Copyright has not been assigned to The Society of California Pioneers. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Society of California Pioneers as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must be obtained by the reader.
Description
Copyright has not been assigned to The Society of California Pioneers. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Society of California Pioneers as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must be obtained by the reader Autobiography & Reminiscence of Robert Johnson Avery, San Francisco, 1901. The Society of California Pioneers As a member of the "Midas Association" R.J. Avery left New York City in the Barque Josephine on January 10th, 1849. Ten days were spent in port in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). The pilot boat "Anonyma" from Boston and the ship "Sutton" from New York are mentioned as being in Rio at the same time. After a two-week stop at Valparaiso (Chile), Avery arrived in San Francisco on July 9th, 1849. The "Midas" company included R.J. Tiffany and B.O. Devoe. The crew was comprised of Sandy Hook pilots shipped at one dollar per month. R.J. Avery spent the winter of 1849 in Shasta or Redding Springs and returned to Sacramento in March of 1850. He then bought a shanty and opened a store in "Hangtown" and established three trading posts on the emigrant (Hangtown) road. Avery opened the "Miner's Eating House" and built a theater and participated as an actor. He later joined a company of miners and worked in Trinity County and on the Trinity Ditch, and then worked in hotel keeping in Mokelumne Hill, Calaveras County. Avery went back to New York on the steamer "Golden Age" in 1859. He married and returned to California with his wife having three children, all born in Calaveras County. In 1867 Avery moved back to San Francisco and worked as a block-maker and at the Mare Island Navy Yard. He worked as a foreman, and then on his own from 1883 to 1891, closing out his business in 1891 Autobiographies and Reminiscences of California Pioneers, p.1-5, Vol. 1. This is a typed transcript, bound into a volume, of the member's autobiographical reminiscence created as an institutional record for the Society of California Pioneers. This reminiscence includes a reference to a photograph of the member in a set of bound volumes, but there is no longer a photograph of this member in our collection. This reminiscence begins with a short description of Avery's passage to San Francisco in 1849. It then details his various business ventures, including theater work and mining. Some financial information is provided in regards to daily receipts and the price of gold. Avery briefly describes a disturbance involving Indians near the Weaver Creek divide in 1851. He refers to it as the El Dorado War. There is also mention of distress among the latter portion of emigrants in October or November of 1850. The period described in this reminiscence ends in 1891.
Avery, Robert Johnson--1826-1902 Pioneers--California--Biography Voyages to the Pacific Coast Gold mines and mining Frontier and pioneer life Theater--California--History--19th century California--Social life and customs--19th century California--Biography California--History--19th century
Time Period
Theater -- California -- History -- 19th century California -- Social life and customs -- 19th century California -- History -- 19th century
Place
Pioneers California Biography Theater History 19th century. Social life and customs California, Northern.
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