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Mrs. Alida Wadhams Ferrill
Birth Place: Wisconsin
Pioneer Father: Collins Wadhams
Birth Place: Connecticut
Date of Arrival in California: Dec. 1850
Pioneer Mother: Mary Cumming Wadhams
Birth Place: Glasgow, Scotland
Date of Arrival in California: Dec. 1850
Remarks: In July 1849 my parents with three girls between the ages of five, nine, and a baby boy of two months weighing but 4 ½ lbs started with a company of twenty five families with ox teams to cross the plains in search of a better climate. We wintered in El Paso on the Rio Grande we left there late in the summer and crossed the Rio Colorado at Fort Yuma (then deserted) and entered California. We reached Los Angeles Dec. 1850. Our trip ended in the City of Angels where we continued to live for the next seven years and we found what we were looking for – health and happiness. The little adobe town contained but few Americans, but we soon learned to speak the Spanish language and learned to love the generous light hearted people who made us welcome to the dances and amusements.
Sister, Mrs. Medora W. Mundall
Birth Place: Geneva, Wis.
Pioneer Father: Collins Wadhams
Birth Place: Connecticut
Date of Arrival in California: Dec. 1850
Pioneer Mother: Mary Cumming Wadhams
Birth Place: Glasgow, Scotland
Date of Arrival in California: Dec. 1850
Remarks: I was ten years old when I arrived in Los Angeles, but I distinctly remember my first impressions of the little old Spanish Town as it was then. I see now in my very minds’ eye. The old two-wheeled carettas drawn by two oxen. The vehicle was covered phaeton fashion in warm weather, with a sheet perhaps if nothing more gorgeous was at hand. The Senores and Senoritas of the family unusually rode in the Caretta while the Cabelleros rode on horseback. The old church is still standing near the old Plaza at the foot of Main Street. If time and space would permit, I could jot down many items of interest to the people of to day. I have amused young people by the hour telling them of the first ten years of my life in Southern California.
Sister, Louise Wadhams Frost
Birth Place: —
Pioneer Father: —
Birth Place: —
Date of Arrival in California: —
Pioneer Mother: —
Birth Place: —
Date of Arrival in California: —
Remarks: For a time after arriving in Los Angeles there were no schools and not until the advent of a beautiful English girl Miss D- That our school was opened in Dr. Downey’s residence. Our parents had prior to the time taught us all we knew of the English branches. Dr. Downey was afterward governor of California (1863). After a few years of struggle a public school was opened which was well attended by both Spanish and American children. In 1857 my parents desiring better advantages for us came to San Francisco. They were looking for a good boarding school. They found one at Benicia St was called the Young Ladies Seminary. It was the first Protestant boarding school in the state and was under the control of Miss Mary Atkins a woman of scholarly attainments and staunch moral character. Many of the girls of early California are endebted to her not only for a fashionable but a sturdy sound education. This Seminary was our home for several years. It was in a later day purchased by Dr. and Mrs. Mills thus becoming the foundation of Mills College. Long may it flourish. It is the sincere wish of Louise Wadhams Frost.
Mary C. Romie Jacks
Birth Place: Oaxaco, Mexico
Pioneer Father: John Frederick Romie
Birth Place: Ludwigslut, Mechliaburg
Date of Arrival in California: 1841
Pioneer Mother: Maria Frohm Romie
Birth Place: Hamburg, Germany
Date of Arrival in California: 1841
Death: Father 1850; Mother 1886
Remarks:We arrived in California by sea from San Blas Mexico in the Sailing Vessel Gertrude.
See page 46.
Charlotte C. O’Sullivan
Birth Place: San Francisco
Pioneer Father: Edward O’Sullivan
Birth Place: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Date of Arrival in California: 1871
Pioneer Mother: Margaret O’Sullivan
Birth Place: San Francisco
Date of Arrival in California: —
Remarks: My parents are both living S.F. Jan 1911
Magdalena Van Winkle
Birth Place: New York
Pioneer Father: Thomas Maylan
Birth Place: Dublin, Ireland
Date of Arrival in California: March 1851
Pioneer Mother: Jane Burke
Birth Place: Galway, Ireland
Date of Arrival in California: —
Remarks: I came to California with my parents we came across the Isthmus of Panama. My Father died in San Mateo 1861 and my mother in San Francisco in April 1886.