Collection Guide
Brief record only
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
David Hewes letters to his mother, Ruthe Tapley Hewes, 1847-1850.
Collection Number:
No online items
Collection Overview
Title:
David Hewes letters to his mother, Ruthe Tapley Hewes, 1847-1850Creator/Contributor:
Hewes, David, 1822-1915, creator, correspondent.Creator/Contributor:
Hewes, Ruthe Tapley, 1791-1851, correspondent.Creator/Contributor:
Hanson, Robert, collector.Abstract:
Concerning his journey to California via Panama in 1850 and describing San Francisco and Sacramento, his experience as storekeeper
and property owner in Sacramento, and his experiences as a miner in the gold fields.
Date:
1847 (issued)Subject:
n-us-ca -- ncpn---Hewes, David -- 1822-1915 -- Correspondence
Hewes, Ruthe Tapley -- 1791-1851 -- Correspondence
Voyages to the Pacific coast -- Personal narratives
Gold mines and mining -- California
Gold mines and mining
Travel
Voyages to the Pacific coast
Panama -- Description and travel
San Francisco (Calif.) -- Description and travel
Sacramento (Calif.) -- Description and travel
California
California -- Sacramento
California -- San Francisco
Panama
Note:
David Hewes letters to his mother, Ruthe Tapley Hewes, 1847-1850, BANC MSS 73/200 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California,
Berkeley.
David Hewes (May 16, 1822-July 23, 1915) was born in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, the son of Joel Hewes (1786-1827) and Ruthe
Tapley Hewes (1791-1851). He travelled by ship to California in 1849 and arrived in San Francisco in February 1850. He first
set up a general merchandise store in Sacramento. After being devasted by fire and flooding, he returned to San Francisco
and began an earth-moving business. He was later invited to be part of the Big Four (Central Pacific Railroad) but declined.
He did, however, provide the golden spike that was used to mark the completion of the transcontinental railroad at Promontory
Point, Utah in 1869. He later moved to Orange County and established an 800-acre ranch. He died in Orange, California at the
age of 93.
In English.
Type:
Letters.Physical Description:
print
1 (11
Language:
English