Manuscripts

Ellison Lassell Crawford correspondence

Image not available

Description: Crawford wrote these letters to his father James B. Crawford. In the letters Ellison Crawford describes his life in California. He includes descriptions of Sacramento, San Francisco as well as the mining camps Willow Creek, Spanish Diggings, and Spanish Bar. Crawford also talks about mining and the difficulties in finding gold, trying to attend church regularly, bad weather, selling supplies to his fellow miners, the Chinese mining near him, vigilance committee activity, murders, and crime in general.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1852-1857.
Call number: mssHM 68084-68105
Creator: Crawford, Ellison Lassell (1833-1895)(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Purchased from Argonaut Bookshop, July 10, 1964.
Find out more

Ronald Crawford letter to Medorem Crawford

Manuscripts

In this letter to his brother Medorem, Ronald Crawford writes of his struggles searching for gold. Incomplete; only first three pages of letter.

mssHM 31269

Image not available

Charles P. Crawford notebook

Manuscripts

Notebook containing miscellaneous accounts and records kept by Charles P. Crawford between 1853 and 1869. Included are lists of slaves that Crawford and his younger brother Joel Terrell Crawford (1833-1862) bought from his father's estate in 1858. Also included is a "Memorandum for Lee County" containing lists of goods and property, including slaves, which Crawford intended to bring with him when the family moved there from Americus in 1859.

mssHM 71717

Image not available

John D. Crawford letter to Medorem Crawford

Manuscripts

In this letter to his brother, John Crawford writes that he has just finished building a house for himself ten miles outside Georgetown, California. In addition, he has also built a public house at the head of Otter Creek, and hopes that it will do good business. Despite the varying success of mining in recent times, he considers his prospects for the next year to be looking well, and after that time, he hopes to settle somewhere in the west or south.

mssHM 16378

Image not available

Medorem Crawford letter to "Dear Grandfather,"

Manuscripts

In this letter to his otherwise unnamed grandfather, Medorem Crawford writes about his experience aboard the military barque "Torrent" en route from Fort Vancouver "on which our Battery was embarked." The ship wrecked, and Crawford endeavored to "save as many of the one hundred and sixty people aboard as possible." Once gaining shore in Alaska at Fort Kodiak, Crawford writes that "we are about as poor as poverty can make us" and that "this is a miserably poor country fit for nothing but the furs which abound here." In addition, he writes that "one of the greatest objections I have to the country is that there are from ten to a dozen earthquakes here every year. Caused by two active volcanoes which are within a hundred & fifty miles of here."

mssHM 31268

Image not available

John D. Crawford letter to Medorem Crawford

Manuscripts

In this letter to his brother, John D. Crawford asks for as many blankets as possible to be sent to California, for they are sorely needed, and also includes a few details of other business and debts.

mssHM 31266

Image not available

Medorem Crawford letter to Samuel G. Crawford

Manuscripts

In this letter to his father, Medorem Crawford laments the war with the Cayuse Indians, which he describes as "truly a death blow to Oregon for several years unless the U.S. Govt. comes this summer & pays the expenses of the war." He does not think the provisional government of the territory will be able to continue much longer, and describes the effects on the people settled there. He also relates news of his own business and family.

mssHM 31272

Ellison Lassell Crawford correspondence

Opening Hours

Admission Info and Tickets

You might also be interested in

Ronald Crawford letter to Medorem Crawford

Charles P. Crawford notebook

John D. Crawford letter to Medorem Crawford

Medorem Crawford letter to "Dear Grandfather,"

John D. Crawford letter to Medorem Crawford

Medorem Crawford letter to Samuel G. Crawford