The Hampshire Family Historian | Volume 50 No.3 | Dec 2023

Member’s article

between 1833 and 1836, I suspect they may have travelled first to Canada and made their way across the border to upstate New York. Joseph died 20 May 1876 on his farm in Manlius, Onondaga County, New York as did Sarah, who died in 1888. Most of their children seemed to have remained close by as farmers. Henry, however, had the wanderlust. In 1849, Henry joined the gold rush to California, leaving his wife and two young daughters behind in New York. He sailed from New York City on the Ship Eugenia in January 1849 bound for Vera Cruz, Mexico. It appears he was part of a group of 14. From Vera Cruz, the party crossed Mexico by land to San Blas on the Pacific coast, where they boarded the Ship Mary Frances to Mazatlan and there changed to the Ship Antonia , for San Francisco. They reached San Francisco 23 days later on 25 April 1849. From San Francisco the party headed by schooner to Sutter’s Landing near the gold fields. Not much is known about Henry’s experience in California. He appears to have returned to New York two years later. An article appearing in the Weekly Pacific News for 1 May 1851, quoted an article appearing in the Rochester (New York) American in which “Mr. Henry F. Smith, who returns now after an absence of two years, brought this ‘young mine,’ and says he was offered $150 for it in Panama, by a gentleman who desired it as a rich specimen. It is the richest ‘deposit’ that we have seen in many a day, and we are convinced that

California is no longer a myth.” Henry F. Smith’s return home is confirmed by the birth of his daughter Susan Amelia in April 1852. Henry’s obituary in the Olympia, Washington Morning Olympian of 17 November 1907 further confirms the information under the heading “Pioneer of 1849” that “he came West from New York in 1849 and settled in California where he remained several years. In 1882 he returned West and came to Washington to reside. He was married in 1846 before leaving New York for California.” Joseph and Sarah must have maintained communications with family in England, which in turn encouraged other family members to emigrate from Hampshire. Joseph’s brother Jonathan (I think this is likely the same Jonathan Smith of Burghclere I found in the Quarter Sessions Records on the Members’ Only page, showing that he had been

134