Boone-Duden Forty-Niners

by Bob Brail

One hundred and seventy years ago, tens of thousands of men from around the world were seaching for gold in California. These men, the 49'ers, had left farms, businesses, homes, wives, families, and the lives they had known to come to the recently discovered gold fields to “strike it rich.” Many did find great wealth before they returned home. Between 1848 and 1859 twelve billion dollars' worth of gold in today's money was found. Others were not so lucky; the most unfortunate died of disease, never returning home. Some of these men were from St. Charles County, and a handful were from Boone-Duden country. Their experiences, in many ways, were typical of those who participated in the California Gold Rush.

The basic story of the Gold Rush is known by most anyone. In early 1848 gold was discovered on the American River in California on John Sutter's land. In March the discovery was reported in a San Fransisco newspaper, and by August in a New York City newspaper. Soon the news was known around the world, and the news was incredible. A father and son, using only a hoe and spade, had found $3,000 worth of gold in four days! Four other men, on a claim “scarcely larger than a picnic blanket,” had dug up $1,000 worth of gold eleven consecutive days! In 1849 alone, seventeen tons of gold was found. It is not hard to comprehend, in a day when most American men toiled on subsistence farms, why they were drawn to the gold fields.

What is difficult to understand today is the intensity of the “gold fever” that gripped so many people at this time. As Edward Dolnick writes in his his history of the Gold Rush, the “world did go mad when the gold news broke.” In 1849, 90,000 men from around the world, but mostly from America, came to the gold fields. Nearly as many more came in 1850, and they continued coming into the early 1850's. Between 1848 and 1851, the population of San Fransisco increased from 800 to 30,000. From 1849 to 1852, more than one percent of America's entire population came to California seeking gold. If a similar migration would occur today it would be 3.3 million Americans “giving up their jobs, leaving their families, and rushing off to a barely known destination thousands of miles away. . . . all racing headlong to, say, the most distant, least-known corner of South America.”

Three family histories published in the twentieth century by Castlio descendants from southern St. Charles County briefly tell the story of four men who traveled together to the gold fields in 1849, and also note several other individuals who went searching for gold. These are Crow's Nest and Some Boone Descendants and Kindred of the St. Charles District by Lilian Hays Oliver, and Some Missouri Pioneers Their Desendants and Kindred From Other States by Mary Iantha Castlio. Three Castlio brothers from Dardenne Township, Fortunatus Boone (born 1820); Othaniel Caleb (1824), grandfather of Lilian H. Oliver and father of Mary I. Castlio; and Hiram Beverly (1826); all of whom were unmarried, along with their brother-in-law Henry Schneider (1813), left their homes in 1849, probably during April, and began the long trek to California on the Santa Fe Trail. These family histories are unanimous in stating that the three brothers “did very well” while in California and returned to their homes in 1851, each with five to ten thousand dollars in gold.

Fortunatus

Hiram Beverly

Othaniel

The overland trip to the gold fields of California on the Santa Fe Trail typically took six months to complete and involved much hardship and even death. A letter written from Sacramento in 1850 by John Richey to a friend in St. Charles recounts his group's trip from the northern part of St. Charles County to California. Though this group took a more northern overland route than the Castlio brothers, their experiences were typical of all who went went to California on foot or by wagon. Weather, food, and disease were major problems for Richey's group. The men, who left St. Charles County in the latter part of April, encountered snow on July 25, and every day thereafter until they reached Sacramento on September 26; at times the snow was five to six feet deep. Richey wrote of many emigrants who were inadequately provisioned; his group had enough food only because they rationed it the last ten days of the trip. Their livestock also suffered since “the grass was very scarce in many places.” Disease, though, provided the greatest threat to the emigrants. Richey estimated there were nearly five thousand emigrants who died of cholera and diarrhea between St. Joseph and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Of his own group, Richey lists four men who died on the way. Little is known of the Castlio group's trip on the Santa Fe Trail, other than that they took a steamboat to Arrow Rock and bought supplies at Westport. However, the one very brief incident that survives suggests that these men suffered from hunger. Acording to an account in a Castlio family history, during their travel west, Henry Schneider caught a field mouse and ate it himself since there was not enough to divide for the four men. One can only attempt to imagine their hunger.

Little is known of their time in California. According to one Castlio family history, at one point, probably in 1850, Hiram borrowed $600 from Othaniel to build a dam across Sacramento River to control water on his claim. The fact that Othaniel had $600 to lend his brother indicates he had by this time had success in his search for gold. It was not unusual for miners to attempt this kind of structure in order to find more gold, “yet the trouble and expense, as well as the uncertainty and risk in getting [gold] , offset to a great extent the value of the amount acquired. . . . Frequent losses were entailed in consequence of the breaking away of dams, caused by rains in the mountains above coming upon them unexpectedly and carrying away flumes, tools, etc., just as everything was about ready for commencing the work of washing the pay dirt.” This is exactly what happened to Hiram's dam on the Sacramento River; within hours of its completion, the dam was destroyed by a sudden flood.

When the Castlio brothers returned home, probably in the first weeks of 1851, they chose to go by ship via Panama. This route home, often aboad overcrowded ships and approximately 7,000 miles long, would last about three months with the Isthmus of Panama the halfway point. One Castlio family history tells the story of Othaniel's arrest and brief incarceration during a stop in a Mexican port city for reasons that were never clear. The Castlio brothers would have disembarked at Panama City with its many churches but rather primitive conditions. One emigrant who overnighted there wrote that “cats, dogs, and rats trooped through our room.” Because of the dangers of the crossing, individual travelers were discouraged. Conditons were terrible, with temperatures of well over 100 degrees, scorpions, and robbers. One emigrant remembered that “hundreds of [them] were attacked by the isthmus-fever, diarrhoea, dyssentry and ague and died after a day or two of cruel suffering.” Another emigrant called Panama “hell incarnate.” The Castlio brothers would have ridden mules from Panama City to the small village of Gorgona, a distance of twenty-five miles, over mountains on narrow trails that hugged the mountainside in some places. From Gorgona to Chagres was a thirty-five mile trip by water. There the Castlio brothers would have boarded a second ship and sailed to New York City. From there they briefly visited Philadelphia and came home to St. Charles County via the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, probably arriving in April, 1851.

A study of St. Charles County tax records seems to validate the Castlio family histories' claims that the three brothers were wealthy men when they arrived home from California. As can be seen from the chart below, before they went to California the two older brothers did have own some land and taxable personal property, while the younger had none. What is remarkable about the chart is the rather dramatic change in the brothers' 1852 and 1853 tax obligations. While Hiram's gain in value is more modest, Fortunatus' and Othaniel's gains are dramatic, and all three brothers had purchased slaves, nine total, no doubt to work the larger Castlio farms. By 1860, the brothers owned about twenty slaves total. 

Land books in the St. Charles County Recorder's office support the idea that the three brothers returned with several thousand dollars. Less than a year after he arrived back home, Fortunatus was able to pay about $2,000 for nearly 750 acres of land on Howell's Prairie along the Marthasville Road. By 1860 his estate was worth about $8,000. After the Civil War, he would lose his eight slaves, but would dramatically increase his wealth by laying out the town of Mechanicsville and selling forty-five lots from a portion of the 750 acres. The land books also show that soon after Othaniel returned, he purchased several hundred acres, including the Stephenson farm, where he would take his bride Cordelia Keithley, after their marriage in May, 1852. Hiram Beverly did not make purchases of land as quickly as his older brothers, but by 1856 he had paid about $2,500 for nearly three hundred acres. From all these records, it seems logical to conclude that the brothers were “right successful” in California, as their brother Newton would later say, staying “long enough to accumulate small fortunes in gold.”

It is not known when the Castlios' brother-in-law Henry Schneider returned from California. The real estate and personal property taxes of Schneider, who was thirty-six when the men went to California, were essentially unchanged from 1848 through 1853, so perhaps Schneider did not fare as well as his three brothers-in-law. The 1860 censuses list Schneider as a slave owner in Callaway Township worth $3,000 in real estate and $1200 in personal property.

One final note on the Castlio brothers. All three are listed in the 1850 census, which was taken in their area on September 26, as living in St. Charles County with their parents. According to the Castlio family histories, the men were in California at this time. This kind of census error seems fairly common; the family left at home by the emigrants often named them as household members when the census taker came by.

Other individuals from Boone-Duden country who went to California are named in Oliver's Some Boone Descendants:

Thomas Hart Benton Audrain was born in 1822 in St. Charles County. During the War with Mexico, Audrain joined the St. Charles Guards, McCausland's Company of the Oregon Battalion and went west for the first time. The 1850 census lists him in St. Charles County as a farmer, living with his older brother who had a grist mill and slaves. It is likely that Audrain worked in the mill. In the early 1850's he went west for the second time in his life. The 1852 California state census lists him as a laborer in Eldorado County. The next year Audrain bought two tracts of land in Brush Canyon in Alpine County. Later in 1853 Audrain acquired the deed for land in Eldorado County. This tract of land contained a lake which became known as Lake Audrain, and is still called that today. The 1860 census lists him as a hotel keeper in Kelsey, Eldorado County, California. This inn was located at Echo Summit on Johnson Road, one of the main roads between Nevada and California. It was at this inn in the evening of April 14, 1865, that Audrain was operating his telegraph when news came of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Audrain, like most of the other men mentioned in this article, was a southerner by heritage. When he took the message, he jumped to his feet and shouted, “Hooray, they've killed Abraham Lincoln; the dirty ____ should have been shot long ago.” Unfortunately for Audrain, the men in the room who heard him did not share his political sympathies. For some moments it looked as though Audrain would be lynched, but the men instead burned his business to the ground and warned him never to rebuild. Subsequently, Audrain worked as a farmer, teamster, and engineer. He eventually moved to Nevada.

William Jackson Howell was born in 1825. An infant when his mother died, he was adopted by his aunt and uncle, Francis Howell, Jr., and Mary Ramsey Howell, who had no children. Because of his parents' wealth, Howell received a good education, eventually graduating from the University of Missouri medical school. Soon after graduating he went overland to California, according to St. Charles County tax records, owning no land and having only $30 in taxable personal property. Suffering from chronic dysentary, Howell left San Fransisco by ship in late October, 1850. He died on board on November 2, a few days after starting home, and was buried at sea. Like others previously mentioned, Howell is erroneously listed in the 1850 census as living at home with his parents.

James Lewis Howell was born in St. Charles County in 1820. When he went to California, he was married to Lucinda Keithley, the sister of Othaniel's future wife, and had one child. Although he was probably in California in 1850, the census of that year records him with Lucinda and one child in St. Charles County. According to one Castlio family history, in 1852 Lucinda was planning to go by boat to California to join her husband, but apparently Howell returned before she left. James L. Howell's property increased from 40 to 116 acres from 1850 to 1853, and his personal property assessment increased from $20 to $90 during that time, so perhaps he had modest success in the gold fields. He and his wife farmed in Callaway Township for the next two decades.

Besides the Castlio family histories, another source that identifies Boone-Duden men who went to the gold fields is a file in the St. Charles County circuit court records. This 1854 court case was brought by Thomas Addison Howell against the estate of Samuel C. Moore. Howell maintained that Moore had agreed to pay him $50 for “furnishing [Moore] with provisions and taking him to California for part of the way.” Howell also stated that he had purchased one set of double harness in California for Moore in 1850. The judge ruled against Howell. The file is unquestionable proof that Howell and Moore, both from this area, went to the gold fields.

Thomas Addison Howell (the nephew of the Thomas Howell who was Francis Howell's son) was born in 1821 to John and Sally Howell. In 1850 when he was in California he was married (possibly to Samuel Moore's sister) and had four children ages six and younger, including a three month old. Howell owned no property in 1850 in St. Charles County. Howell still did not own property in 1853 and had personal property worth only $55, so he probably did not do well in California.

Samuel C. Moore did indeed die in California, and is buried in Pioneer Cemetery, Nevada County, California. His gravestone reads: “Samuel C. Moore of St. Charles County, Missouri. Died August 4, 1851. Aged 37 years.” Moore's widow, who remarried in 1852 and filed for divorce in 1854, testified at the divorce proceedings that she owned 320 acres and two slaves before the 1852 remarriage, which suggests that the Moores were far from poor, yet like many others, Samuel Moore took the risk of going to California to acquire more wealth.

Two more names contained in the file merit mention. Both were summoned to be witnesses at the trial which means it is at least possible that the men travelled to California with Thomas Addison Howell and Samuel Moore. One is that of Cunningham Fisher, who was born in 1824. The 1850 census lists Fisher as a farmer living with Thomas Howell (not Thomas Addison Howell) with his two brothers Solomon and Jessy. He owned no land and had no taxable personal property. Fisher married in St. Charles County in 1856 and soon moved to Henry County. By 1860 he owned $11,000 in real estate and his taxable personal property was worth $12,000. This amazing financial reversal at least suggests, along with his status as a witness at the trial, that Fisher had been in California and was successful there.

The other noteworthy name on the witness list in the file is Hiram Beverly Castlio. This suggests that the Castlio brothers and Henry Schneider went west with Thomas Addisosn Howell, Moore, and possibly Fisher in 1849, or at least interacted with those individuals while in California.

The previously mentioned John A. Richey letter, written from California on October 3, 1850, names David McCausland as one of the men from St. Charles County who are in California. David McCausland was born around 1810 in Ireland. Left a widower with two young sons, McCausland enlisted in the St. Charles Guards during the War with Mexico and served as a captain. In 1849 McCausland went to the gold fields of California, even though he is listed, along with his two teenaged sons, in St. Charles County in the census of 1850 in the area east of Francis Howell High School. However, a legal document places him in California on November 1, 1850, besides the Richey letter which also offers proof of his whereabouts in 1850. McCausland settled in Eldorado County, California, eventually opening a general store there. He returned to St. Charles County in 1876.

When a person reads about any great historical event, it is always easy to forget that such events are experienced by people who were just as “normal” as the reader of history and, in fact, may have lived in the same area as that reader. This is certainly true for readers of history in the Boone-Duden area. People who lived just down the road from us, or perhaps in the next township over, were participants in some of history's most memorable events, like the Civil War, the Flu Pandemic of 1918, the D-Day invasion, and many others. The California Gold Rush is one more event on that list. Several men from the southern part of St. Charles County, people who would be our neighbors if they were living today, decided to take a great risk and travel to faraway California in a quest for greater wealth.

Sources: Arizona Voter Registration, 1866-1955 (Ancestry.com); California State Census, 1852 (Ancestry.com); Crow's Nest (Lillian Hays Oliver); California County Marriages, 1843-1918 (Familysearch.org); “California Gold Rush” (Wikipedia.org); California Register of Voters, 1866-1898 (Ancestry.com); Federal Population Censuses; Federal Slave Censuses; Findagrave.com; History of Henry County, Missouri (Missouri Digital Heritage); History of Franklin, Washington, Crawford, and Gasconade Counties,Missouri (Missouri Digital Heritage); A History of Washington, Missouri (Ralph Gregory); Land Records (St. Charles County Recorder of Deeds); Letter from John Richey to Benjamin Emmons, October 5, 1850 (Missouri Historical Society); Map of the Gold Regions of California (Exhibits.stanford.edu); New York Passengers Lists, 1820-1891 (Familysearch.org); Real Estate and Personal Property Tax Records (St. Charles County Historical Society); “River Mining for Gold” (Nevada-outback-gems.com); The Rush: America's Fevered Quest for Fortune, 1848-1853 (Edward Dolnick); St. Charles County (Mo) Circuit Court Records (St. Charles County Historical Society); Small Glories (Dan Brown); Some Boone Descendants and Kindred of the St. Charles District (Lilllian Hays Oliver); Some Missouri Pioneers Their Descendants and Kindred From Other States (Mary Iantha Castlio); The St. Charles Guards: McCausland's Company of the Oregon Battallion (Robert M Sandfort); We Begin With Peter Audrain (Francis Audrain).

In the next issue of the BDHS newsletter, the story of another group of Forty-niners from the BDHS area will be included. These folks were from the Marthasville area and included the Maupin, Lamme, and Bryan families.