Guide to the Jewell Family Diaries D-702

Liz Phillips
University of California, Davis Library, Dept. of Special Collections
2021
1st Floor, Shields Library, University of California
100 North West Quad
Davis, CA 95616-5292
speccoll@ucdavis.edu


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