Biography
Scope and Contents
Conditions Governing Access
Processing Information
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Preferred Citation
Publication Rights
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Davis Library,
Dept. of Special Collections
Title: Jewell Family Diaries
Creator:
Jewell family
Identifier/Call Number: D-702
Physical Description:
7 items
Date (inclusive):
1861-1883
Abstract: The Jewell Family
diaries consist of three pocket diaries kept by Jesse Jewell, one
diary kept by Jesse's daughter Mattie, and two diaries kept by
Mattie's younger sister Ruby. The diaries record the daily lives
of this family of immigrants to California from the 1860s to the
1880s.
Physical Location: Researchers should
contact Archives and Special Collections to request collections,
as many are stored offsite.
Biography
The Jewell family -- Jesse and his wife Mary, their daughters
Martha (Mattie) and Ruby and the girls' two siblings -- relocated
from Starksboro, Vermont, to a farm near Petaluma, California, in
the summer of 1860, joining Jesse's aging parents, as well as
several brothers and sisters and their families.
Scope and Contents
The Jewell Family diaries consist of three pocket diaries kept
by Jesse Jewell, one diary kept by Jesse's daughter Mattie, and
two diaries kept by Mattie's younger sister Ruby. The diaries
record the daily lives of this family of immigrants to
California, just as the country is consumed by the Civil War.
The Jewell family settled near Petaluma, California, in the
summer of 1860. Petaluma was already a major agricultural area,
supplying produce to the growing city of San Francisco. Jesse
Jewell's diaries, which together document 1861 through 1863,
record his attempts to establish a farm in the area, first
growing beans, potatoes, strawberries, and other crops to sustain
the family and to sell in town, and renting a ranch to raise
chickens and pigs. Later he tried dairy cattle, making and
selling butter. In his writing, Jewell shows a distinct lack of
enthusiasm for his new home in California, however, complaining
of the mud and rain in the winter, and the heat and dry dust in
summer. His first entry on Jan. 1, 1861: "This is the first New
Year I eavr [sic] saw in this state & hope it will be the
last one if I can get my affairs closed up I mean to go back to
the states. Today is fair & warm tho muddy...." His hopes to
return "to the states" are interrupted by news in February that
"the Political world is all in a commotion & there is now a
prospect of a dissolution of the Union." Even so, in June, with a
"civil war raging in these once United States" he wishes "we were
all back in Vermont or in the war I care but little where if only
out of this miserable place." In July he reports on the general
state of commerce in Petaluma: "Business of all kinds dull &
prospects of all business poor. War in the East is all the
exciting topic & the prospect now is that there will be a
great amt. of blood shed on both sides." His next entry comments
on the war in general: "[T]he south is arrayed against the North
& all for the sake of slavery. God only knows what is in
future but all looks gloomy now. As to the state of California it
is farther from the seat of war but is seriously affected by it."
By August he realizes the war will prevent him from returning
east.
Meanwhile, his children grow and go to school, and he moves
from one ranch rental to another, trying various farming
enterprises, and occasionally having legal disputes with
neighbors. He mentions correspondence with George Colby and W.S.
Howden, and going into San Francisco to sell 16 dozen "cabs" per
Colby's bills (this is evidently a reference to the Vermont firm
of Howden, Colby & Co., makers of willow children's
carriages, or "cabs"). He also partners with A.H. Otis in a grist
mill in Redwood City. Describing the town in 1861, he writes
that, "Redwood is a very pretty little place with a small amt. of
business. San Mateo a P.O. & Store Tavern &c. 6 miles
from Redwood is a beautiful place very level & good land
& beautiful timber." Very occasionally he mentions the war, a
"great battle at Nashville" and a victory at Springfield Landing,
Tennessee in April 1862. By the end of 1862, Jewell is making
regular trips to Redwood City from Petaluma to help Otis get the
mill operational, but the work is slow and he wishes he had his
money back on the investment.
Jewell moves to the Wilson ranch outside of Petaluma, and in
early 1863, plants twenty-two acres of wheat, raises dairy cows,
and begins regularly producing butter, often more than sixty
pounds a day. The enterprise in Redwood City continues to
struggle, and eventually Otis gives up his interest in it. Jewell
moves his family there in December 1863 to take charge of the
mill. Jesse Jewell died in October 1871 and was buried in
Petaluma.
Martha Jewell, known as Mattie, is the author of a diary dated
1863. Mattie was born in Vermont in 1847. In a black leather
wallet-style diary fifteen-year-old Mattie records, in short
daily entries, the early months of the year spent in San
Francisco, staying at a relative's house, and attending the
"Model School." Her life is filled with visits, social events,
balls, Valentines, and secret admirers. She is not always happy
with her living situation and restrictions and is glad when she
can return to Petaluma in mid-May: "I am glad that I have got up
here among decent folks." At home she enjoys going to dances and
balls and mentions the attentions of various young men.
Occasionally she uses hash marks instead of words to describe her
feelings or interactions with others. Her expenses for the year,
recorded at the back of the diary, include balmoral $3.50; going
to San Francisco $3.00; cloak $10.00; velvet ribbon $0.50; kid
gloves $0.75; a photograph of Tom Thumb & his wife $0.25;
Godey's Ladies Book $0.40, etc. She also includes occasional
small sketches, a poem or two, and some news clippings laid down
on the endpapers.
The last two diaries belong to Ruby, the youngest daughter,
born in 1850. The first is a Daily Pocket Remembrancer for 1865,
with two days of entries per page, occasionally utilizing a
special code, a series of geometric shapes and marks she must
have developed to record her feelings. The second is dated
eighteen years later, when Ruby is making her living as a teacher
in San Francisco. By this time, both her parents are dead, and
she is on her own. At one point, she returns to Redwood City to
visit the house she lived in, finding it in horrible condition.
As an adult, she uses the French language to express emotions
rather than her secret code. These two diaries are both densely
written in a small hand, comprising approximately 28,000 words.
Ruby's diaries are full of details of family life. Her first
entries in January 1865 make it apparent she was visiting with
her older sister Abbie who still lived in Petaluma with her
husband Edgar and their little girl Jessie. She doted on the baby
and often helped care for her. When she returned to Redwood City
to go back to school, Edgar, Abbie, and Jessie came along for a
brief visit. Back at school, her diary is full of music lessons
on their new pianoforte, school exams, valentines, dances,
drawings of her cat and dog, and disagreements with her teacher.
She also records several momentous events in April 1865, first
that Richmond was taken, and then the death of President Lincoln.
She draws heavy black lines around this entry, and titles it "A
Nation Mourns." The family drapes their house in black and white
for a month, as do a number of other houses. In August her sister
Mattie goes off to the San Mateo Institute to school, and her
brother-in-law Edgar sets off for "the states." Her black lines
reappear on September 29 when the family learns that Edgar, aged
23, died after contracting a fever on the voyage through the
Isthmus of Panama on the way to Vermont. Ruby is dispatched to
Petaluma to stay with Abbie and help her with the baby. She does
not return to Redwood City until mid-December. On Christmas day
she records a fire in town which destroyed Stambaugh's saloon
along with the weaver's shop, corner store and a house.
Throughout the year she includes small drawings and her
occasional coded entries.
Ruby's second diary is a densely packed record of the life of
a schoolteacher in San Francisco in 1883. She is teaching at an
unnamed school for young boys -- the 1883 Langley city directory
for San Francisco identifies her as an assistant at Lincoln
Grammar School. Initially she lives with her sister Mattie and
Mattie's husband J.W. Perry. They have an occasionally explosive
relationship which Ruby witnesses. By April she is renting a room
in a house from a friend. Her teacher's pay is $77.50 a month,
and her rent is $20. She recounts frustrations with her pupils;
social engagements (including seeing Mojeska perform in Camille);
trips to Oakland, Shell Mound Park, Cliff House, the Winter
Gardens, etc. She seems to have several suitors but no one
serious. In June, on vacation from teaching, she and several
friends go to Easkoot's Camp in Bolinas with their tents and
spend nearly three weeks at the beach swimming, playing croquet,
and singing around campfires. She spends some of her time
painting the landscape and walking on the beach, occasionally
with a particular young man. She returns to San Francisco not
overjoyed to resume teaching but anxious about her finances. Her
students often distress her, her sister and husband are fighting
again, and she tries to keep up with her painting and her music.
Difficulties in the house she lives in cause her to move in
December. Her last entry, on December 31, mentions a visit from
Jessie (likely her sister Abbie's daughter, who she had helped
care for as a baby): "Jessie & I sat up & watched the old
year out & the New Year in. I worked on the brush & comb
case, she on a tidy. Thought of the past, present & future."
Ruby Jewell (1850-1922) later married Anson Fiske Cornell
(1848-1921) and died in Los Angeles County. Her sister Mattie,
married to John Wilson Perry, a clerk in the post office in San
Francisco, died there in 1933.
[Description provided by McBride Rare Books]
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Processing Information
Liz Phillips created this finding aid with information
supplied by McBride Rare Books.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from McBride Rare Books, 2020.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Jewell Family Diaries, D-702,
Archives and Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of
California, Davis.
Publication Rights
All applicable copyrights for the collection are protected
under chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code. Requests for
permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted
in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for
publication is given on behalf of the Regents of the University
of California as the owner of the physical items. It is not
intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder,
which must also be obtained by the researcher.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Pioneers -- California -- History -- 19th
century.
Petaluma (Calif.) -- History
San Francisco (Calif.) --
History
Jewell family -- Archives
Michael and Margaret B. Harrison
Western Research Center