tidbit pointed the way to much more information on the maker. Asa’s watch is very rare, but it is less likely to be valuable because of limited production and being aimed for the Chinese market.
First, look at the photos, then follow the piecing together of this detective story, starting with an explanation of each one. Photos courtesy of [Hartshorn, anonymous].
Photo of inner dust cover over movement showing “Dimier”
Start by looking at the photo of the brass-gold appearance of this very informative cover over the movement.
On the main side of the movement in large letters, SECOND is straightforward, it must have been a big deal for a watch movement in that time to not only show the hour and minute, but to move a 3rd hand each second. That would be important for railroads, pharmacists working with chemicals, machinery makers, and sports events like horse racing.
There are two spots where the watch keys are inserted for setting time, and for winding.
The manufacturer is Dimier Freres & Co and beneath is labeled Fleurier Suisse.
Dimier is a family name
Freres from my high school French is Brothers
Fleurier is a region of Switzerland (Suisse) not a city, but the name usage is similar to referring nowadays to Napa Valley as a wine growing region.
The word “Fleurier” is the French word for Flowers.
Full Jewels is an early way of touting something like “17 jewel watch” for pointing out it uses jewels as bearings in the movement.
No. 39853 is a serial number.
The method of winding, which helps to time its manufacture, is by the use of 2 keys, one for setting the time, the other for winding it up for running.
Photo of movement with scrollwork embossed
This side is highly embossed with scrollwork in the Chinese style. This style of watch was very popular in Chinese.
Photo of dial face over movement front
Note the hour markings are very narrow or wide, with some aligned as a narrow X. Watch literature explains this as favored by the Swiss and French but not exclusively.
There is a 3rd watch hand for measuring the seconds.
Photo of outer front cover with horse
Engraved or stamped image of a running horse with scroll work along the perimeter.
Photo of rear cover with flower
Engraved or stamped is an image of a flower, which makes sense, since the maker is located in Switzerland in the Fleurier (French for flowers) region. There is scroll work around the perimeter.
Dating Asa’s purchase of this watch
The earliest this watch could have been manufactured is 1846, because in this source [https://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/dimierbrothers.php] it states in that year the Dimier Brothers & Co. moved to Fleurier. It goes on to say they specialized in pocket watches for the Chinese market, which is consistent with other sources.
The latest this watch could have been manufactured is 1862 because this source states the Dimier Brothers pulled back from the Chinese market because of a war in China, causing relocation to Geneva.
To continue the Dimier history, multiple sources indicate that one of the brothers continued being involved in the distribution of watches, perhaps made by other firms, with a base of operations in England. They could not have continued the Fleurier identification because they no longer were in that location.
Multiple sources point to the Asa watch being manufactured in the Fleurier, Switzerland region between 1846 and 1862. This means that Asa obtained this watch either from a hard-up Chinese immigrant in California between 1852 and spring 1857, or from his Uncle Asa, a watchmaker, in Hamilton NY between 1857 and 1862 or possibly later as a used watch up until 1865 when his Uncle died.
Analysis of scribed alphanumerics inside Asa’s watch
[Hartshorn, Anonymous. current protector of Asa’s pocket watch]
There are scribed number and letter sets on Asa’s pocket watch, most of them on the inside of the inner dust cover. Seven of the numbers appear to be cleaning or repair dates, which was a common practice by watch repairers, and three for unknown reasons, possibly their personal ID. Two of the earliest dates have a slash through them probably indicating that they became invalid after a major repair in 1861, since we noticed the case does have a dent.
Based on analyzing the numbers, it points to the watch being serviced seven times between 1860 and 1882, which was the last recorded. An example of the markings is H1560 which could mean Jan 5, 1860.
Summary: All this clearly points to this watch being new in the time frame 1852 to 1857 since the average time between servicing of pocket watches was five years. This time frame is when Asa was in California. Asa turned the watch over to his son Ryal (who was named after Asa’s father).
In various reports, it is stated that watch repairers used dates or codes to ID their work, and the most relevant numbers all indicate dates.
Because of the movement’s fancy decor, I think it was decided it was well worth repairing it. So we now think the movement is original, and was repaired in 1861 due to being dropped, causing a dent in the edge of the cover. Asa may have been in PA (the oil venture?), since the 6861 doesn’t have an H.
The Uncle of Asa Hartshorn was a Watchmaker in the village of Lebanon NY a few miles away.
Our Asa’s Uncle shows in the US Census multiple times as a druggist (owns or manages a drugstore) and also a watchmaker, in Hamilton NY [American Silversmiths entry]. He died in 1865 so he could not have been involved in this watch after that time [Hartshorn, D. 235].
Prior to his opening the Hamilton store, he was a watchmaker in Mont Rose, PA, later renamed Montrose PA . The showing of Montrose NY is an error and it was Mont Rose/Montrose, PA.
AI research points out Montrose NY was named Cortlandt’s Landing until 1845 when it was named Montrose. It is very unlikely that Uncle Asa ever had a business or residence there.
In a 2nd AI query about Uncle Asa’s use of Mont Rose on his logo for watchmaking, it turns out that the town of Mont-Rose PA was laid out in 1811 and was called Mont-Rose in honor of Dr. Rose. It was incorporated in 1824 as Montrose PA.
All this makes sense on how Uncle Asa met his wife, Mary Catlin, and married her in 1820.
Below is Uncle Asa’s logo. On eBay in September 2025 there is for sale a silver spoon, embossed with the name Asa Hartshorn, with no further information.
Mary Catlin, a very interesting lady
Mary Catlin hailed from Montrose PA. Uncle Asa moved to Montrose PA where he met Mary. Uncle Asa married the 18 year old on Dec 25, 1820, then moved to Hamilton NY after 1833. Hartshorn relatives had already resided in the Hamilton area for some time [Hartshorn, D. 235].
Mary was beautiful, and Uncle Asa must have been very accomplished to woo her successfully. Also, she was the sister of George Catlin, the famous painter of Native American Indians of the Plains. George painted this portrait of Mary below. Many Catlin paintings were inherited by Horace Hartshorn, the son of Uncle Asa. Horace donated most of his George Catlin paintings to the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian American Art Museum section on Catlin can be found at this source: [https://americanart.si.edu/artist/george-catlin-782]
