This collection contains the correspondence of Jefferson Martenet (1828-1906), who left Baltimore, Maryland, in 1852 during the California Gold Rush and became a resident of Northern California. The correspondence is chiefly to his family in Baltimore discussing life, business ventures, and hardships in California, politics, and the American Civil War. The correspondence includes 365 letters, dating from 1837-1892.

Jefferson Martenet (1828-1906) was born on July 24, 1828 in Baltimore, Maryland. He left Baltimore on September 16, 1852, for Northern California with plans to get rich quick off the California Gold Rush and return home within a few months. He arrived via steamer to San Francisco on October 30, 1852, but spent six months recovering from a sickness in San Francisco until April 1853. He then went to mine in Harbaugh camp near Jackson, California, for ten months until February 1854. He spent less than a month in Jackson, where he worked as a cook and returned to San Francisco by May 1854. Family tree of Jefferson Martenet

357 pieces in 2 boxes

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