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Finding aid of the James S. Cowden Papers C057888
C057888  
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Collection Overview
 
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Description
An overland diary, our copy is a transcript of the original, relating events which took place between April 7, 1853 to October 12, 1853 during a wagon train journey from Keosaqua, Iowa to Yreka, California - with additional observations and information added on January 1, 1854. There is also a handwritten letter by the donor giving additional information, dated January 3, 1983.
Background
The only biographical information on James S. Cowden - since there was none in the diary - is from the letter written to the Society of California Pioneers by the donor, Mary Case Haskins, in 1983. She notes the following: "... that Mr. Cowden was a friend of the wagon master, Capt. Albert Annibal, who was her great-grandfather. Mr. Annibal had homesteads in the Iowa Territory earlier. His wife died in childbirth as they reached California, buried at the foot of Mt. Shasta. He sent her two children back to his sister, Mrs. George Cowden (Laura Annibal) in Gustavus Township in Trumbull Co., Ohio." The statement is unclear as to whose wife it was that died in childbirth - Cowden's or Captain Annibal's.
Extent
1.0 folder (1 typescript, 23 pages and 1 letter)
Restrictions
There are no restrictions on access.
Availability
Collection open for research.