My great great grandfather, Jacob Kleopfer, traveled by wagon train to California
in 1852 via the
Oregon-California
Trail. He traveled there with his wife Maria, their son George, who was
born in 1850, three brothers, John, Louis, and Adam Kleopfer, Louis's wife
Elizabeth Leusbrock Kloepfer, and Elizabeth's brother, Bernard Leusbrock.
They originally settled near Coloma - the site of the gold discovery in 1848
which triggered the greatest gold rush in the history of the United States.
In 1859, Jacob and his family (now in addition to Maria and George there
were Sophrania born 1853, Mary Ann born 1855, Elizabeth born 1857, and Jacob
L. born 1859) left California by sea from San Francisco. Except for one letter
that was sent during the trip, the families never again communicated until
1996 - see Reconnected
after 137 Years. This page describes my visit to the Gold Country in
California in March of 1997.
After exchanging several letters with Francis Carpenter, the great grandson
of Louis Kloepfer, I decided to visit the Gold Country of California.
Fortunately, I had a business trip to San Francisco and was able to stay
over the weekend. As I flew over the plains of the Midwest, the mountains
of Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah and the deserts of Nevada, I couldn't help
but compare my 3.5 hour flight from Kansas City to San Francisco to the 5
month "ordeal" that Jacob and Maria must have gone through in 1852. It made
the airline food much more palatable.
My business was finished about 2 p.m. on Friday so I drove from San Francisco
through the beautiful Sierra-Nevada mountains to Grass Valley via I-80 and
California Highway
49. Grass Valley was where
Jacob L. Kleopfer
was reportedly born in 1859. The area was first settled by white men in 1848,
some nine months after gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill on the American
River, 50 miles to the south. Gold was discovered near Grass Valley in the
following year. The following is a quote from the Grass Valley Telegraph
- June 29, 1854: "The village of Grass Valley ... is at the present time
one of the most flourishing of all the mountain localities. Situated in a
delightful valley, in the midst of the richest quartz veins in the world,
and possessing a combination of everything necessary to ensure to its
inhabitants, both pleasure and profit, it has gone on with a steady increase,
and unlike other California villages, bids fair to thus continue. Today Grass
Valley is a rustic mountain town of shops, restaurants, bars, antique stores,
bookstores, bed and breakfast places, and many points of historical
significance.
One of the more interesting stories relates to
Lola Montez, who
came to Grass Valley in 1853. She was a dancer of great renown and a
sensationally naughty enchantress of two continents, who once was the mistress
of Ludwig I, King of Bavaria.
Another Grass Valley celebrity was
Lotta
Crabtree, who graced theatre stages worldwide for some 50 years. She
lived there as a child of six during the time her mother ran a boarding house
for miners in 1853. Lotta's mother Mary Ann, took the child on a tour of
the rugged mining camps where the little girl, dressed in a green pixy costume,
sang and danced Irish songs and jigs. She was an immediate hit. Lotta became
America's first millionaire entertainer.
After touring Grass Valley, I continued north for a short 3 miles to Nevada
City, which is another picturesque mountain town, which boomed during the
Gold Rush. It is surprising to find two towns so near to each other which
are virtually identical in character.
Nevada County was named
after the city in 1851, after which the state of Nevada usurped the name
in 1864.
I had intended to spend most of Saturday doing some serious genealogy research
but both the Nevada County Family History Center and the Nevada County History
Branch Library were closed. Unfortunately, the only library open in Nevada
City had little genealogy information available.
I next traveled south on route 49 and followed the directions given by Francis
Carpenter through the lovely valley of the
American River where
Louis and Jacob Kleopfer traveled in 1852. I found the farm belonging to
my 3rd cousin (once removed). Francis Carpenter is the great grandson of
Louis Kleopfer
and the grandson of Adelaide Kloepfer. Francis and his wife Joy live about
2 miles from where the Kloepfers first settled some 145 years ago, on the
South Fork of the American River less than 10 miles from the original site
of Sutter's Mill at Coloma.
Francis is a Korean War veteran and has been a fire fighter for many years
in El Dorado County. Since retirement he serves on the Rescue, California
Fire District board of directors and has been very active in efforts to preserve
local historical cemeteries. He has quite a collection of old photographs,
including pictures of most of the children of Louis Kloepfer. We had a nice
visit, including dinner, and agreed to meet on Sunday morning to tour the
area.
Our first stop was about 2 miles away at Pinchem Tight, where the Kloepfers
first settled on Pinchem Creek. There wasn't a lot to see here, since the
original structures had been torn down many years earlier. Francis also pointed
to the location of Jay Hawk Cemetery where an unknown Kloepfer is buried.
Here is an excerpt from "Joys and Tears of Yesteryears" which was written
by the granddaughter of Louis Kloepfer in 1975 (see
Books and References).
"No time was wasted as Bernard Leusbrock and Jacob Kloepfer and his oldest
son struck out looking for a claim for each one of the men. All suitable
land on or near the river in Coloma, Uniontown, or the environs were taken.
The men followed the route that Lt. John C. Fremont and his guide, Christopher
(Kit) Carson, blazed along the American River (south fork). They traveled
west and then southward as it flowed down through the valley and they found
to their utter consternation that all likely mining spots had been taken.
The men thought of the discussion at the group meeting that was held the
previous evening in which it was agreed that they should try to find claims
in or near Uniontown and now they were miles away and still no prospects
for claims near the waters of that river. There was no other course to follow
but to continue downstream, all the while their thoughts glanced back, as
it were, over their shoulders to the community that the group had hoped not
to leave.
They continued until the American River received the waters of a smaller
stream. This stream was called Weber’s Creek and before that the Indians
had called it Pul-Pul Mull. (I could find no definition for that name.) It
had been explored by a friend of John Sutter, Captain Charles M. Weber who
had come up from San Joaquin in charge of a group of miners. After several
years of mining they left for the mines to the south and eventually he went
back to Stockton.
When Bernard, Jacob and his son came to the confluence of the two streams
they turned left and went upstream for several miles passing many miners
along the way. They finally found several vacant spots that looked promising.
They were near a small tributary on the west side of Weber’s Creek.
The mining spots that they had selected were too far from any settlement
to consider making their living quarters there. They had heard of a settlement
some distance up Pinchem Creek as the stream was called, so they decided
to investigate that area. Before leaving their selected claims they sunk
mining shovels or perhaps a pick in the ground, this being the accepted procedure
to hold a claim. The settlers usually observed these rules."
The next stop, less than 2 miles from Pinchem Tight, was the second Kloepfer
homestead which was a 160 acre farm which Louis Kloepfer bought around 1858.
The house is still standing after all those years, though it has been remodeled.
It is owned by Danny Flanagan, a descendant of Louis Kloepfer. Much of the
surrounding area is in the process of being divided into 5 acre lots that
currently sell for $150,000 each. Here is another excerpt from "Joys and
Tears of Yesteryears" which describes that transition.
Louis knew that John Kipp, a nearby neighbor in Pinchem, had a parcel
of 160 acres on the east side of Weber Creek which he wanted to sell. So
Louis and Bernard, this was before Bernard returned home, looked over the
land and found it desirable. Louis was not financially situated to buy at
this time, but negotiations began.
Mr. Kipp had preempted this acreage and it appears that the State of Arizona
acquired it somewhere along the line. We know this because that state appears
on the original document which is in the hands of a member of the family
who had, in 1939, along with other members of the family, purchased this
property. This writer has a photostat copy of the document.
An interesting thought is that from 1849 until 1855, some of this acreage
and nearby land was first filed on by several different persons, but no patent
was ever given to them. This would indicate that they abandoned the land
after a short time.
Louis felt that this was good agricultural land. It was in a valley at the
crest of a three quarters of a mile high hill beginning at Weber Creek. The
land was to the east of it. There were springs on it and also meadow grass
land which indicated more water. The land consisted of level as well as gentle
sloping hills.
Lumber was now becoming available as mills were springing up on Weber Creek
and there were several above Placerville, but Louis did not have the money
to build and pay for the land too. Jacob may have worked in the lumber mills,
but one doubts if Louis did.
This land was purchased by Louis and Elizabeth from John Ludwig Kipp for
$500.00 . The payments were $100.00 a year for five years. Prevailing rate
of interest was 3%, but no mention of interest payments have ever been made.
This was the same land that they homesteaded later. Here again, fate was
unkind to them since the Homestead Act did not go into effect until 1862;
if they could have waited until then a parcel of 160 acres could be had for
just working and improving on same. Still no one knew when the Act, which
was then in the talking stage, would become law. At any rate this is the
land that Louis wanted and if he waited it would most likely have been taken
by someone else.
The final stop was about 8 miles from the Kloepfer farm at Coloma,
the site of Sutter's Mill which is now a state park. We visited
St. John's
Catholic Church that the Louis Kleopfer family attended many years ago.
The church and
adjoining
cemetery are both on State Park property not far from the monument to
James Marshall who first discovered the gold in 1848. Frances showed me the
grave site where Elizabeth and Louis Kloepfer and several of their children
are buried. Louis' grave is currently unmarked and at the base of a rather
large tree that began to grow soon after he was buried. A fence and markers
will soon be in place.