|
 
Legends Home
Site Map
What's New!!
Content Categories:
American History
Destinations-States
Ghost Towns
Ghostly Legends
Historic People
Native Americans
Old West
Route 66
Travel Center
Treasure Tales
Legends Of America's

Old West Mercantile
Route 66 Emporium
TeePee Trading Post
Book Shelf
DVDs
Postcard Rack
Tin Signs
and
Much More!

Legends Of
America's Photo Print Shop

Ghost Town Prints
Native American
Prints
Old West Prints
Route 66 Prints
and
Much More!!

About Us
Advertising
Article/Photo
Use
Copyright
Information
Blog
Forum
Guestbook
Links
Newsletter
Privacy Policy
Writing Credits
We welcome corrections
and feedback!
Contact Us
| |
| |
|
Pioneers - Page 2
|
|

|
|
<<
Previous
1 2 Next >> |
Sam Aaron (1866-1940) - The son of a frontiersman,
Aaron was the first Jewish boy born in Salt Lake City, Utah and at a young age,
moved with his family to various places including Galveston,
Texas; New
York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and finally back west in 1877, landing in
Butte, Montana. It was in Butte, that eleven year old Sam earned his first
money, selling apples in saloons. The following year, the family moved again to
Oregon, before making their way to
San
Francisco,
California,
and finally to Charleston,
Arizona in
the early 1880s, where his father operated a store. Sam clerked by day and
gambled by night until he lost $1,000 of his fathers money gambling and to pay
off the debt, took a job at the nearby Tombstone Mining and Mill Company. Later,
he went to work as a Faro Dealer in Tombstone, where he met the likes of the
Earps and Clantons. Late in life, he wrote his memoirs highlighting pioneer
life, Apache raids, and some of the interesting characters that he met. He died
on September 29, 1940 in Pomona,
California.
Thomas Adams - Adams went west as civil engineer
with the Isaac I. Stevens' railroad survey expedition in 1853 and later became
expedition leader, Lieutenant John Mullan's assistant, as well as
topographer and artist for the survey. he then became the temporary Indian Agent
for the Flatheads in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana, and had a role in the
Flathead Treaty Council of 1855. He continued to work with the survey expedition
until it departed in 1857. Somewhere along the line, he briefly married a
Flathead woman and the two had a child. In 1858, he was prospecting with
Granville Stuart when the first Montana gold was found in Gold Creek. By 1864, Adams had returned to the east as was
farming in Maryland and in 1866 was living in Washington, D.C. Afterwards, his
life is lost in history.
Samuel Brannan (1819-1889) -
California's first
millionaire started life in Maine in 1819 before moving with his family to
Ohio when he was 14 years-old. He became a printer's apprentice and in
1836 began to move around as a journeyman printer. Converting to Mormonism
in 1842, he moved to New York City to help publish several Mormon
newspapers. Three years later, Brannan led a group of over 200 New York
Mormons to
California to find a better life. Briefly, he published a San
Francisco newspaper before moving on to John Sutter's settlement, where he
opened a general store. Soon; however, the Mormons accused him of
diverting Mormon funds into his own business and expelled him from the
church. When James Marshall discovered gold in 1848, Brannan capitalized by
widely publicizing the discovery and outfitting the flood of prospectors.
Before long, he became the Golden State's first millionaire. The next year
he returned to San
Francisco, were he was elected to the City Council and
played a leading role in organizing the controversial Committee of
Vigilance. Continuing in various business ventures, including land
investments, banking, and railroad and telegraph companies, his wealth
continued to grow. However, Brannan was a serious drinker, which
ultimately led to his loss of fortune and his death in 1889.
|
|
|
|
George Donner (1786?-1847) - One of the leaders of
the infamous Donner Party, George born of German descent in North Carolina
around 1786. Later he moved to Kentucky before settling with his family
just outside Springfield, Illinois. There, he worked as a farmer before
deciding to join up with James Reed, who was leading a party to
California. On April 14, 1846, George, his third wife, Tamsen, and their
five daughters, began the journey westward. Also joining him was his
brother Jacob,
his
wife, Elizabeth, and their seven children, as well as several hired hands.
The group followed the
Oregon Trail until they reached Fort Bridger, Wyoming on July 28, 1846.
There, they met a man named Lansford Hastings who told them about a
quicker way to
California via the Hastings Cutoff. Hastings claimed that
his route would reduce some 300 miles from the distance to Sutter's Fort.
His short-cut left the California Trail at Fort
Bridger in Wyoming, passed through the Wasatch Mountains, across the Great
Salt Lake Desert, looped around the Ruby Mountains, and rejoined the
California Trail about seven miles west of modern Elko, Nevada.
Hastings also promised them that the desert was only 40 miles across
and that they would find water after 24 hours. However, the desert was
actually 82 miles wide and water was only to be found after 48 hours of
traveling. He also said that three wagon trains had already successfully
traveled the route. This was untrue.
The
Donner Party
endured a grueling drive through the Wasatch Mountains that delayed them,
arrive into
California just as an early winter storm
closed it. After becoming snowbound in the Sierra Nevada, many died and
some of the emigrants resorted to cannibalism. George died at his camp in
the Alder Creek Valley in Nevada County,
California in March 1847.
James Wilson Marshall (1810-1885) - Discovered gold in
California
in 1848 at John Sutter's Mill in Coloma, the area around which quickly became
Coloma,
California. His discovery started the
California Gold Rush. See Full Article
HERE.
Lucien B.
Maxwell - (1818-1875) - The owner of the largest land grant in U.S.History, a friend of
Kit Carson,
and a frontier scout and guide,
Maxwell, who has been called the "Emporer of the Old West," died in
poverty in
New Mexico. See Full Article
HERE.
Granville Stuart (1834-1918)
- Frontiersman, miner,
Montana
Land Baron, leader of the vigilante group called Stuart's Stranglers,
author and more, Granville Stuart is recognized as a
Montana pioneer and
hero.
See Full Article
HERE.
John Sutter (1803-1880) - The owner of the
property where gold was first
discovered in
California, his land was taken over by prospectors. He ended
up experiencing economic setback and went bankrupt.
See Full Article
HERE.
Brigham Young
(1801-1877)
- Leader of the
Mormon movement to
Utah,
president of the church from 1847 to 1877, and the first governor of
Utah.
Young's
legacy is varied, with praise for his many accomplishments and
historical influence, as well as controversy, for a number of 19th
century events, including the
Mountain Meadows Massacre. See Full Article
HERE.
©
Kathy Weiser/Legends
of America, updated January, 2012
|
|
<<
Previous
1 2 Next >> |
|
From the Rocky Mountain General Store
Old
West Postcards - If you
love collecting postcards of the
Old West,
you're going to love these. All of these postcards are very unique
and we have only one of them, so don't miss the opportunity to buy now.
To see them all, click
HERE!
 |
| |
|