California Pioneers Arriving in the State on 20 Sep 1849

Diana, Goddess of the Hunt — for Ancestors!

Source: Walter C. Allen. 1948. The Society of California Pioneers: Centennial Roster, Commemorative Edition. Soc. of California Pioneers, San Francisco, CA.

We know from several sources that, as a teenager, Thomas Henry LAINE, later California Senator and, at one time, Vice President of the Society of California Pioneers, came to California by wagon train in the company of his mother, Mildred Bell (CAVE) LAINE THOMPSON, and his step-father, Rev. Thomas THOMPSON and that they arrived in September of 1849.

In the above source, the members of the Society are listed in an index giving their date of arrival, or the date of arrival of their ancestor, in California. Thomas H. Laine gives his arrival date as 20 Sep 1849. On the off chance that one or more of the other arrivals in California on that date were members of the same wagon party, I have gleaned those names from the index that also gave an arrival date of 20 Sep 1849, with the hope, primarily, that we may someday find that a member of that party kept a journal of the trip.

ADRAIN, William
ANDERSON, John
BURKE, Ethelbert
DUNCAN, William L.
FARISH, Adam T.
FISCHER, Joseph
GAGE, A.K.
GOODWIN, Jesse O.
GROAT, Richard V.
HARKNESS, Martin K.
HASKINS, Charles W.
HAY, Henry
LANE (sic), Thomas H.
McGLANAHAN, Thomas M.
MORGAN, James H.
PALMER, Noah
RANDOLPH, W.C.
STEVENS, Cornelius
STORM, Cornelius
STORY, William F.
THORNE, Isaac N.

Also (for what it’s worth), a prominent Christian County, Kentucky, surname appears in the list as having arrived two months earlier (18 July 1849):

MEACHAM, George W.

It may also be worthwhile to seek out a later membership roster to see if any new members have joined based on an ancestor who arrived on or near that date.

And one has to wonder just what constitutes one's "date of arrival." The day one crossed the state line? (Would they even know? I doubt there was a roadsign.) The day one reached their final destination? Different members of the same party may have had a different concept of their "arrival date," for which reason I wish I had broadened my search to at least ten days either side of the 20th. When I have the time and patience to scan the index, again...

Diana Gale Matthiesen, 26 Jul 1998

Family Group Sheet of Thomas H. LAINE

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