Edwin F. Quinby (1821-1852) was a Maine native who traveled west to take part in the Gold Rush, working at diggings throughout Northern California frrom 1849 to 1852. He died a week after returning back home to Maine in 1852. This is a collection of six letters: four written by Edwin Quinby from 1848 to 1850 and two by his wife, Nancy Quinby, in 1852 and 1853. They discuss Edwin's life in Maine; life in the California gold fields, especially at Mississippi Bar outside Sacramento; and Nancy's mourning of her husband's sudden death.

Edwin F. Quinby was born June 24, 1821, to Benjamin and Elizabeth Quinby at Saccarappa, Maine, and he married Nancy, daughter of Nathaniel and Rebecca (Swazey) Foster, on November 17, 1842. He was one of seven children, including his sister Sophronia Quinby, married to Clarendon Waters, and his brother George Washington Quinby. Edwin and Nancy had four children. Edwin moved withhis family to Norway, Maine, in 1847 and preached at the Universalist Society for two years. In May of 1849, he disembarked from Independence, Missouri, for the California gold fields, arriving in the summer of that year. He stayed for three years, digging along the San Joaquin and AMerican Rivers and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains at locations like Mississippi Bar, Stanislaus, Merced, Tuolumne, and Mariposa diggings. Edwin died of "fever" in Norway, Maine, on August 26, 1852, a week after arriving back home from California.

.1 Linear Feet 6 Letters

Collection is open for research.