This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Kelly, Kelley Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/WMB.2ACE/4818 Message Board Post: Hi, My great-great-great grandmother came from Eldorado Ca sometime between 1/1853 and 2/1855. She purchased land from the Stlouis land office in 1856, applied in feb 1855. She had a child born in Ca in Sept 1852 - so I believe she probably came by boat rather than overland. She also had another small one born in 1850 in CA. Her name was Sarah Kelly and she would have had the two small ones with her and a teen-age son. I see alot of info mentioning ships coming from other countries - but I can't seem to find any references about people leaving CA coming from the gold rush. Any guidance would be deeply appreciated. Lisa

Hi Lisa, El Dorado was and still is El Dorado County in CA. Contrary to popular belief, many people did go "East" during the gold camp days of CA due to several factors, the main one being the amount of violence and lawlessness in those times. In my opinion, the amount of violence in the gold camps and "towns" in places like ElDorado County surpasses the violence we see in America today. Another reason, specifically for women, is that there were hardly any of them in CA during those times. Miners paid as much as $2 just for the privilege of looking at a woman. Women also missed "civilization" as well as their relatives back home. Many diaries and accounts mention these aspects of the era in CA. Dan Hogan On Saturday, December 25, 2004, at 07:45 PM, ljames62@osagecon.missouri.org wrote: > > Hi, My great-great-great grandmother came from Eldorado Ca sometime > between 1/1853 and 2/1855. She purchased land from the Stlouis land > office in 1856, applied in feb 1855. She had a child born in Ca in > Sept 1852 - so I believe she probably came by boat rather than > overland. She also had another small one born in 1850 in CA. Her > name was Sarah Kelly and she would have had the two small ones with > her and a teen-age son. I see alot of info mentioning ships coming > from other countries - but I can't seem to find any references about > people leaving CA coming from the gold rush. Any guidance would be > deeply appreciated. Lisa > Dan Hogan porterville.k12.ca.us