On my return, in looking over my finances, I was no poorer than when I
left. It must be evident to the reader that I had acquired no wealth to
astonish my friends with my riches, which was the visionary expectation
of the early pioneers to the gold Eldorado. I have been writing from
personal recollections of events that occurred forty-five years ago. Of
course, there was nothing in my enterprises, or the little fluctuations
of fortune that would be of particular interest to any one; but in the
form of a personal narrative, it was the only way I could recall
vividly to my mind, the events of so long ago. There were a series of
articles published in the _Century_ magazine two years ago, which I read
with great interest, for they were truthful, but no book has ever been
published that took in fully those two years when common labor was $16
per day, payable in gold. Such an event was never known to occur before,
and probably never will again. I have not drawn on my imagination in the
least in this narrative. I have simply attempted to portray from memory
events that actually occurred under my own observation. Any Forty-niner
will concede the truth of my narrative. I did not return to California
as I had expected. Cupid's arrow pierced my heart in the person of a
young lady, and sealed my fate. I had a cottage built in the quiet and
beautiful valley of Schoharie, where I have passed more than thirty
years of happy married life. While not possessing the wealth of the
successful pioneer, I have been content.
"A MONUMENT TO JACOB A.L. FISHER, A UNION SOLDIER.
"_Interview with Doctor Knower, who has Charge of It--Some Interesting
Reminiscences of Forty-niners._
"A monument to be erected in the Old Stone Fort Cemetery to Jacob A.L.
Fisher, a Union soldier, by Abraham Schell, his uncle, of California.
"A draft of the above monument is before us. It is quite an affair,
about twenty-seven feet high, with a full length statue of a soldier on
top. It is now being constructed in Des Moines, Iowa, to be shipped by
the 1st of May, and unveiled on the 4th day of July, 1894, with
appropriate ceremonies. Dr. Knower, in 76, in laying the corner-stone to
the David Williams State monument, gave the grandest celebration that
ever occurred in this county. This one he expects to rely to a great
extent on the local army organizations of the county, as this honor paid
to one of their compatriots in arms is an honor to them.
"We have before us a copy of the Stockton (Cal.) _Evening Mail_ of
November 9, 1893, containing a seven column article descriptive of
Abraham Schell's vineyard at Knight's Ferry, Cal. We quote from it: 'A
characteristic act of Abraham Schell was to give a deed to the entire
place and all of its appurtenances, last summer, to Herrick R. Schell,
his nephew, who had served him faithfully as assistant and business
associate for twenty-six years.' The property conveyed consisted of
three thousand acres, upon which Mr. Schell had expended at the time the
deed was given a quarter of a million of dollars. We see by the same
article that Abraham Schell's landed purchases in that locality, in the
early days, amounted to fifteen thousand five hundred and thirty-five
acres.
"Mr. Schell joined a company formed by Dr. Knower (who made an
investment in it, and was then a resident of Albany), which sailed on
the ship _Tarolinton_ from the port of New York, on the 13th of
January, 1849. The doctor, the following spring, shipped from Albany,
twelve houses around Cape Horn, the freight on which was $5,000, he
going by the way of the Isthmus, arriving in San Francisco on the 25th
of September, 1849. On the steamer going up from Panama was Judge Terry,
of Louisiana, who killed United States Senator Broderick in a duel, and
who was years afterward assassinated.
"In these early days there was a contest between Northern and Southern
pioneers whether California should come in the Union a free or a slave
State. Broderick, a Democrat from the city of New York, represented the
Northern sentiment, and was supported by the Whigs of the State. Common
labor at that time was $16 per day, payable in gold. It was more from
pride than from any thing to do with the moral question of slavery. They
did not want to come in competition with slave labor. The Northern
element predominated, and California came in a free State. Its first
constitution was written by George Washington Sherwood, who was a
Democratic member of the New York Legislature from Washington county,
and copied after the constitution of this State.
"California may be said to be the child of the State of New York; her
citizens may be said to have been pre-eminent in its development and
present greatness.
"Abraham Schell was born in Gallupville, and proposes to be buried in
the neighboring village of Middleburgh, his wife's native place, where
he has erected a monument.
"They say that all Forty-niners who remained in California either became
millionaires or paupers. It seems that Mr. Schell was one of the former.
He was an unconditional Union man in the rebellion, visiting the
hospitals of the wounded soldiers, and assisting them by his means, and
the erection of this monument to his nephew for his services in that
war is but in accord with his acts of patriotism at that time."
The above article inspired this undertaking at this time. I expected to
find my friend on at the dedication of the monument, and thought I would
have the manuscript ready on his arrival and submit it to him, and
propose to have him go in partnership with me in its publication, and
have him revise it with me. He was a man of high literary attainments,
and an experienced Forty-niner, who could have added many important
events to it that did not come under my observation. He was wealthy, and
had the means to bring it properly before the public.