A Grove of Big Trees

Photo credit:  National Park Service

This article takes us back to a time when California was still full of unexplored land and undiscovered wonders.  It makes me thankful that these groves were eventually preserved through the creation of Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks so that we can still enjoy them today.

Sacramento Daily Union,  Nov. 16, 1856

ANOTHER MAMMOTH GROVE -- We are informed, says the Mariposa Democrat, by Judge Burke, who has recently returned from Visalia, that a grove of big trees have been discovered upon a branch of King's River, near the saw mill of O.K. Smith, the Representative elect of Frezno and Tulare counties.  The grove contains over 1,000 trees, by actual count, varying in size from eight to thirty-two feed in diameter.  Many of them are from 325 to 375 feet high.  The species of tree is the same as those in Calaveras county, which are attracting so much attention.  Many have, since the discovery of this grove, visited it, and the above statement, we are assured, is no exaggeration.

Lost in the Snow

Peter Q. Turner (1828-1882) is my great-great-great-grandfather and someone I've been researching for years.  He was an early California settler, arriving in Visalia in the 1850s and eventually settling in the Dunlap area of the foothills east of Fresno.  He and his wife Emily had at least fourteen children.  I have lots more I could share about him but, for today, I wanted to share this little article I found last week.  I was so excited to find it because it confirmed a family story about him.  I had been told by a relative that Peter had been lost in a snowstorm and, because of frostbite, had his legs amputated.  However, that's all I knew and, even then, didn't know how accurate the story was.  This article from the Sacramento Daily Union on December 30, 1864, gives all the details of what happened to Peter that day.

Sacramento Daily Union, Dec. 30, 1864 -- BADLY FROZEN -- The Grass Valley Union of December 27th says:  On Saturday last four men -- P.Q. Turner, Misservy, Irons, and another whose name we could not learn -- were overtaken by the storm a few miles from Aurora (Nov.) as they were coming in from Adobe Meadows, and all of them were more or less frozen.  The three last mentioned escaped without being seriously injured, but Turner became so exhausted that he was obliged to stop some two miles from town, where he lay all night in the snow, and was terribly frozen.  In the morning Sheriff Francis and a party went to search for him, and found him making his way to town on his hands and knees.  His feet, hands and face are frozen in a most shocking manner.  We are informed that the doctors waiting upon him say that both his feet will have to be amputated.

We do know that Peter did have both his feet and fingers amputated because an article in The Fresno Bee on August 30, 1879 describes him as “a man well advanced in years, with a large family, not rich and without feet or fingers--but a good scholar, a good writer and a man whose bond no property owner would hesitate to go on.”

Welcome!

I've had a love of history ever since I can remember.  Maybe it was the Little House on the Prairie books that my mom started reading to me when I was three years old.  The stories of Laura, Mary and their little family surviving alone on the great American prairie caught my imagination and transported me to another world.  As I grew up, many historical fiction books, visits to Gold Rush country, a trip to Washington D.C., and even a subscription to Smithsonian magazine all fueled my interest in the past.  So when as an adult I started doing a little research into my family history, it gave me an outlet to explore the past in a more personal way.  Some people study their family genealogy to see how many names they can add to their family tree or how far back they can trace their lineage.  But what I love is to see how much I can learn about them.  What was their life really like?  Not just the big events like when they were born, married, and died.  But what happened in the in-between times?  To dig down deep into the past and mine out those hidden gems and nuggets of information is so exciting.  This blog will be an outlet to share those finds with my family and anyone else who might be interested.  And I'm sure you'll see some random posts about totally unrelated people or events because, well, I just can't help myself, interesting things shouldn't stay hidden in the past forever.  Thanks for reading and if you see some connections with your family history, I'd love to hear about it!