Story told by Clifford Hiram Nowlin, my grandmother’s uncle, Maurine Couch Kirkpatrick # Couch-3605. As the story goes: Hiram got “California Gold Fever”! He sold his farm in Michigan, stored his family in town, and went West to California to make his fortune. With friends, he sailed out of New York City, January 2,1853, on the steamship “Star of the West”. They crossed the Isthmus of Panama on mule-back. The last leg of the journey was made on the ship ”Brother Jonathan”. They reached California on February 2, 1853. The cost of the passage from New York to San Francisco was $140.00. In California, my father worked for $4-$6 per day. After about a year, he fell ill with Mountain Fever. In the year 1854 he returned home to Michigan. To his surprise after returning home, due to the discovery of gold in California, inflation had set in. Thus restocking his farm he was obliged to pay prices much higher for the stock. Despite these losses, I believe that my father was a richer man because of the California venture and the family never tired of listening to his oft-told tales of the odyssey to the West.
Source: "My First Ninety Years", by Clifford Hiram Nowlin, Copyright 1955 by Clifford Hiram Nowlin...All Rights Reserved..... I inherited this book from my grandmother, Maurine Elva Couch Kirkpatrick.
Maurine Couch Kirkpatrick # Couch-3605, my grandmother, had this to add to the story. Apparently, her grandfather, Hiram Nowlin, had this to say about San Francisco: “Completely non-arable.” In other words, Hiram could see little worth in San Francisco!
Sources
"Michigan, County Marriages, 1820-1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VN2L-2CJ : 2 March 2021), Hiram Nowlin and Hannah Mott, 21 Sep 1848; citing reference ID , various county clerks and libraries, Michigan; FHL microfilm 941,632.
"United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MF86-RZ6 : 22 December 2020), Hiram Nowlin, Pulaski, Jackson, Michigan, United States; citing family , NARA microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
"United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWSM-JRH : 14 January 2022), Hiram Nowlin, Wayne Township, Cass, Michigan, United States; citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm .
"United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSML-JJ3 : accessed 18 January 2022), Hiram Nowlin, Pulaski township, Jackson, Michigan, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 26, sheet 4A, family 80, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,719.
"United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MLPK-WMC : accessed 18 January 2022), Hiram Nowlin in household of Flora Palmer, Marshall Ward 4, Calhoun, Michigan, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 69, sheet 6B, family 192, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 639; FHL microfilm 1,374,652.
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 9 September 2020), memorial page for Hiram Nowlin (8 Oct 1824–3 Apr 1918), Find a Grave Memorial no. 24216653, citing Prairie Center Cemetery, De Soto, Johnson County, Kansas, USA ; Maintained by MrPeepers (contributor 46934056) .
Is Hiram your ancestor? Please don't go away! Login to collaborate or comment, or contact
the profile manager, or ask our community of genealogists a question.
Sponsored Search by Ancestry.com
DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Hiram by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA.
However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line.
It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Hiram: