CAMARIPO-L Archives

From: William Disbro <>
Subject: [CAMARIPO] John W. MARSHALL August 15, 1885 Mariposa Gazette ( submitted by W. Disbro )
Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 07:11:18 -1000

Dear List,
From time to time a obituary appears in the Mariposa Gazette of
none Mariposa people. Recently their was the obits of General Grant and
others that have no roots in Mariposa that I usually omit from from
posts . Today I ran across this one and since James W. MARSHALL was one
of the most pivotal figures in the Gold Rush history that so much
influenced our county I am going to include his obituary in my post to
the list. Without further ado here is that obit.
Aloha,
William Disbro

JAMES W. MARSHALL
The Discoverer of Gold in California, Died at COLOMA.

Sacramento, August 10.- A dispatch from Placerville to-day says
that James W. MARSHALL, the discoverer of gold, died at Coloma, El
Dorado county, at 5 o'clock this morning.
Deceased was 82 years of age, and was born in Hope township,
Huntingdon county, New Jersey, and served an apprenticeship as a coach
builder in his native town. At the age of 21 years he became
dissatisfied with the limited prospect of advancement offered by the
home of his youth and determined to extend his field of operations. He
went to Indiana and Illinois, and then to Kansas, where he was in a fair
way to achieve prosperity, when he was attacked by a lingering sickness,
which necessitated his seeking a change of climate. The course of his
migrations tended always westward, and in June , 1845, he set foot in
California. He first engaged to work for General SUTTER at Sutter's
Fort, in Sacramento county, and afterwards went into partnership with
him in the lumber business, at Coloma. On the 8th of January, 1848,
while engaged in superintending the building of a millrace, in
connection with their lumber enterprise, MARSHALL's eye first detected
the particles of gleaming metal which excited not only the people of
America, but the whole civilized world, and set in motion towards the
Pacific Coast a host of adventurers eager to reach a land that promised
actual riches in return for labor. Nearly all the earliest seekers after
wealth made directly for Coloma and, without any preliminaries, settled
themselves upon MARSHALL's land and helped themselves to his cattle and
other possessions to supply their necessities. MARSHAL was never
successful as a prospector and his discovery, which brought fortunes to
many and made California what it is today, proved his financial ruin. He
became involved in litigation and eventually lost all the land he once
possessed, and he died at last a poor man, near the spot where
thirty-seven years ago he had picked up the first bright nugget from the
sand. He received of late years a pension of $150 per month from the
State, which supplied his moderate wants, but which was scarcely a
sufficient reward for all his discovery had done for the State.

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• [CAMARIPO] John W. MARSHALL August 15, 1885 Mariposa Gazette ( submitted by W. Disbro ) by William Disbro <>