Although only about a third of this book takes place in the United States, it is still worthwhile to read, especially if you had an ancestor who lived in California during or just after the Gold Rush. The first part of the story follows the title character, Eliza Sommers, through her childhood and youth in Chile. She was a foundling, raised by an English family, almost as a daughter, with all of the strictures of 1840’s English society. The second section tells us the life story of Tao Chi’en, a Chinese healer, who befriends Eliza and helps her get to California. Which leaves the third section of the book to describe California circa 1850.
The two arrive in California at the height of the Gold Rush, and what chaos they find. Ships are abandoned in San Francisco’s harbor, because the sailors would rather search for gold. The town is more like a camp at first, there are very few women, and basic necessities are hard to come by. By the end of the novel, San Francisco is a city with some of the refinements you could find in a city on the East Coast. However, in parts of the city, and definitely in the vicinity of the mines or placers, violence, racism, and rough justice prevail. Allende does not dwell on the more sordid aspects of life on the California frontier, but she does not shy away from them either.
Apparently, one of my 2nd Great-granduncles was a “Miner 49er”. From other sources of information, I knew the names of his wife and children, and I found them, but not him, just where I expected in the 1850 census. I briefly wondered if he had died, but then there he was, back with his family in the 1860 census. Looking more closely, I found him, with his name poorly transcribed, in the 1850 census, in El Dorado County, California! The value of his real estate tripled between 1850 and 1860, but the family also moved from Indiana to Minnesota, so it’s hard to know, without a lot more research, how much gold he might have brought home with him. I’m sure his family was happy when he returned, regardless.
If this was your family, how would you research them? Many of the characters in this novel change their names when they get to California, either to evade the law or public censure, or simply to recreate themselves. It would have been the perfect opportunity to do so. However, if your ancestors were not fugitives from the law or gossip, they might be found in the 1850 census. Also, there were already newspapers in San Francisco in the early 1850’s. City directories don’t seem to start until the early 1860’s.