Surname also spelled Zellhardt, Zillhart, Silhart, Sillhart, Sylheart, and Sylhart.

Listed in the 1860 Census for Sonoma County, Analy Township, dwelling #113 as W. H. Zilhart (a. 24, bp. KY). He is a Blacksmith with no Real Estate or personal property. Also enumerated in this census below his name are F. M. Pierce (a. 24, bp. MO, occupation: Teamster, with no Real Estate or personal property), Sarah Pierce (a. 19, bp. IA), Henry Fruits (a. 24, bp. IN, occupation: Farm Laborer with $1000 of personal property), George Shaffer (a. 18, bp. MO, occupation: Farm Laborer with $200 of personal property), and W. W. Gauldin (a. 20, bp. MO, occupation: Farmer with $900 of personal property). The inference here is that there may be a connection with these various  individuals when they were living in Missouri. James and Mary McReynolds are listed as living in dwelling #107 in this census.  

His marriage is listed in Sonoma County Marriages 1847-1902 (Sonoma County Genealogical Society, Inc., Santa Rosa, CA: 1st Edition, March 1980), p. 136 (groom) as William H. W. Zilhart married to Martha A. Gauldin, 23 Jun 1863, Book A Page 344 (J. W. Sacry, officiant -- minister of One Tree Baptist Church, Santa Rosa, 1861-1866). It is not known whether William had a second middle name or that this extra initial was entered incorrectly.

There appears to be a twenty year difference in the married couple's ages, and if the above picture of the couple has been identifed correctly, Zilhart looks very young for supposedly being 36 years of age (if this is their wedding picture).

William Henry Zilhart was hired by either Larkin Davenport Cockrill or John McReynolds (there were family connections between the Zilhart's and the McReynolds') to take care of the livestock for the 1853 Hagans-Cockrill immigration. He is also the author of the only extant diary of that trip, which is known as the Ledger of My Travels from Missouri to California April to October 1853. It was probably kept as a record to keep track of the days on the trip which he was to be paid. The diary is a some what spare and unobservant account of undoubtedly the greatest adventure in the life of a lovelorn, semi-literate, ranch hand who hated horses.

William H. Zilhart is recognized as building the first lean-to "house" in Bloomfield, California in 1853. He also built and operated the first blacksmith's shop in that town. Though this accepted version of the town's history differs somewhat from the history recollected by Rebecca Woodson who makes no mention of Zilhart in Bloomfield.

A short biography of William H. Zilhart by Jeanne Miller:

William Zilhart was born in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, in 1827. He was the son of George and Jane Zilhart who lived in the center of town near the main intersection. The house is now a store, but still (1987) has a porch across the front. The family had come to Jeffersontown about 1796 and helped to lay it out. They were Lutheran in faith and members of the family are buried next to the Lutheran Church close to the center of town.

William appears to have had a rudimentary education, but at the time spelling was not included. His record of the trip seems to have been made to make sure that he was reimbursed for any outlay he made on behalf of his employers. He brought with him a cousin, Wesley W. Zilhart, a son of his uncle John. Wesley was believed to have been retarded. William may have been visiting his uncle's family at the time he was hired for the trip.

It is not certain by whom he was hired, but he remained with Larkin D. Cockrill in Bloomfield in Sonoma County, so he may have been his employer. Larkin was said by descendants to have financed the trip. Members of the party believed that William was in love with Rachel Guttridge, the eldest daughter of William B. Cockrill, but there is no suggestion that it anteceded the trip of 1853. He writes of Olivia Cockrill, Larkin's daughter, as a friend, but his delight in the separation of Rachel and her husband, John Guttridge, sheds a little light on his attachment.

William did not marry until about 1865, choosing to wed a girl who was on the wagon train but twenty years younger than he. Her family tells of her adoration for him all the ensuing twelve years. It was to a descendant of William that Florence Gilbert was instructed to deliver the diary by her grandmother, Ellen Wells. It was delivered to C. F. Ward, of Santa Rosa, who lent it to a niece. The niece died suddenly and the original was thrown out in the garbage, according to Mr. Ward, whom I interviewed about 1962. We can be grateful to Miss Helen Hoag, whose mother was on the wagon train at age 13, that we have the copy from which our working copies came. Florence Gilbert is said to have also made a copy, but I have not seen it, and she did not mention it in any of the interviews I had with her in the decade of the sixties.

From a letter by Ruth Baske (Bodega, Ca) to Jeanne Miller, 28 April 1995:

[Adam Clark McCown] He was a cousin of my great grandfather, Henry Sylvester McCown. He was born in Virginia ca. 1833. The family moved to Missouri. His father was William McCown born ca. 1808/10 in Hanover Co., VA; died 1858, Deepwater, Henry Co., Mo...

Adam was working as a blacksmith with Wm Zellhardt who owned a blacksmith shop in Freestone in March 1859. On March 2, 1859, James M. Hudspeth sold 50 acres to Wm. and Adam for $324.00 on the Jonive Rancho... I guess [William] moved from Bloomfield to Freestone by 1859... Adam moved to Oregon. He lived in the Tygh Valley. He married Helen Boynton (1), children: 1. Charles William; 2. Mamie (Zumwalt); 3. Lyda (McCartney); married (2) Lydia Collins, children: James Garfield 1892-1974, 2. Benjamin Frankland, 1894, unmarried.

From an email message to me from Shirley M. Pope, 11 January 2003:

William Henry Zilhart was living with my grandfathers family in Sedalia, Missouri when the 1850 census was taken. The Family was John Zilhart and Nancy White Zilhart and their children, which included Wesley White Zilhart, who was also on the 1853 wagon train. John was a brother to William's father. One of the daughters of this family was my gggrandmother Susannah Zilhart Wells

Two of her sons, Charles Wells and John Wells, eventually settled in Sonoma County. Charles Wells was my ggrandfather. John Wells wife was Ellen McReynolds Wells and I have made connections with their descendants in the Sonoma area. A granddaughter, Florence Wells, was the one who made a copy of William Henry's diary from the original, which was then given back to the Zilharts, and was told that they eventually threw it away. Florence was seventeen when she copied the diary during the 1920's and she did correct some of the spelling at the start.

I have been able to trace the Zilhart Family back to 1750, when they came to the United States from Germany. Much of my information came from a researcher in Kentucky, Lt. Col. Jobson, who wrote a book about some of the first families who were in the Jeffersontown and Louisville, Kentucky area.

There appears to be some uncertainity of whether the typed copy of the Zilhart diary was originally done by Edith and Helen Olivia Hoag or Florence (Wells) Gilbert.

Obituary from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Vol. XLII No. 64, Wednesday, May 17, 1899:

William Henry Zilhart, the blacksmith of Gwynn's Corners, on the Healdsburg road, an old pioneer of this county, is dead. The final summons came on Friday. Mr. Zilhart was a native of Kentucky, and was 74 years and 5 months old at the time of death. The cause of death was chronic bronchitis, with heart failure.