Finding aid of the Addie Cook Ghirardelli and William L. Cook papers C057974
Finding aid prepared by Nick Scales
Society of California Pioneers
4/10/2012
300 Fourth Street
San Francisco, CA, 94107-1272
(415) 959-1849
pkeats@californiapioneers.org
Title: Ghirardelli, Addie Cook and William L.Cook, Papers
Identifier/Call Number: C057974
Contributing Institution:
Society of California Pioneers
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
1.0 folder
2 typescripts (7 pages and 15 pages)
Date (inclusive): 1858 to 1874
Abstract: Two typewritten copies of the reminiscences of Addie Cook Ghirardelli and William L. Cook, brother and sister, who came to
California from St Joseph, Missouri, by wagon with their family in 1861. The Ghirardelli reminiscence is 7 pages and entitled
"My Life on a Ranch in the Early Days in California". The Cook reminiscence is 15 pages and is titled "Westward Ho in '61"
and contains details of the overland journey as well as some memories of ranch life in Colusa County.
creator:
Cook, William L
creator:
Ghirardelli, Addie Cook, 1858-1950
Existence and Location of Copies note
The Society of California Pioneers, 101 Montgomery St., Suite 150, Presidio of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94129.
Two typewritten copies of the reminiscences of Addie Cook Ghirardelli and William L. Cook, brother and sister, who came to
California from St Joseph, Missouri, by wagon with their family in 1861. The Ghirardelli reminiscence is 7 pages and entitled
"My Life on a Ranch in the Early Days in California". The Cook reminiscence is 15 pages and is titled "Westward Ho in '61"
and contains details of the overland journey as well as some memories of ranch life in Colusa County.
Addie Cook Ghirardelli was born April 19, 1858 in St Joseph, Mo. She traveled overland to California by wagon with her father,
mother, two brothers and a sister. She settled near Colusa at the foot of the Buttes, where her family farmed. The reminiscence
includes a buccolic description of farm and family life.
William L. Cook was 13 when his family made the overland journey by wagon to California in 1861. Their party was comprised
of 4 wagons and a carriage. Good narrative of the journey that went from St. Joseph to Forts Kearny, Laramie and Hall. Saw
Pony Express riders along the way, as well as Chimney Rock and Independence Rock. Went through Devil's Gap and tried Landers
Cutoff, but couldn't ford the Green River. Went back to South Pass, to Salt Lake City for 4th of July, then Emigrant Trail
to California. Some description of farming in Sacramento Valley.
Conditions Governing Access note
Collection open for research
There are no restrictions on access.
A. C. Ghirardelli and W. L. Cook Remininscences, The Society of California Pioneers
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
Typewritten copies of originals sent to The Society of California Pioneers in April 1940 by Mrs. D. Ghirardelli. Originals
returned to her in June 1940.
Addie Cook was born in Missouri in 1858, and travelled to California in 1861where she lived on a ranch in Colusa County, one
of the earliest established counties in Californina, with her brother William and family for a time. She married Domingo Ghirardelli
Jr., a son of the founder of the chocolate company, and they had seven children. Addie was socially astute and entertained
a broad circle of friends, dressed herself and her family in impeccable fashion while guiding them to Episcopalianism, and
conceived a spectacular European grand tour for herself and her husband in 1912, when their children were mostly grown. After
Domingo's retirement in 1922, the couple lived out their lives at the rambling, Spanish-style La Feliciana on several sloping
acres in Hillsborough. Addie died in 1950 in Hillsborough, Calif. See oral history of her great-grand daughter (Polly Ghirardelli
Lawrence) at the Regional Oral History Office, Bancroft Library, online. (http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/roho/ucb/text/lawrence_polly_ghiradelli.pdf)
William L. Cook, her brother, arrived in California in 1861, with their family and lived on a ranch in Colusa County for a
time. No further information on him was found.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Agriculture--California--Sacramento Valley
Overland journeys to the Pacific