Hi Guys, just in case your interested in the 1863 election - http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=530900345 NOTE- S. A. SCOTT running for County Clerk!~ Interesting Mariposa Postal Contract- http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=532548330 The "run" from Raymond to Mariposa is seven hours- and is 24 miles- this is for the contract year of 1890-91. Happy Holidays to you all........... Carolyn

COLLINS, Leslie Edward FRESNO BEE - Evening Edition, May 10, 1937 MAN BURNS TO DEATH AS FLAMES DESTROY HOME Merced (Merced County), May 10, --Leslie Edward COLLINS, 41, chief engineer at the Yosemite Sugar Pine Lumber Company mill at Merced Falls, was burned to death in a fire which destroyed his home at Merced Fall, was burned to death in a fire which destroyed his home at Merced Falls early Sunday morning. The fire was discovered by Clyde MEYERS shortly after 2 A. M.. COLLINS' body was found in the ruins after the flames were subdued. He was lying near a bed in which he apparently had been sleeping when the blaze started. Deputy Coroner J. Vernon IVERS and Deputy Sheriff M. M. MORSE Say their investigation indicated COLLINS' death was due to an accident. An autopsy performed here yesterday disclosed that COLLINS' received fifth degree burns. Mrs. COLLINS and two sons, Leslie and Johnny, were visiting in Fresno over the week-end. IVERS says COLLINS was in the house alone and probably had gone to sleep, from which he was not aroused until escape from the blaze was impossible. Besides his widow and sons, he leaves his father John W. COLLINS, former Mariposa County supervisor for twenty-five years; a stepmother, Mrs. Rose (Rosene Quail) COLLINS, and two sisters, Mrs. Shirley JACKSON, San Bernardino, and Mrs. Marquerita MORSE, of Merced. He was born in Hornitos and served in the Coast Naval Reserve during the World War. Funeral services will be held tomorrow afternoon at 2 o'clock in the Ivers & Alcorn Parlors, with Rev. W. A. Cash officiating, and burial will follow in the IOOF cemetery in Hornitos.

http://govinfo.kerr.orst.edu/usaco-stateis.html

http://live.excite.com/photo/topic/news/yosemite/1

http://home.pacbell.net/markwr/library/index.html

http://home.pacbell.net/markwr/library/Houghton/index.html

Two weeks ago the Mariposa Gazette listed certain fees imposed by the County Recorders office which are going up in price. Amongst them, the cost to obtain voter lists ( used by political parties for mailing addresses ). But I just wanted to state that it showed me that Mariposa is following the state guidelines, one of which is public notice prior to the change of any charges made by the county gov't. This would also mean that somewhere, someplace, someone has a list of just what the county charges for every pieice of information that the public wants. Including the dates that the Board of Supervisors passed the ordinance. I would sure like to see this list. mel ~ in foggy Mariposa

http://www.cfac.org/Law/key_laws.html The California Public Records Act link is noted above. Here are a few interesting items from that link. Q: What is meant by "direct costs of duplication"? A: This phrase means "the cost of running the copying machine, and conceivably also the expense of the person operating it. 'Direct cost' does not include the ancillary tasks necessarily associated with the retrieval, inspection and handling of the file from which the copy is extracted." So ruled the Fourth District, California Court of Appeal in 1994, disapproving a 25 cent per page fee which reflected not only copying but "staff time involved in searching the records, reviewing records for information exempt from disclosure under law, and deleting such exempt information" (North County Parents Organization for Children with Special Needs v. Department of Education, 23 Cal. App. 4th 144). A fact supporting this view is that the charging of fees under the Act attaches to copying -- there is no fee-charging authority provided in the sections dealing with the mere inspection of a record. And yet in order to produce a record for inspection, the agency must already expend all the effort -- search, retrieval, review, redaction, replacement -- except for copying itself. If these costs were meant to be captured in a fee, there would need to be authority to charge a fee for inspection even when no copy was requested. Q: The law says that the copy requester may be charged either a statutory fee or the direct costs of duplication. What is meant by "statutory fee"? A: This phrase refers either to a specific monetary amount set by the Legislature or to a fee established by the agency under an act of the Legislature - a state statute - which expressly delegates to the agency the fee-setting function, for example the authority given the director of the DMV under Vehicle Code Section 1811 to set fees for various types of records. (Shippen v. Department of Motor Vehicles, 161 Cal. App. 3d 1119 (California Court of Appeal, 3d Dist. 1984)). While some local agencies contend that "statutory fee" permits any charge so long as it is formally established in an ordinance, the Act does not use "statute" and "ordinance" interchangeably. In the three other provisions in which "statute" is used, two of them clearly refer to state or federal legislation (Section 6254.5 (c) and Section 6254.6), and in the third instance "statute" and "ordinance" clearly do not refer to the same thing: ( This means that if Mariposa County has passed an ordinance to set fees for copies of such things as birth records, they can charge what they want. It would also include "photocopies" of anything else, IF and only iF set by an ordinance. ) More Q and A's are listed at http://cfac.org/Law/CPRA/Q&A/cpra_faqs_2.html#anchor711085 There is alot of info regarding this on the web. You just need to know that you are looking for info regarding The California Public Records Act . mel

Hi Mel and all- I posted the message below to the CA-RECORDS list in September = I was pleased to read how this one man had made a dramatic difference in the cost of copies in many of California's Counties- We will be having a new Recorder in Mariposa sometime soon (the position is currently vacant ). Perhaps we can approach the new recorder with this information below- ??? The one difference that perhaps is determining the fact that they charge $1.00 a page on the Recorders side , is that they have to handle the fiche and make the copy- If they were to get a machine that makes it's own copies then that should/?? reduce the cost. I believe that there will be a new reader/copier in the new library- perhaps the reader/copier that is now in the clerks office can be moved to the recorders office and then they pages would be the .25 per page? We can hope! Will let you all know what happens- the new library will be opening any day, but I am not sure that all these details have been worked out yet--- Carolyn -------- From: "Carolyn Feroben" <Sweetwater@Sierratel.com> Subject: [CA-RECORDS-L] COSTS of Documents Date: Sat, 9 Sep 2000 06:45:31 -0700 This information is abstracted from an article in the Modesto Bee- Thursday, Sept 7, 2000, by Garth Stapley A one man crusade by a Manhattan Beach retiree is changing the rates that counties are charging for public documents. James LISSNER says "I just want people to have access to government and government documents. I'm concerned about people not knowing what's going on". He is fighting the exorbitant charges for pushing the button on a copy machine! California State Law says that agencies must not charge more than it costs to produce copies- (I have found that specific law at this site- but don't recall the exact number of the section- if you find it would you please post to the list- ) http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html The campaign by this fellow (LISSNER) has made some dramatic changes in the fees that are being charged- the type of documents mentioned in the article refer to police reports- San Francisco used to charge $10.00 per copy, even for one or two pages- they now are free! Redondo Beach used to charge $32.00, they now charge $2.00 Sacramento used to charge $10.00 , they now charge .10 cents per page Manhattan Beach used to charge $15.00 , they now charge .20 cents per page There are more examples give, but the award for the lowest costs goes to Stockton, at .9cents per page! He has currently had 20 counties drastically reduce their rates- ! The cost of obtaining any copies I get in Mariposa County at the Hall of Records is .25 cents per page- In Modesto Lissner found approximately 20 agencies were charging from $10.00 to $37.00 dollars for common 2 page reports- that has been reduced to $3.00 or less! Hope Mr. Lissner makes it to your community! Let us know! Best, Carolyn ---------------- -----Original Message----- From: KelleyFamily <tkelley@sierratel.com> To: CAMARIPO-L@rootsweb.com <CAMARIPO-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Sunday, December 10, 2000 5:36 PM Subject: Re: [CAMARIPO] MARIPOSA STOCK BRANS/MINING RECORDS >Index to the brands is found on microfiche at the Recorders Office. Index >also shows a hand drawn example with the owner's name. Too bad for all of >us that this fiche is in the Recorders side of the Hall of records and not >the Clerk's side of the hall. >Anyone may view the fiche on the Recorders side, but, unlike the Clerk's >side, a simple printed copy of any of those wonderful fiche on the Recorders >side cost ONE DOLLAR per page. The Clerk's side lets us make our own >copies, starting at thirty cents a page and decreasing to twenty cents per >page, depending on amount of pages made. > >I even tried to talk them into letting me take the stupid fiche next door to >the Clerks side, where I could make the copies myself. NO GO... > >Mel, whose politics are showing............. > > > >==== CAMARIPO Mailing List ==== >If you have a family chronicle I will be happy to add it on the Mariposa County GenWeb Page. > >

Surname: AUTRAND ------------------------- The following AUTRAND are listed in the CA Death Index from 1905 to 1939: Autrand, Josephin, age 45, 19 July 1906, Fresno Co. Autrand, Joseph A., age 58, 7 Aug 1908, Madera Co. Autrand, Mary A., age 80, 14 May 1909, Madera Co. Autrand, Laura, spouse JC, age 41, 31 Jan 1921, Fresno Co. Autrand, Adele G., spouse JA, age 38, 18 July 1926, Kern Co. Autrand, Emile T., age 15, 7 Feb 1930, Santa Cruz Co. Autrand, Carmen, spouse JJ, age 78, 3 Apr 1934, Yolo Co. Autrand, Joseph, spouse C, age 80, 21 July 1935, Los Angeles Co.

Hi, Mariposa Listers... My brother Larry has found a possible Mariposa connection with his girlfriend's family. Any help would be appreciated. Don Rose Mariposa Larry Rose wrote: This Bertrand Larramendy was born (7/04/1886) in the same French Basque town as Lisa's great grandfather Pierre (2/23/1863). BL lived in Mariposa around WWI and died in Sacramento on September, 26 1969. What records can be checked in Mariposa? Pierre probably had only two sisters so BL is likely a cousin. Trying to find out Pierre's fathers name. It's fun checking out this family line because ALL the L's are related. Larry's email............... lsrose@west.net

Folks, I have recently pulled together what I have found for locating on a map where my ancestors lived. It is very useful to me and I wanted to pass it on to other researchers. The 3 main sites I use are:the US Census Bureau Tiger Map to actually look at the location, the GNIS to find the location and the Montana State Ecology Department's TRS data page. The links are: Tiger Map: http://tiger.census.gov/ GNIS: http://mapping.usgs.gov/www/gnis/gnisform.html TRS-Data: http://www.esg.montana.edu/gl/trs-data.html I often just use GNIS to find the place names listed in the Great Registers. GNIS can often (but not always) find defunct place names. I then take that data which gives the latitude and longitude in degrees, minutes, seconds and convert it to decimal degrees for the US Census Bureau Tiger Map. For the Tiger Map, North and East should be entered as positive numbers while South and West are entered as negative numbers. For instance - looking at Mariposa (city), GNIS gives its latitude as 372906N and longitude as 1195755W. The lat. is actually 37 degrees, 29 mins and 06 seconds North and the lon. is 119 degrees, 57 mins and 55 seconds West. (One should always work from left to right to pull out the seconds and minutes (which are always given as two numbers). To convert, do the same as you would with a clock (but note the sign!): 372906N = 37:29:06 = 37 + ( 29 + 06 / 60 ) / 60 = 37.485 1195755W = -119:57:55 = - ( 119 + ( 57 + 55/60 ) / 60 ) = -119.96528 If you enter these as under "Enter precise coordinates:" on the Tiger map page ( lower left hand corner on web page http://tiger.census.gov/cgi-bin/mapbrowse-tbl ), you will find the map centered on Mariposa. (You might want to check on the City Labels and Cities/Towns boxes in the green area to the left of the map). This is how you can locate an area if GNIS has the location. What if GNIS does not have the location or you want a precise location of where your ancestor lived? Well, I ran across a nifty little site at a Montana University that will help you out there. If you go to: http://www.esg.montana.edu/gl/trs-data.html you may enter your ancestors Township, Range, Section and the meridian that it is based on (probably Mount Diablo for us folks) and it will not only give you the Latitude and Longitude (already converted to decimal degrees no less!) but will also give you the nearest "feature" (geographic feature, dam, etc.) to the location (but in meters - to convert to something more useful, divide by 1000 (to get kilometers) and multiply by 0.62137 to get miles). Have fun everyone! - Mike

Thanks everyone who answered my question about Lewis'. My ancestor John C. Holley is listed as residing at Green Mountain in the 1875 and 1876 Great Registers, but as living in Lewis' in the 1877, 1879 and 1880 Great Registers. If his 1880 homestead application is correct, then it is likely that he did not move but he simply stated his "Local Residence" differently. By the way, in case anyone is interested, his witnesses were Henry I (J?) White of Buchanan Hollow (near Friant, Fresno Co), who knew him since 1855 or 1856 and J[oseph] G. Sullivan "of Mariposa" (and also Buchanan), who knew him since about 1871. [Also, John Holley's neighbor and witness in his 1861 pre-emption claim in Merced Co. (near Snelling) was John H. Forman. NOTE: When John moved onto the land in 1854 it was still part of Mariposa Co.] I would be interested in talking to anyone who has one of the above people in their line. Thanks again, - Mike

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=523745993

Hi Tom... The Pocahontas was a copper mine. It can be found on the Illinois Hill quadrangle of USGS topography maps. It was founded by Jack HARLISS and Steve WILCOX. Sebastian DEACH/DEATCH had a place on the road before 1870. There were still a couple of shacks around the mine in 1981. The forest service has access to the road. Don ----- Original Message ----- From: Paulette Hilk To: Don Rose Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2000 12:22 PM Subject: Re: [CAMARIPO] Location of the Pocahontas Mine Hi Don Is this a copper mine. My Westfall family came from this part of the county. Tom Don Rose wrote: http://mapping.usgs.gov:8888/gnis/owa/MapServer?f_name=Pocahontas+Mine&f_state=CA&f_latlong=372039N1200345W&f_ht=.5&server=TIGER ==== CAMARIPO Mailing List ==== Submit your Family Chronicle for publishing to the Mariposa GenWeb Site to sweetwater@sierratel.com -- Thomas and Paulette Hilk 1725 Wildwood Ct. Merced, CA. 95340 E-mail address: paulette@elite.net

Emilly Stowell has written a book of the Westfalls. Here is her description written to me. I have ordered the book but haven't seen it yet. carole thomas "American Nomads." The price is $24.95 with $4.00 shipping added. Check should be made to Iris Press and sent to 2655 Shalimar Cove, Del Mar, CA 92014. Should you be interested in purchasing more than one, (Christmas gift for another Westfall, perhaps), the price is $20 each for two or more. It is a hard back book of 500 pages, profusely illustrated and historically accurate but written as historical fiction. It begins with the Kuykendall clan, but so many Kuykendalls married so many Westfalls that it certainly covers the early generations of your clan. I am told that I succeeded in my purpose of bringing our ancestors to life. One reviewer has said, "Reading Emily Stowell's book is to experience time travel." My own five greats grandmother was Sarah Westfall, one of the book's most delightful characters. I follow these characters from their passages to America in the 17th century to the beginnings of the 20th as they moved from wilderness to wilderness across this great land. There are numerous genealogies in the back of the book, carried down from the first colonists to the point at which they married into my line. Your patriarch, Jurien Westfall, plays a prominent role as do many of his offspring. Jurien's name occurs more often in the Dutch colonial archives than most any, from his arrival on the De Houttuyn in 1642 to his killing by Indians in 1667 or 1668. My story follows his descendants down to The Minisink on the Delaware and on to West Virginia. Payment may be made by check to Iris Press. I will be glad to autograph your book. Hope you will enjoy it and learn much about the lives of your forebears. Yours, Emily

Index to the brands is found on microfiche at the Recorders Office. Index also shows a hand drawn example with the owner's name. Too bad for all of us that this fiche is in the Recorders side of the Hall of records and not the Clerk's side of the hall. Anyone may view the fiche on the Recorders side, but, unlike the Clerk's side, a simple printed copy of any of those wonderful fiche on the Recorders side cost ONE DOLLAR per page. The Clerk's side lets us make our own copies, starting at thirty cents a page and decreasing to twenty cents per page, depending on amount of pages made. I even tried to talk them into letting me take the stupid fiche next door to the Clerks side, where I could make the copies myself. NO GO... Mel, whose politics are showing.............

article in the Mariposa Gazette, Dec 12, 1940 MARIPOSA COUNTY IS REPRODUCED (sic:-)! C. G. COMPTON of the University of California, who is making a research of the early records of the Mother Lode Country and especially of Mariposa County centered around the Fremont Grant, has been working here with assistants gathering data at the Mariposa Courthouse in an unusual way. Some weeks ago Mr.. COMPTON took photographic reproductions of many early day mining documents also of other records. These were taken with a miniature photographic instrument and enlarged to a size suitable for easy reading and study. One interesting reproduction was the index to volumes one and two of the Stock Branch and Marks of Mariposa County, made up of 46 pages which was presented to W. G. KIDDER, county recorder. This index was made by William H. DUNNING, who was employed as a clerk and accountant at the time and who was an artist with a pen. The entire book was a creation of his masterly mind and hand with each brand and mark clearly and decidedly outlined to the minutest detail. Hundreds of the early brands and marks of the pioneer stockmen are shown in the original book and reproduced nicely in the facsimile prepared by Mr.. COMPTON. The 46 pages are bound in a pleasing edition- ---------------------- More treasures to be found! I know that the brands are also to be found in the basement on leather tags-but I have never seen the index- anyone? County Bank also has a large display of brands on their walls. Carolyn

Asa Burnham BRAGDON, 79, a native of New York state, died at the home of H. H. CARLETON in Mariposa Wednesday evening from the infirmities of old age. Mr BRAGDON had lived on a farm in the White Rock district for a number of years, but due to failing health, he came here last August to make his home with Mr. CARELTON, a cousin. The two were acquainted in New York state before they came to California. Deceased leaves a brother in Pasadena and three sisters in the state of New York, also many nephews and nieces. He had been a member of the Masonic Lodge for more than half a century and in August, 1939, he was presented with the 50-year Masonic emblem by the Mariposa Lodge No. 24. Masonic services will be held at Mariposa Saturday afternoon, December 15, with interment following in the Masonic Cemetery.

>From the Fall , 1973 Mariposa History Center Bulletin , The Sentinel. Lee ROWLAND, celebrating his 90th birthday, presented the Society with three years of back issues of the California Mining Journal to the Research Library and has made arrangements for a * permanent* complimentary subscription to the library. ======== This means that there should be a thirty year collection of these journals at the research center! I recall seeing a couple of journals, but not such a large collection. Has anyone seen them at the Research Library of the History Center? or in the basement , or ?? Best, Carolyn