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.
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Available also in the original handwritten form in the member's Biographical File, and online 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 Thornton A. Read, Reno-Nevada, 1901. The Society of California Pioneers T.A. Read was born March 13, 1829 in Orino, Maine. In 1849, Read and his brother traveled by steamer to Panama and then switched to an old bark "Tasso" heading for California. They landed in San Francisco on October 12, 1849. At the time Read was suffering from "Panama Fever" and so he left his brother in San Francisco and concluded to go to the Sandwich Islands. After a winter in Honolulu, Read returned to San Francisco in better health but short of money. He borrowed money to get to Sacramento where he worked for a short time. He then went up to Yuba River and mined, and then to French Corral, Nevada County. In 1852, Read returned to Sacramento and started the stock market drugstore with a partner. They lost their business twice, once to a fire, then to a flood. He then opened a boarding house called the "Read House" in Forest City, Sierra County. He lost that business when the town burned down in 1859 and moved to Nevada where he farmed for two years. He then held public office for seven years, serving as County Commisioner, Sheriff of Washoe County, and Assessor Autobiographies and Reminiscences of California Pioneers, p. 93-96, Vol. 2. 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. The original handwritten version exists in the member's biographical file. 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 details Read's overseas journey to California providing a glimpse into the harsh realities of daily conditions aboard his ship. Read goes into great detail in describing the food they had aboard, and even includes a recipe for "lobscouse" or hash. He remembers bread with worms and ways of preparing food that would kill off the worms infested in it. Read provides a history of his early days in California, and lists his numerous business endeavors. The period of time covered by this reminiscence is roughly from 1849 to 1873.
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