Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Biography
Scope and Content
Descriptive Summary
Title: Foulk Family Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1864-1923
Collection number: Mss83
Creator:
Hugh Hayes
Extent: 0.25 linear ft.
Repository:
University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of
Special Collections
Shelf location: For current information on the location of
these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Language: English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection is open for research.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Foulk Family Papers, Mss83, Holt-Atherton
Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
Biography
Nina H. Foulk (nee McDaniel) was born in Marysville, Calif. (1846) and
died in San Francisco (c1923). Her father was R.H. McDaniel of Marysville (b.
1813). Her letters reveal that she had at least three siblings: R.H. Jr.,
Eugene and Lizzie (b. 1855). Eugene P. McDaniel was District Attorney of Yuba
county during the 1890s and Judge of the Superior Court in 1906.
Nina McDaniel married a George A. Foulk of Ashton, Colusa Co., in about
1863. Ashton had been a boom town during the 1860s since federal government
subsidies for copper had lead to a surge in mining in the area. By 1866 the
mining boom had collapsed. Foulk seems to have been a justice of the peace at
one time, since some correspondence is addressed to him as "Judge" Foulk. While
he was not directly involved in mining, his livelihood was doubtless adversely
affected by the change in economic prosperity of Ashton. After the family moved
to Honcut,Yuba county, during the 1870s, Foulk raised sheep.
The Foulks had two sons, Henry and Herbert, and three daughters, Bessie,
Ada and Nina. The marriage may have been a difficult one--both emotionally and
financially--for the correspondence contains at least one dunning letter from a
grocer and evidence that Mr. Foulk left his wife and settled in Texas as early
as 1880.
Nina Foulk apparently supported herself by teaching school--first in
Ashton (1870s), then in Honcut, Butte county (c1877-1887), Moore's Station,
Butte county (1888-1897?), and San Francisco (1898-1901). In 1906 she was back
in Yuba county operating a boarding house and teaching school, but, by 1908,
she seems to have retired to Berkeley, where she lived in her son, Henry's,
home with daughter Nina. In 1923 she lived in San Francisco with her daughter
Bessie MacMurray.
Scope and Content
The Foulk Family Papers consist chiefly of correspondence to Mrs. Foulk
from family and friends, letters from Mrs. Foulk to her mother, Mrs. R.H.
McDaniel, and son, Henry D. Foulk (1906). There is also correspondence to Mr.
Foulk from his relatives. The content of most of these letters concerns family
matters and other aspects of the daily lives of their authors. There are
passing descriptions of life in Yuba county and San Luis Obispo county. There
are also occasional references to woman suffrage issues.