Foulk Family Papers, 1864-1923

Summary

Title:

Foulk Family Papers,

Dates:

1864-1923

Creators:

Hugh Hayes

Language:

English.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Foulk Family Papers, Mss83, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library

Background

Scope and content:

The Foulk Family Papers consist chiefly of correspondence to Mrs. Foulk from family and friends, letters from Mrs. Foulk to her mother, Mrs. R.H. McDaniel, and son, Henry D. Foulk (1906). There is also correspondence to Mr. Foulk from his relatives. The content of most of these letters concerns family matters and other aspects of the daily lives of their authors. There are passing descriptions of life in Yuba county and San Luis Obispo county. There are also occasional references to woman suffrage issues.

Biographical / historical:

Nina H. Foulk (nee McDaniel) was born in Marysville, Calif. (1846) and died in San Francisco (c1923). Her father was R.H. McDaniel of Marysville (b. 1813). Her letters reveal that she had at least three siblings: R.H. Jr., Eugene and Lizzie (b. 1855). Eugene P. McDaniel was District Attorney of Yuba county during the 1890s and Judge of the Superior Court in 1906.

Nina McDaniel married a George A. Foulk of Ashton, Colusa Co., in about 1863. Ashton had been a boom town during the 1860s since federal government subsidies for copper had lead to a surge in mining in the area. By 1866 the mining boom had collapsed. Foulk seems to have been a justice of the peace at one time, since some correspondence is addressed to him as "Judge" Foulk. While he was not directly involved in mining, his livelihood was doubtless adversely affected by the change in economic prosperity of Ashton. After the family moved to Honcut,Yuba county, during the 1870s, Foulk raised sheep.

The Foulks had two sons, Henry and Herbert, and three daughters, Bessie, Ada and Nina. The marriage may have been a difficult one--both emotionally and financially--for the correspondence contains at least one dunning letter from a grocer and evidence that Mr. Foulk left his wife and settled in Texas as early as 1880.

Nina Foulk apparently supported herself by teaching school--first in Ashton (1870s), then in Honcut, Butte county (c1877-1887), Moore's Station, Butte county (1888-1897?), and San Francisco (1898-1901). In 1906 she was back in Yuba county operating a boarding house and teaching school, but, by 1908, she seems to have retired to Berkeley, where she lived in her son, Henry's, home with daughter Nina. In 1923 she lived in San Francisco with her daughter Bessie MacMurray.

Physical location:

For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.

Physical description:

0.25 linear ft.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:

Processed by Don Walker; machine-readable finding aid created by Don Walker

Date Prepared:

© 1998

Date Encoded:

Machine-readable finding aid derived from paper by means of scanning and OCR; OCR file edited for typographical errors before encoding. Date of source: March 10, 1994.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Foulk Family Papers, Mss83, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library

Location of this collection:

University of the Pacific

University of the Pacific, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University Library

Stockton, CA 95211, US

Contact:

(209) 946-2404

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