By late 1847 26-year old William Frederick Keeler was out of sorts. His dry goods business in Bridgeport had burned down for a second time and he and his business partner had dissolved their co-partnership. After that he was dealing in wharfage and storage at the old Steamboat dock according to a series of newspaper ads that ran until December 1847. [1]
Although his business ventures were not what he had hoped for, a bright spot in his life was his marriage in 1846 to Anna Eliza Dutton, daughter of successful lawyer and future governor of Connecticut Henry Dutton. Their first child, named after Anna’s father, was born late the following year.
Uncertain about his business prospects in Bridgeport, and with a young family to provide for, the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in California in January 1848 presented William with the chance to reverse his fortunes. Later that year he and a group of 48 men from Connecticut that included his younger brothers James and Edward formed a joint stock company and prepared to sail to California. The following ad, which was undersigned by William, spells out the type of man they were looking for:
“FOR CALIFORNIA!
New Haven and California Mining and Trading Company.
A JOINT STOCK ASSOCIATION under the above name is now forming in New Haven under the most favorable auspices, which present several new and desirable features to those desirous of emigrating. They have engaged an experienced Captain who has made several successful voyages around the Cape, has resided nearly a year at Sutter’s Fort, and consequently is well acquainted with the Gold Region. The Association goes out on strict temperance principles—gambling is forbidden, and the sanctity of the Sabbath is to be observed. No person will be received under 21 years of age and references will be required as to good moral character. As the lists are fast filling up applications must be made soon to JAMES PUNDERFORD or L.R. FINCH, New Haven, or to the undersigned, with whom a copy of the Constitution and By-Laws may be seen. [2]
The company of Forty-Niners hired an old sea captain named John Bottom, along with a crew consisting of a first and second mate, six sailors, a physician, steward, cook and his wife. They purchased an old sailing bark named the Anna Reynolds and loaded her up with two years’ worth of supplies. On March 12, 1849 they set sail from New Haven for San Francisco in search of gold. Little did they know that it would be nearly nine months before they reached their destination.
Although none of William’s letters from the Gold Rush have survived, the journals of two fellow Forty-Niners give us a glimpse of what he and his brothers experienced. The first is his brother James’s journal, which covers their voyage to San Francisco and is filled with his beautiful pencil sketches and watercolors of ships, places and people they encountered. The second is the journal of Nelson Kingsley, which covers both the voyage and their time in California. In it he describes life on board the Anna Reynolds and in California. While Kingsley's journal is published and is available online, James Keeler's is not. It resides at the California Historical Society in San Francisco, which I visited in 2013. [3] [4]
During their long and tedious voyage to California the men entertained themselves by studying mathematics (geometry and logarithms according to Kingsley) and holding prayer meetings and debates. James Keeler, who was secretary of the company, led the men in many of these activities.
Interestingly, their debating questions are relevant even today and their decisions were surprisingly progressive: (1) “Will the discovery of gold in California be beneficial to the United States?” (decided in the affirmative), (2) “Was the manner in which our forefathers treated the aborigines justifiable?” (decided in the negative) and (3) “Does the abolishment of capital punishment tend to abate crime?” (decided in the negative). A fourth question, which Kingsley provides no answer to, was “which exercises a greater influence on the mind of mankind wealth or women?”
Their route took them as far east as Cape Verde off the west coast of Africa and from there south westward to the Falkland Islands where they encountered the huge storms of Southern winter. James Keeler’s journal describes those dreadful conditions, which would have made life on board the Anna Reynolds both miserable and terrifying.
On June 26 James reported that a heavy sea “swept clean aft & flooded the lower cabin much to the discomforture of the occupants of the lower Berths.” Another terse entry two weeks later speaks of “a most dismal night, drear & dark as pitch, & nothing to be heard but the roar of the angry elements & the shrill whistling of the wind through the rigging, the groaning of the timbers & bulkheads and the swashing of the water across the deck.”
As they approached Cape Horn the temperature dropped well below freezing. “Our ship this morning presented a most dreary aspect," stated James. "Last night was the coldest night we have had and water froze as fast as it came aboard. The Galley part of the foremast & the scuttle butts looked like one huge lump of ice.”
Describing their passage around the Horn on August 20 he wrote: “Tremendous sea running. Last night we shipped a heavy sea over the waist. It seemed as though she struck a solid rock and she trembled like a leaf from truck to keel and for a half a minute after it seemed as though she was going down. It was the heaviest sea that has yet struck us. She shipped another one of the same sort this morning at breakfast time, the cabin doors were open and a part of it pitched on the middle of the table and put the finishing touch towards cooling our coffee and soaking our biscuits.”
Although the remainder of their trip was comparatively smooth sailing, their captain continued to dawdle. After spending an unnecessary two weeks in Talacahuano, Chile the men had had enough and replaced him with the first mate. Nevertheless, it took them another two months before they reached San Francisco on November 22, 1849. It was an incredibly long journey from New Haven of 256 days.
The men remained in San Francisco for several days before heading up the Sacramento River where they would set up their winter camp in preparation for the gold fields in the spring. That story, which ended in tragedy for William, is told in Part 2.
Notes:
[1] Republican Farmer, Bridgeport, CT, 6 April 1847 to 7 December 1847.
[2] Republican Farmer, Bridgeport, CT, 16 January 1849.
[3] Diary of Nelson Kingsley, A California Argonaut of 1849, Publications of the Academy of Pacific Coast History, ed. Frederick J. Teggart, Vol. 3, 1914, University of California, Berkeley, CA.
[4] James P. Keeler Diary, 1849, California Historical Society, San Francisco, CA. The diary was donated to the CHS in 1935 by Lida Brown Trumbull, who was the daughter of William Keeler's sister Fannie Keeler Brown.
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