As frequently happens, the beginning did not seem to be a beginning. Persuaded by friends to undertake the restoration and rehabilitation of an old brick boarding house on Beaver Street seemed monumental enough at the time (1958), it ultimately led me into a twenty year relationship with one of Santa Rosa's earliest landmarks. My initial contact found a dwelling which required everything from a new foundation to a new roof and a complete renovation of the wiring and plumbing. As if that were not enough, holes in the exterior, the result of piecemeal improvements over the years, had to replaced with new siding. About all that remained of the original structure, were one of the three fireplaces (all of which had been sealed), one bedroom with twenty-four inch wide flooring boards, the existing walls, and certain uneven floors with slight listing of the balloon frame which attested to its advanced age.

The foundation consisted of sixteen-by-sixteen inch sills which had rested in the soil for some hundred years or more, showing only the slightest dry rot on the most exposed corners. All three fireplaces required extensive cleaning and recapping at the top. The balloon frame construction of the floors in the back portion of the house, had to be taken up so that the foundation could be brought up to code. The building inspector demanded that there be an eighteen-inch clearance under the house, but an inspection of the soil under the house showed that no moisture had seeped in since the first construction. As the neighboring lots were all about six inches lower than the small area remaining around the house, it was patently foolish to create a sump, into which all the neighbors could drain. The agreement was three inches of clearance.

As indeterminate as its condition, the house's history and origins had also deteriorated with time. A title deed search led me through more than fourteen deeds and transfers to follow the ownership from 1958 to an original grant. The original California land holder, Julio Carillo, had made a deed which was approved in 1855, where a 160 acres of land, one half mile square, was transferred to one Henry Beaver. The starting point for the land description, begins with a certain white oak tree about one-half mile from the Santa Rosa Creek. Eventually becoming one the several oak trees on the school grounds of the Santa Rosa Junior High School, it probably is now (1979) no longer there. The description goes one to describe the northern line of the deed which now follows Wright Street north. One half mile would bring one to Spencer Avenue, one half mile west to Mendocino and one half mile south to the corner of Tenth Street and what was once known as Healdsburg Avenue (now as of 1979 -- an extension of B Street). The southern border of the property does not follow any line on a contemporary map except that point where the older streets of the town once ended in a creek, and when new streets where later established to the north a bend resulted which connected a later subdivision (Farmer and Ames), to the original town streets. Though the deed was recorded in 1855, there were already two houses existing on the property: a frame house which had been built by Beaver's partner, James A. Cockrill, Jr., and a brick house built by Beaver himself.

This then was the beginning problem. Curiosity being the traditional trait of women and cats, got the best of me and inquiries were begun as to the builder, his origins, training and what happened to him. One friend, who got into the job in the beginning, furnished the information that Miss Aletha Hoag, old time Santa Rosan, would be the most like to know. An interview with Miss Hoag produced the fact that the house was indeed built by her great-uncle, Henry Beaver, for whom the street was named, who arrived in Santa Rosa in the early 1850's. According to her, Beaver built a kiln to make bricks for his house. He also made enough to advertise bricks for sale in the local paper, The Santa Rosa Democrat, in 1857. Further interviews with Miss Hoag shed considerable light on the lineage of Mrs. Beaver's family, the Cockrills, which goes back to the American Revolution. Though from our initial interviews, Miss Hoag could not recall from whence the Cockrills came and there was an impasse until she recalled a diary, of which she had a copy, kept by a member of the Cockrill party when they arrived in Santa Rosa Valley.

The diary, which was kept by one William H. Zilhart, gave the year as 1853 and the starting point of the journey as Bates County, Missouri. Brief as it is, the diary was also a far cry from the usual literary excursions in which many of the diarists of that era indulged. It is an account of day to day progress, stopping points, road conditions, weather and so on, which is of great help in making comparisons with other diaries of that year.

Since Beaver was recorded in the censuses of both 1850 and 1852 as having been in Siskyou County, California, it appears that he had made more than one trip. While the diary mentioned few names and a few initials, there was no list of members of the party, nor mention of the number of wagons, people, stock, or anything to help confined the search.

In an article in the Sacramento Union from November 1853, yielded the following information from the Sonoma Bulletin (a copy of this issue is no longer extant):

IMMIGRATION. -- Says the Sonoma Bulletin, with regard to immigration this season across the plains: `There were between twenty-five and thirty teams, with one family to each on an average, or altogether about one hundred and twenty-five persons, bringing with them not less than three thousand head of American cattle, principally milch cows and work oxen, besides a number of horses and mules, and twelve hundred sheep.'

From the foregoing the writer has attempted to locate one hundred and twenty-five people who arrived in 1853, most of whom were either related or known to each other before the trip was begun.

The then-named Dwinelle Library at the Santa Rosa Junior College furnished Sonoma County Histories in addition to sources in the writer's own library. Additional checking was also done at the local library of the Latter Day Saints, and the Santa Rosa-Sonoma County Public Library. A careful reading of all available biographical data, as well as the historical text, resulted in a list of possible members of the wagon train, though the diary itself unhappily was very sparsely furnished with names or identities. Zilhart did not even include the name of his "intended."

Libraries and official records in Mendocino, Lake and Napa Counties were searched in like manner, as well as Santa Clara County. The California State Library index file of pioneer names furnished newspaper references as well as other county histories, which otherwise might easily have been missed.

Some descendants proved to be strangely uncooperative, but an advertisement in the Fresno Bee brought forth a grandson of Henry Beaver, Henry F. Beaver, who shed light on the later period of the life of the family. They had gone to Santa Clara County, Monterrey County, and eventually to Kings County in the San Joaquin Valley, where Henry Sr. and his wife are buried in the cemetery at Lemoore. The descendants knew nothing of the foreclosure and virtual bankruptcy which had driven the family from Santa Rosa in 1860. The San Joaquin Valley descendants of Henry Beaver were able to produce a family Bible and numerous pictures to augment those obtained from the Cockrill family. One descendant in Los Angeles County was able to identify some pictures and furnish others.

A visit to the Huntington Library produced more information from many of the diaries of both 1849 and 1853. The former were needed to find a reference to the Hudspeth-Meyers party, which seemed to be the most likely association for the original trip, based on the census report of Beaver's presence in California in 1850. The later diaries were analyzed in digest form in order to compare dates and sites along the trail. This resulted in some information, but a trip to Eugene, Oregon, to interview Mrs. Lon (Leah C.) Menefee, a student of the 1853 year on the trail, was rich in results.

Mrs. Menefee furnished partial copies of several diaries of 1853, one of which described the manner in which one party was bringing one hundred thoroughbred horses in groups of twenty-five each. The Sacramento Union of November 7, 1853 yielded almost a hundred thoroughbred horses from Ohio arriving on the same date as the Beaver-Cockrill train.

In 1960 the writer made her first trip to Bates County, Missouri, to search the records for property sales up to the date the wagon train departed. This revealed several names of families, hitherto unsuspected as having been in the train.

Starting with the Cockrill family, which included four generations, together with numerous in-laws, several other surnames were then added, namely McReynolds, Hardin, Hagans, Weddle, Riley, and Zilhart. Some elimination of other members of these families were made possible by the study of the census reports of 1850 and 1852. One very large clan was largely eliminated by this means, but did reveal the immediate family of David HOPPER, but not until information was obtained and checked of a hundred and fifty year genealogy.

Mrs. O. H. Hoover, of Mendocino County, discovered and saved from a garage sale in Oregon the memoirs of an Edwin Hagans, whose father and brother were among the leaders of the 1853 wagon train, which gave additional information of the later years of that family. Other members of the Hagans family have so far been untraceable.

The 1850 Census of Bates and neighboring counties in Missouri fortunately produced ages and birthplaces for the names which could be found for the wagon train list. The Great Register of Voters were available but dated only after 1867, but these furnished confirmation of ages of those surviving until that time, as well as confirming birthplaces. The Sutro Library in San Francisco furnished an excellent collection of County histories, especially those of Missouri, namely Cass and Bates Counties. Microfilm copies in the State Library at Sacramento and the California Historical Society Genealogy Room at San Francisco provide further information in local and family histories.

On a second trip to Bates County little progress was made, although the terrain became more familiar and understandable. On the same trip, a visit to Granville, Ohio, helped (by the aid of a small miracle) to connect Beaver's birthplace, which seems to have been Licking County. The very week of our arrival in Granville, a retired professor to whom the writer had an introduction (another lucky accident), had located the record of the first decade of the 19th Century of a small church, once known as Beaver's Meeting House, on Beaver Run, were one David Beaver had settled in 1803. The nearest village to this was known as Luray, which was also the same name as the town which the Beavers had come from in the Shenandoah Valley. By some strange providence this is the same name of the town in France which Beaver's ancestors had left in the 16th Century with the expulsion of the Huguenots. During their time in France, the family was known as De Beauvoir, and in Alsace it was Bieber, but after their arrival in Pennsylvania in 1740, they had changed it once more as Beaver. All this information turned up in a genealogy of the family loaned the writer by the descendant of yet another Henry Beaver, who came to Sonoma County in the 1860's. Another copy of the same genealogy was located at the Sutro Library.

In 1968, on a return trip from Michigan, and with the aid of a young relative, an attempt was made to follow the route of Hudspeth-Myers cut-off in Idaho. A study of the 1849 diaries revealed many comments regarding the route. Included in Mrs. Menefee's papers was a survey of the route made in 1851 by a surveyor, George Belding, in chart form giving directions and mileages from Soda Springs in Idaho as far as Thousand Springs Valley in Nevada. This conformed to the route taken by the party as recorded in the Zilhart diary, so some familiarity with the route appeared to have existed.

A second trip to the area the next year, ended just at the entrance to the Thousand Springs Valley, the first trip having foundered in an early snowfall. The third attempt to connect the last link of the trail into Nevada was even more disastrous, as a sudden downpour left the road sodden. With all "thousand springs" pouring forth, the road disintegrated beneath the tires and only a quick reverse action averted a soggy end to the trip. Several other trips between Wells, Nevada and the Sacramento Valley in a four-wheel drive vehicle, along with various consultations with local experts, served to cover the remainder of the trail.

In Amador County, a search of various records yielded but little information regarding a man named Stuart S. Hartram, at whose ranch the party rested near the town of Volcano. Hartram apparently passed the rest of his life in that area, but there is little beyond a few deeds and voter's registers to attest to his existence.

A visit to Stanislaus State College enabled me to consult with Dr. J. Carlyle Parker, who was then interested in the 1853 trail history, as he was preparing to edit the diary of William Browder. As far as is known at this time [1975], it has not yet been published. As in all cases here, a careful study was made in each locality of local county histories. At this time, a single reference was made to a descendant of Sylvester Weddle. The Zilhart diary referred to one "Wedle" but not explanation was made, nor had any other mention been made of this person or family. The reference led to a recheck in Napa County, where descendants were located who did not wish to be interviewed, claiming to know nothing about their antecedents.

Other trips were made between Bates County and the Rockies, where I experienced the kind of rain described in various diaries. They were horrendous, at times obscuring even the front of one's own car. One diarist said he could not even see the team ahead of him, and I can attest this this is possible. At least I was in a car, not in a canvas covered wagon or huddled in a tent trying to hold an umbrella over a fire to get something hot to eat.

In a burst of belated activity, I went to Spartanburg, South Carolina to race the Cockrill family back to the 18th Century. Nearby was the scene of the Battle of Cowpens, fought by back-woodsmen under General Daniel Morgan, against Tarleton's forces. A researcher in the area was most helpful and painstakingly searched her files for any pertinent information. What appeared was hardly relevant, but she put me in touch with others who may be contacted for details, especially regarding genealogy. The problem in South Carolina however, is a dearth of personal data, such as marriage, birth and death records were nonexistent as late as 1840. A visit to Furman University near Greenville turned up a letter of reprimand to a Baptist preacher for cluttering up their records with such irrelevancies.

From South Carolina, I proceeded to Tennessee and on to Kentucky which was the next sojourning place of the Cockrills, and also the place where young Beaver was to appear when he was in his twenties. Just where he met his future wife is uncertain, but they were married in Bates County, Missouri, so it is highly improbable that they met in Kentucky. The Cockrills settled in Allen County, a fact that I missed on my first trip to southern Kentucky. The records of Bowling Green were poorly organized. Neighboring Barren County, from which came another Cockrill brother-in-law, William Boyd Hagans, was another matter. At first glance what appeared to be meticulously organized and indexed records (even with soundex) turned up a Hagans will filed as O'Higgins.

My arrival on the first Kentucky excursion was ill-timed, as I arrived in Louisville on the eve of Derby Day, and everything was closed. One previous visit to Frankfort had produced nothing because of my lack of sufficient background information. The 1978 visit however, found the small but wonderful Filson Club Library open. The collection is not extensive but very complete as to Census Reports, Indexes and particularly, material regarding Jefferson County. One of the families had been known to come from nearby Oldham County, namely PeeWee Valley, a beautiful suburb of Louisville, but most of the data regarding that family came from another source, namely an extensive genealogy done by Fredna T. Irvine, of Belmont, Massachusetts.

One of the blind alleys had been the diarist himself, and his cousin Wesley who had come with him on the trip. The greatest yield of the visit to the Filson Library was a complete surprise. A recent publication, 1977, of a history of Jeffersontown (J'town), in Jefferson County, a suburb of Louisville, gave abundant information regarding two men both named Philip Zilhart, father and son. In an interview with the author, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Dodson, brought forth a genealogy of four generations, including the diarist, William, of whom the author knew only that he had "gone to California". The elder Philip signed papers in German when he came to Jefferson County in the 1790's so it may be presumed that his father, Godfrey, was the one who came from the continent, if not Philip himself. His son, Philip Jr., however was not the father of diarist nor is there any mention of him being the father of Wesley. The California descendants of William however, refer to Wesley as a "cousin" of their grandfather, rather than a brother (or son of William's father George Zilhart). This leaves one more point to be cleared up, if possible.

Attempts to clear up the mystery of Amos Riley, whose father is said to have been the prototype for Simon Legree, made famous by Harriet Beecher Stowe, have come to little more than futility. A copy of the Reader's Digest article about the historical Uncle Tom, revealed names which appeared to be based on a little more than a one-sided account of Josiah Henley written for his children many years after the fact. Missouri records turned up some four or five Amos Rileys of the general period, but it is almost impossible to differentiate between them. That our Amos Riley was a great Nevada land owner along with his partner, Col. James A. Hardin, was well documented and the Nevada Historical Society Library was most helpful.

Another dim area is John S. Blackburn, related in some way to the Cockrills, as several of the children carried Blackburn as a middle name. Also, the first wife of James A. Cockrill Jr. was a Blackburn. John Samuel Blackburn, Sr. was the husband of Nancy Beaver, the twin sister of Henry, but other than that they were reputed to have had three sets of twins, though records show only three children -- none of whom was a "Bruce," who was remembered by members of the family in later years. Their elder son, John S. (or L.) was a Marshall in Nevada in later years, but the connection is an extremely nebulous one.

As a last resort ot sort some kind of order out of the chaos of the gleanings of years of work, the writer went for help to the History Department of the California State University of Sonoma. Finding a sympathetic ear and valuable clues to further sources to check, in order to tie up some the numerous loose ends, the search has been gradually dwindling out.