From Sojourners to Immigrants - by Zina Abbott

Either to escape poverty or political conditions in their birth nations, or inspired by promises of land and freedom, individuals and families from many countries in the world poured into North America during the nineteenth century. They came to make their homes in the new world; they came to stay. Many endured discrimination and poverty as they sought to become established, but they mostly refused to be deterred.

One large group of people who traveled to the Americas starting in the 1850s did not come with the intent to stay. They saw themselves as sojourners, not immigrants. At first, lured by tales of gold so plentiful a person could pick it up off the ground or pluck it from streambeds, thousands of impoverished and politically oppressed Chinese yielded to the enticements of Caucasian businessmen looking for cheap labor or San Francisco Chinese merchants who had established themselves in what they called Gum Saan (or, I have also seen it spelled Gum Sahn), which is California, and came to mean the United States in general. Translated, Gum Saan means “Gold Mountain.”

 

Canton

These sojourners came mostly from Canton in the southern region of China (now known as Guangzhau). They came with the intent to stay only a year or so to make their fortunes. Afterwards, they planned to return to China with enough wealth to buy land or pay off the taxes owed on land already held by the family. With their abundance, not only would their families have sufficient to eat, but they could also afford some of the better things in life.

This was a venture taken on mostly by young, healthy males. The families, to provide incentive for their departing young men to return and to not leave them destitute while they were away living the single life in Gum Saan, insisted, wherever possible, that the men married before they left. Hopefully, they also sired a child.

Most of the Chinese men who came to the west coast of the Americas, predominately California, quickly learned their dreams would not be fulfilled as planned. They were met with fees owed to wealthy Chinese societies or merchants who had fronted them their boat ticket money. They found gold to not be as plentiful as the stories told at home indicated. They found themselves dealing with discrimination and hostility by other gold miners, particularly Americans who were determined to keep the wealth of the new state of California, which had recently been acquired after the war with Mexico, for Americans.

In spite of these difficulties, the sojourners realized things were better in Gold Mountain than at home in Canton. They stayed. They worked abandoned gold claims. They started shops, grew food, and found many other ways to earn income to pay off their debts and send money home to their families, including the wives their parents had arranged for them to marry--women who, in many cases, were virtual strangers.

The Pearl River in Canton continued to flood, and the economic and political situation in China continued to flounder. When the Central Pacific Railroad decided to hire Chinese workers due to the shortages in the labor pool in California, the availability of work for railroad companies prompted more Chinese sojourners to sail to Gold Mountain. I wrote a post for another blog about the experience of the Chinese constructing the Central Pacific Railroad through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. You may read it by CLICKING HERE.

 

Mural in the lobby of Ogden Union Station

It has been estimated that between 1840 and 1900, 2.5 million people emigrated from China. They traveled all around the Pacific Basin, but the largest group traveled to the United States. Between 1852 and 1882, many predominantly male Chinese laborers and a few merchants and labor brokers came. Most of them entered through San Francisco. In Dai Fow, meaning "Big City" or "Number One City," the Chinese name for San Francisco’s Chinatown, the Chinese societies found them work and collected a fee for their services. These Chinese men soon discovered, instead of being here a year or two as sojourners before returning home to China, many of them could never afford to leave. They continued to send letters and money home to family in China, but they stayed. They had not come with the intent of being immigrants, but many became immigrants by default. They died far from their homes in Canton. One of the services the Chinese benevolent societies provided was to send the bones of those who died in Gold Mountain home to their families in China so they could be worshiped along with the other family ancestors. A few wives joined their husbands in Gold Mountain, but most chose to stay home in China.

 

Market Street in old San Francisco Chinatown

In case you may be thinking that this large group of Chinese men living in a country where there were relatively few women, let alone Chinese women, happily accepted living a celibate life for the duration, think again.

When it comes to the history of Chinese prostitutes in America, many point to the famous prostitute and madam, Ah Toy, as an example of a woman who managed to gain her freedom, become wealthy, and achieve a certain degree of autonomy and influence. She was an exception. First of all, she came right about the time the California Gold Rush first started, which was before the power structures in California in general, and Chinatown in particular, were fully established. However, as the demand for Chinese women to service the large Chinese male population grew, the Chinese societies, or tongs, began to import women for that purpose. As the criminal elements in the tongs became stronger, or criminal elements from China came to the United States to form new tongs specifically for the purposes of getting rich off of the vice trades—gambling, prostitution, opium dens, and protection rackets—the situation became more difficult for women who were either lured to the United States with false promises of work or marriage, or who were kidnapped outright in Canton or Hong Kong and brought over to be forced into prostitution.

In addition to the intense discrimination the Chinese people faced as a whole as their numbers increased, the Victorian society that existed among those of European descent found the existence of a large number of prostitutes in the Chinese sections of towns especially offensive. They established procedures and passed laws to make it even more difficult for Chinese women to enter the United States. The overall attitude of most white Americans was, they did not want more Chinese brothels, and they certainly did not want a large number of Chinese families to become established in the United States. They wanted all the Chinese to go back to China. 

Countering the increased difficulties of being able to get Chinese women into this country to meet the growing demand by Chinese males, the criminal tongs with their "hatchet men" enforcers soon held the vice trades in Chinatowns throughout the American West in a stranglehold.

Along with the gold mining regions of the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains, this is part of the cultural and social climate in which my novel, Escape from Gold Mountain, is set. My story is inspired by true events. My Chinese heroine is loosely based on a real woman named Ling Loi. In September, 1884, she left the gold mining town of Lundy in order to return to Chinatown with her earnings. She did not get far before she found herself caught in a situation that resulted her name being recorded for posterity. (I did not find her name in any newspaper accounts. I found it in a book written by a local Mono County historian.)

Although there are very few details about this woman’s life, including how her life proceeded after she left the region, this incident prompted me to write my story. It is my longest novel to date. Aside from my belief that it is an exciting, action-filled adventure surrounding a tender romance, I did more research for this book than for any other of my books to date. I hope my book accurately depicts the conditions of that time as they relate to the Chinese people living in the United States, particularly many of the women. I hope this story will help my readers develop a greater understanding and appreciation for the difficulties encountered by the nineteenth century Chinese women whose lives became part of the fabric of the American West.

Escape from Gold Mountain is now on preorder at both Amazon and Barnes&Noble. I know this will throw a curve ball to some of my readers who are accustomed to my shorter works being published exclusively on Amazon and available on Kindle Unlimited. I have decided to start publishing my longer books with vendors other than Amazon, at least for a short time, to make them available to a wider reading audience. Before the end of September, I will make Escape from Gold Mountain available on Kindle Unlimited.

 

Sources:

http://sciencenetlinks.com/blog/snl-educator/apahm-2014-building-transcontinental-railroad/

https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2019/05/07/chinese-transcontinental-railroad-ghosts-of-gold-mountain-gordon-chang

https://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h2715.html

Carylin' on the Oregon / California Trail - Day Six

Caryling on the Oregon Trail

DAY 6

Though we were gone many more days, this is the last day I'll be sharing here on our incredible, awesome research journey on the Oregon / California Trail. On this day we broke off from the Oregon Trail and went south on the California Trail for the rest of our trip.

Near Fort Hall was where the wagon trains had a parting of the ways, some going north if  Oregon was their destination or south for the wagons going on to California.

We woke up in Pocatello, Idaho, where the actual Fort Hall is now on the Shoshone-Bannock Indian Reservation about thirty miles away and is inaccessible general public without special permits.

But a replica was built in the city in the in 1960s. We visited the public museum there. Once we left, we got to Nevada very quickly.

I finally got to see the actual tracks of the wagons near Wells, Nevada. There'd been lots of places where you could see them before, but since we took our trip in December, our choices were more limited.

We had to drive a ways out of Wells, Nevada, but what a thrilling sight! The double tracks worn into the packed earth almost two hundred years ago by wagon trains passing through.

It looks like an old farm road you might see here in Red River County where I live in a Texas farming community---well, minus the mountains on the horizon. You can see the "California Trail" marker bottom center to verify this is the real deal.

This was one of my favorite places of all the sights we’d seen!

We followed the Snake River, just as the wagon trains did. A part of the actual trail is beneath the highway we rode on.

Soon we got to Massacre Rock, so-called because of the narrow passage between the rocks, only wide enough for one wagon at a time.

The gap was called the Devil’s Gate or Gate of Death. It’s a State Park now.

A little farther on the highway, we stopped at Register Rock.

This place was a wonderful place for the wagons to stop and spend a day or two of rest as it proved to be a prime camping area.


Sojourners carved their names and dates on rocks in this park as so many had on Independence Rock, but here you could get up close.

Though the biggest rocks are behind a chain-link fence and covered with a tabernacle type roof to preserve it, protecting it from modern-day people who would carve their names.

I wondered if those who carved their names so long ago had thought that an author doing research for a book about traveling on the Oregon / California Trail might come by one day and take a photo of their name almost two centuries after they’d done the deed.

With her phone, no less!

By now the settlers had traveled about twelve hundred miles of their two thousand mile journey and the hardest part still lay ahead of them.

I would have hated knowing I couldn’t change my mind and go back where I had come from.
The only option was to go forward.

This is where they entered the ‘Great Basin’, following the Humbolt River that eventually just disappears into the ground. Its water turned very alkaline.

Then they faced the Forty-Mile Desert. The extreme heat was tough on the people but especially on the oxen as they’ve been working hard for many months.

To avoid it, they rested during the day and only traveled at night, pushing to get across the waterless desert in as little time as possible.

To lighten the load, after carrying their possessions all that way, they started emptying the wagons, leaving furniture and precious items behind on the trail along the way.

They thought that was surely the worst of it.

But the weary travelers got through that dreadful place, the Sierra Nevada Mountains stood in front of them.

The Shoshone tribe helped the settlers find water and food once across the desert.

As we drove, I couldn’t imagine how the wagons would have climbed those mountains.

At one of the hardest, highest spots, they took the wheels off the wagons and used great logs to roll the wagons up, oxen pulling from the top, men pushing from below, until each wagon got over the steep climb.

In my Prairie Roses Collection Collection contribution titled REMI! This is the place where they celebrate, looking down over the beautiful California valley on the west side of the mountain.

My characters, Asher and Remi plan on settling in the Napa Valley. They carried grape stock to plant a vineyard there. This is a story you won’t want to miss!

And you meet Remi toward the end of my Lockets and Lace Collection (all Sweet Americana Sweetheart bloggers) title UNIQUELY COMMON.  So read UNIQUELY COMMON first, then REMI! And enjoy! 

Bio: Award-winning Author Caryl McAdoo prays her story brings God glory! And her best-selling novels are blessed with a lion’s share of 5-Star ratings! With forty-three-and-counting titles, she loves writing as well as singing the new songs the Lord gives her—listen to a few at YouTube. She and husband Ron share four children and eighteen grandsugars. The McAdoos live in the woods south of Clarksville, seat of Red River County, in far Northeast Texas, waiting expectantly for God to open the next door. 

Contact Caryl: Amazon  Website  Facebook  BookBub  Newsletter  Influencers Group
   

 

The Cult of True Womanhood by Abagail Eldan

In the "Cult of True Womanhood," the woman was seen as the giver of children and their moral guide (as of course, she is). The home was her sphere of influence and was off-limits to a man's dictates. (We see this even today although, thankfully, less frequently and less zealously. Still today, some view men as incapable of caring for children in the "correct" way, although that is not the scope of this post.)

Most women did not clamor to be free of the constraints of "True Womanhood" although it had its disadvantages. In the 1700s through the 1800s, and in some places even later, the wife generally had little to no say in the use of assets, even if she was the one who brought them into the marriage. A perfect example of this is seen in "Downton Abbey." The wife's assets cannot even be used to provide an income for the daughters--all money is bound up in the estate. 

Another problem with the concept of "True Womanhood" was that women did not have the right to vote. Remember that their sphere of influence resided in the home? Some women found the raising of children, male children specifically, was satisfactory and gave them a great purpose in life.

Two quotes come to mind: 

And, certainly, the mother's influence can scarcely be overemphasized. But again, how much did the "Cult of True Womanhood" hurt the father's role in the raising of children? Unfortunately, some men readily embraced their diminished responsibility. Ernest Hemingway, for example, said, "To be a successful father... there's one absolute rule: when you have a kid, don't look at it for the first two years."

Not only did "The Cult of True Womanhood" hurt women, but it also hurt men in their roles as father, and the children by missing out on the godly influence of two parents. Some men, it is true, went beyond societal norms and became the fathers they needed to be, but it was the exception, not the norm. 

The third result of "The Cult" was that of making women economically, socially, and culturally dependent upon their husbands. Because of this, education for women lagged behind that of men. Men as providers of the family were the ones to be educated, regardless of the intellectual powers of the daughters. 

An illustration of this is another television show, Victoria on BBC. Victoria's eldest child was a daughter of keen intellect; their second child, a son who failed to excel at his studies. And, yet, who became monarch? King Edward, a renowned playboy.

The idea of the "New Woman" arose in opposition to "The Cult of True Womanhood," and over time, the laws have changed. Women gained the right to vote and are allowed to own property and given equal opportunity to education. 

In my books, I often explore this theme and its resultant conflicts. After all, the West was the arena where many of these advances were birthed!

Find me on Amazon!

Short bio:

I am a nerd, a scholar at heart, and would be a full-time student if only someone would pay me a salary! After receiving a B.S. in Education, with a major in biology and a minor in psychology, I continued my studies at Auburn University, pursuing a master's in biology. I also became certified to teach the physical sciences, mathematics, and English. (Yes, I lived my early life in the universities!) 

I am retired from teaching and live with my husband, as well as too many dogs, not enough cats, and one (outside) horse. My goal is to add to the menagerie one day! 

The Denver of Oregon

by Shanna Hatfield

Anyone driving on I-84 through Eastern Oregon will go right past the small town of Baker City. From the freeway, travelers might notice a few restaurants, hotels, and gas stations.

Few visitors realize that Baker City was referred to as the "Denver of Oregon" back in the 1800s, when gold mining drew people to the area and the town boasted any number of luxuries.

Baker City's history goes back to the mid-1800s. The Oregon Trail went through the area (The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center located just a few miles east of town provides a rich and colorful look at life on the trail) and some settlers decided to make Baker County their home.

The city (now the county seat) and Baker County were named in honor of U.S. Senator Edward D. Baker, the only sitting senator to be killed in a military engagement. He died in 1861 while leading a charge of Union Army soldiers up a ridge at Ball's Bluff, Virginia, during the American Civil War.


Gold drew settlers to the area. Auburn,  a gold mining boom town located five miles southwest of present Baker City, served as the seat of Baker County in 1862.

In 1864, only three cabins stood within the urban boundaries of present day Baker City.  A portion of what would become downtown was platted and by 1865, the main street offered a saloon, a few hotels, a livery stable, a variety store that housed the post office, a blacksmith shop, and a handful of other buildings.


By 1868, as placer mines played out, Baker City became both the county seat and commercial center. Auburn soon became little more than a memory.

In 1874, the legislature approved Baker City’s first charter, which set up a board of five trustees. In 1887, Baker City elected blacksmith and farm implement dealer Syrenus B. McCord as the city’s first mayor along with five councilmen.

  
Beginning in its earliest days, Baker City had a Chinatown that included several businesses, a Chinese temple, private dwellings, opium dens, and prostitution cribs. Today, visitors can see the Chinese cemetery just off the freeway.

Baker City’s buildings were constructed of wood until 1873, when former Sheriff James W. Virtue, who had established the county’s first bank in 1870, built a stone “fire proof” business structure on the southwest corner of Main and Court. Despite his claims, the building burned down in the 1880s.

Several fires ravaged Main Street buildings over the years. The most disastrous was the 1887 fire that destroyed all structures on the east side of the 1700 block of Main. Before the year was out, all those frame buildings were replaced by brick buildings, and some made of native volcanic tuff stone quarried at Pleasant Valley, south of Baker City.

One of the most impressive brick buildings still standing today is the Geiser Grand Hotel, located on Main Street. The Warshauer brothers, Jake and Harry, constructed the hotel 1889. It went by the name Hotel Warshauer until purchased by the Geiser family about 1900.

You can read a little about the hotel and life in 1890 Baker City in my sweet western romance - Crumpets and Cowpies, the first book in the Baker City Brides series.

In the story, Rancher Thane Jordan reluctantly travels to England to settle his brother’s estate only to find he’s inherited much more than he could possibly have imagined.  Lady Jemma Bryan has no desire to spend a single minute in Thane Jordan’s insufferable presence much less live under the same roof with the handsome, arrogant American. Forced to choose between poverty or marriage to the man, she finds herself traveling across an ocean and America to reach his ranch in Oregon.

USA Today bestselling author Shanna Hatfield is a farm girl who loves to write. Her sweet historical and contemporary romances are filled with sarcasm, humor, hope, and hunky heroes. When Shanna isn’t dreaming up unforgettable characters, twisting plots, or covertly seeking dark, decadent chocolate, she hangs out with her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller.

Shanna loves to hear from readers. Follow her online at:

ShannaHatfield | Facebook | Newsletter | BookBub | Pinterest | Goodreads | You Tube | Twitter

Find Shanna’s books at:

Amazon | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Apple | Audible

Keep Her From Crying Off (1880) by Kristin Holt

by Kristin Holt

USA Today Bestselling Author

Why are my posts so frequently focused on Victorian Courtship? 

(I’m chuckling.) Perhaps I have nineteenth century courting on the brain because all of my titles are Victorian Courtships. I’d wager the vast majority of American Historical Romances (and Victorian Romances, too) are, in the barest of terms, about a Victorian courtship of one kind or another.

I can’t wait to share with you this splendid example of Victorian advice regarding courtship, love, and marriage. With beautiful humor, this nineteenth century newspaperman dispenses winning advice ("Keep Her From Crying Off") in a typical late-nineteenth century manner: storytelling. 

Original source: The Richmond Democrat of Richmond, Missouri, January 29, 1880.

Without further ado:

 

This vintage example is too overblown to be an accurate recipe for success, yet it is a valuable “slice of life” image. Much truth lies beneath this fictionalized storytelling-styled advice.

Frankly, today's women would never put up with this "Chicago Man" and his "I'm in love with Cora" nonsense. I imagine no woman in Victorian America was quite so ignorant either. After all, girls were bombarded on every side about the critical nature of choosing a life partner.

I’ve explored and shared true-to-history about elements mentioned in this article:

 

Victorian Storytelling Convey Values

Includes How to Safely End a Victorian Engagement

"I'll sue you for Breach of Promise"

Gifts in Courtship (Etiquette and Manners)

Tiny Waists were ESSENTIAL to Victorian Beauty

Diamond Earrings in 1880?

The Marshal's Surrender (hero named August)

Links to ALL my posts about 19th Century Courtship

Who Makes the BEST Victorian Wives?

August is Romance Awareness Month

Thank you for reading and exploring how to “Keep Her From Crying Off” 1880-style with me. Your thoughts are welcome! Please leave a comment.

Are you interested in much more about the Victorian-era United States, particularly the Old West? You’re invited to explore my ever-growing cache of articles for fiction readers who find the historical settings and backgrounds to be fascinating.

 

Copyright © 2019 Kristin Holt LC