Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1897-08-27
NOTES FROM THE HUB.
ESPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS. !

bostnnlans are recalling the experience
| oi the old "Forty-niners." Captain Ed
| win ID. Wadsworth, the well-known
county commissioner of Norfolk county,
and treasurer Of the Boston marine So
clety' was among those that left Boston
in lS49 for the gold fields of California.
| Il started in October" said Captain
| Nadsworth, "a boy of l6, On the vessel
Rlchmond. There We're $50 passengers
aboard, all bound for the gold fields.
About nine-tenths of all these were
| young men under so, and only here and
| there was a man of maturer years. l
never could understand how il got abroad
that the Forty-niners were a bad lot.
All those with whom l came into con-
tact were men of at least average good
| character, and many of them were bet
/ ter than that. My fellow passengers
were mostly mechanics and young
tradesmen and apprentices, full of en-
ergy, ambition and courage. Well, l
can't say that many of us came back
with gold, but l should have returned
rich, for l struck it rich just about the
time the dysentery fastened itself on
me, and compelled me to leave the mines.
We were 1856 days going from Boston
around Cape Horn to San Francisco.
This included two stops, one at St. Cath
crimes, in Brazil, and enc at Valparaiso.
remained at San Francisco three weeks.
| had no money to get to the mines with,
and l carried the he'd for those three
weeks at IS a day. They We're building
the first big custom house there then,
and l got work easy enough. 1t was
hard work for me, though, but at the end
of the three weeks L had a chance to
| get to BeniCia. In that place, after had
been there three weeks, found a way to
| get to the mines. l guess | must have
| been one of the first three men that ever
went to the mines the way we went
there. The two other men were my COM
panions on the trip. A man in Benica
| got the idea into his head that milch
COWS would be a very desirable COM
modify at the mines, and he hired me
and two more fellows to drive a herd
| there. Nevada City was our destination,
| and it was 100 miles from Benicia. 1t was
| slow work, for we had to walk a good
| deal of the way and had to wait to let
the cows feed. AT Nevada City / struck
in at The Little Gold Run | alternated
| between this mine and the Coyote Dig
| gings' and the south fork of the Yuba
river. 1t was while l was working on a
paying lead that l was struck down by
the dysentery. l had to come home or
die, and while l was debating the ques-
| tiOn l caught the colera. That settled
the whole thing, and l left a grubstake
| claim that afterward panned out very
rich, and some other fellow got the for
tune" From 1S50-67 Captain Wadsworth
followed the sea, being in command of
ships and steamships to California and
China, and during the latter part of the
War of the Rebellion he was in charge
of steam transport, and later COM
! manded steamers to New Orleans and
Brazil. Returning to his old home in
Milton, he engaged in the coal business,
| with excellent success. He has been
chosen to nearly every office within the
gift of his townsmen-member of the
school committee, trustee of the public
library, chairman of the board of asses
sors, moderator, overseer of the poor,
surveyor of highways and selectman.
Mr. Wadsworth is a member and a di-
rector of the society of California Pho
neers of New England, and was for five
years its secretary, and during the last
IL years he has occupied the office of
treasurer of the Boston marine society.
A unique watch is in process of con-
structiOn here. 1t will be historical"
timepiece, as the material from which
| each wheel, piniOn or screw is made is
| OF historical interest. Its inventor and
constructor is r. Mariner Floyd, we'll
| known inventor and artist Mr. FLOYD is
also the president of the Boston Conserv-
atory of Music. The gold center wheel is
part of gold slater of Philip. This coin
is noted among numismatists as one of
the most perfect specimens of the coin
er's art that the world has known in the
70 centuries that have elapsed since it
was struck by orders of the founders of
the Macedonian empire. The escape
pinion is made from bit of iron used
| in the fetters of the prisoner Challon (of
| whom Byron wrote so powerfully and
with all his marvellous powers of die
| tom at the old prison at Boniyard. The
| barrel arbor is rivet taken from an old
armor used at the signing of the Magma
Charta. The fourth bridge is piece of
silver from the hilt of a sword used by
| General Warren, and the other parts,
| the jewels springs and wheels, pnions,
| screws, arbOrS etc, will be made from
| over one hundred historic relics. John l..
Stoddard, the famous traveller, and lee
ture, has given Mr.. Floyd several inter-
esting relics for use in the watch. The
National Retail Jeweler of Philadelphia.
| in ", nf ho iDupntpp'c cold oil
which he won two years ago in COMPETE
ton with the nine most famous living
Watchmakers, says Mr. Floyd has un-
Guestionably the finest private labora-
tory for developing the ideas his genius
may dictate of any matchmaker in the
world"
When the fremont theater opens its
season Of 1898, on Aug. 80, it will be
under the direction of John B. Schoeffel,
of Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau. Mr..
.Schoelfel has secured lease of the Ire
mont from the above named theatrical
company, and will give his exclusive per-
sonal attention to the house this sea-
son. Mr.. Schceffel will remain in Boston
permanently, and devote his entire time
to the management of the theater
The last will and testament of the late
| Charles II. Thayer, the theatrical ticket
seller and hotel manager, has just been
filed with the probate court. 1t is dated
Nov. ., 1886, and the executors are G.. A.
o. Ernst and J. T. Baldwin A trust
fund is created by the will for the benefit
of Mr.. Thayer's mother, Mrs. Ellen
Thayer, to be used upon her death by
Minnie Upham of Boston and Clara