I am getting in on this rather late, but one of my historical interests in California is music, and specifically, the 5 string banjo. One reprint of an 1858 banjo manual recently reprinted mentions that the author, Thomas F Briggs, died in San Francisco shortly after arriving with the Christy Minstrel troupe(the OLD christy minstels). I looked up the following obituary in the Oct. 25, 1854 Alta California in the CA Room of the state library: "On Monday evening, the 23d inst., of typhoid fever, Mr. Thomas F Briggs of New York City, well known as a performer of extraordinary merit in Ethiopian representations, aside from his worth as a man and a gentleman. His sudden demise will be deeply regretted by his numerous friends thoughout the States. He was a member of Christy's Minstrels and arrived in San Francisco recently on the Golden Age." So that is the Golden Age link...Thanks for the info on the Golden Age. There was a lengthy tribute to Briggs in a later issue of a different newspaper(name I can not remember) that is quite hilarious; it describes his death and his final words after he tries to play the banjo: "Alas, I can not play the old Cremona anymore..." The interesting thing to me is that this minstrel troupe, by all accounts a widely respected one, found it worth their while to undergo a 3 month sea voyage to perform in San Francisco. My guess is that there were two reasons: 1) declining audiences for this type of entertainment or 2) they could charge enough at inflated CA prices that it was worth their while. Andy Alexis, THE WEB SITE: http://www.calweb.com/~ndlxs [email protected] Sacramento, CA. "The Pearl of the Central Valley"