Carolyn, I found this from the Handbook of Texas, Online: http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/GG/fga4.html Here is the pertinant data (abstracted): GAINES, JAMES (1776-1856). James Gaines, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, was born on November 14, 1776, in Culpeper County, Virginia, the son of Thomas and Susanah (Strother) Gaines and a descendant of the distinguished Pendleton family. ... With news of the California gold rush, his sons Edmund and John B. went with other East Texans along the Gila Trail to the mines to make their fortunes, and James Gaines himself arrived on the steamer Ecuador in San Francisco on August 23, 1850. He was instrumental in imposing law and order in the mine fields and held office for years in Mariposa County. He and his sons discovered the rich Gaines Ledge of gold and established the Mount Gaines Mine, which still exists. Although his sons returned to Texas, Gaines remained at the mine, as his wife had died and he had no home in Texas. ... Gaines died on November 12, 1856, and is buried near Oakland, California. The bibliography has the Mariposa Sentinel article I think you were looking for (Midwinter 1975) as well as the San Francisco Daily Alta California, November 25, 1856. See above web page for more information (like how he was born Robert Thomas Gaines, but changed his name to James in 1810). - Mike