Week 8 - Migration

My ancestors arrived on the shores of our nation as early as the days of the Mayflower and the settlement at Jamestowne. For four generations, the branch of my family that landed at Jamestowne remained in Virginia. It took only two generations for my Mayflower ancestors to leave Massachusetts. While my family has now migrated across the country, they tended to do so rather slowly. My Ayers, Cash, and Davis family remained in Georgia for many generations, and many of their descendants live there still today. I plucked the ancestors I'm going to tell you about today from a grandchild's family tree. This story spoke to me as a great example of big dreams, strong love, and pioneering spirit.

On 24 January 1848, James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill near Coloma, California, which resulted in a mass migration to the west. Thus began the California Gold Rush which beckoned folks from all walks of life and from all part of the world, to see their fortune and to find a cure for their "Gold Rush Fever." Such was the case with a young husband and father, James H. Green.

James was a native Kentuckian, born between 1821 and 1824, likely in Knox County. Around 1844, James married a young widow, Susan Coldiron Hendricks, who had a young daughter, Catherine. By the time the Gold Rush Fever reached the hollers of Laurel County, Kentucky, the couple had added two more daughters, Josie and Mariah. James wasted no time and joined the throngs of treasure seekers heading toward California. Unbeknownst to James, Susan was pregnant with their first son.

Arriving in California, James found lodgings in a community of Dunkards, an Anabaptist group similar to Quakers. Stories he told to his children state the Dunkards were wonderful people. Along with a young man, G. Armstrong, who he'd met along the way, they staked their claim. Most news travelled by word of mouth and it wasn't until 1858 that mail routes were established. Personal communication between Kentucky and California (more than 2,000 miles) was virtually non-existent. Not hearing from James for some time, Susan decided she would set out along, and head to California to find him. James was a Mason, so Susan joined the Eastern Star in hope that fellow Masons long the route would help her. She purchased a horse and left the four small children with family. She was hell bent on making the journey, but didn't make it far when she met with some Masons who convinced her that the long and dangerous trip was futile, especially for a single woman alone. Another story told to a grandchild was that upon returning home, she met a fortune teller who told her that James would return soon.

Although the exact date is unknown, James did return either in the late 1850 or early 1851, based on the age of their next child, Ann Chestnut. Over the next few years, two more daughters were added to the family, as all the while plans were made to return to California. By 1857, James and Susan with their children in tow, headed out into the great unknown. The route they took is uncertain, but according to stories, they travelled by flatboat on the Ohio River then to the Mississippi River. Somewhere along the Mississippi, James traded in the flatboat for oxen and a "prairie schooner" to make their way overland. The plan was to take a southern trail to California.

The route across Texas took them through Montague County which has a northern boundary of the Red River, and located north, northeast of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. It was about this time that the funds ran out and the family was forced to settle on Big Sandy Creek in the Selma Community. The births of twin girls, Maggie and Elizabeth, might also have added to the end of travel. As a note of interest, the Selma Community today sits on the bank of Amon G. Carter Lake, which was constructed in 1955. The couple were apparently quite "fruitful" as yet another set of twins, a boy Joe, and girl Mattie, joined the family in 1859. The youngest child, Tom, was born in 1864. Also settling in the same vicinity was the family of Jarrell Giles McDonald. Two of James and Susan's daughters would come to marry McDonald sons. Mariah married Cash McDonald; Ann Chestnut married Jarrell Dean McDonald (Ann and Jarrell would eventually become the fourth great-grandparents of a couple of my grandchildren).

Much happened through the first few years that the family lived in Selma. Although food was plentiful (buffalo, wild turkey and prairie hens made for an easy dinner) the family had to contend with predators, as well. One story James told to his grandchildren recalled one early morning when he heard his hounds in the woods. He grabbed his gun and as he stepped out of the house, he heard the dogs running down the hill, with a big black panther right on their heels. The dogs ran around the house and James jumped in the wagon waiting for them to return. As they rounded the house a seconded time, he shot and killed the panther but found that the panther had fatally attacked one of his dogs. 

James was a farmer, but he was also an entrepreneur. When the Butterfield Overland Express crossed the area, he found a way to supplement his income by operating a relay station where horses, mules, harnesses and feed were kept. One of his daughters fell in love and wed one of the stagecoach drivers, M.H. Coffee. The relay station venture was short-lived, however, as at the outset of the Civil War, the route was moved to a more central part of the United States.

Several warlike tribes lived in the area and for a while, the Green's and the McDonald's sought shelter at the stockade at Queen's Peak (also known as Victoria's Peak), just north of their homes. They didn't stay there long as according to the family stories, live in the stockade was less than suitable for women and young ladies. 

By this time, the settlement of Selma had grown consisting of the families of Moses Ball, C.B. Ball, J. Marlette, Chesley Marlette, McDonalds and the Greens. One Sunday morning in 1867, a group of boys which included Billy Bailey, Breck Green and Archie McDonald, headed out to find a pony that had strayed. Archie found a looking glass, a squirrel skin and red paint. He hurried home to report on this find, but his friends continued the search for the pony. Men from the settlement immediately set out to search for the boys and unfortunately, found them dead in the bed of Sandy Creek. The boys became the first to be buried in the Selma Cemetery. This was the beginning of many skirmishes with the Native Americans, which culminated with James being struck with an arrow, of which the spike remained in his leg for the remainder of his life.

James had big dreams of striking it rich, but he never made it back to California. There is no record of what became of his claim. He died in March 1869 at only 45 years of age, leaving his wife to carry on. Susan lived another 25 years and is buried next to her husband in the Selma Cemetery. Her devout love for her husband led her to follow him across the continent, even if they made it part-way. Their large family of ten children remained tight knit. Most of them remained in the area immediate area for generations. Those that left only traveled a short distance.

And speaking of a short distance - while researching this story, I discovered that James and Susan's daughter, Mary Ellen (who married John William Carter), is the great-grandmother of one of our friends here in Vernon. It just goes to show you that we live in a very small world, and as I often say, "You just never know, you might be related to your next door neighbor."