Letter from T.O. Ellis to W.H. and S.J. Davis

Date: 26 Nov 1863
Location: San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo, California, United States
Surnames/tags: Ellis Davis

After the death of Sarah Jane (Ellis) Davis (1838-1930), a collection of family letters, including the following letter, was found in a trunk. The original is held by members of the Davis family. The index to the complete collection is found at The Letters of Rev. T.O. Ellis, M.D.. The letters are all written by Reverend Thomas Oliver Ellis, MD (1808-1879), and almost all of them were to his daughter, Sarah Jane, and/or her husband, William Hale Davis (1828-1871). Ellis wrote from various locations in central California to family members also in that area.

Contents 1 Biographical and Historical Context 2 The Letter 3 Additional Information 4 Sources

Biographical and Historical Context

In the following letter T.O. Ellis expressed his concerns about his son William Josiah Ellis, referred to as Josiah. The death of Thomas Oliver Ellis Jr., the draft (T.O. Ellis implied he felt Josiah should serve as was required), the lack of church fellowship, and financial hardship pushed Josiah into moving to Los Angeles. Josiah had imagined the entire family living in San Luis Obispo, and when that failed to happen, he decided to move on, even though it left his father in an awkward situation, and the family in disagreement. T.O. Ellis desired to leave San Luis Obispo quickly, as he did not want to raise a family of daughters there, but waited because he did not want to miss William Davis, who apparently was coming to help the family move.

He closed the letter with news of current events, including the state of mining in Colorado and San Francisco, and the formation of Vigilance Committees to keep the peace. Vigilance Committees were a carryover from the lawless days of the gold rush, when policing was unorganized.^[1] As in Visalia in the stormy years between 1861 and 1863, the citizens would turn first to the civil authorities, and if unable to obtain justice, the military. If the military action was unsatisfactory, the citizens would form their own committees for vigilance.^[2]

Note: Spelling and line breaks preserved from the original. The upper right corner of page 1, and the corresponding upper left corner of page 2 are missing. Transcriber's additions or interpretations in [square brackets].

The Letter

San Luis Obispo, Cal Nov 26/63
W. H. & S. J. Davis
My Dear Children, I now have [some]
thing to write of considerable importance [missing, likely Josiah]
Ellis has sold out both places, or rather [got]
out for he only gets one wagon worth $2[50]
& $250 cash, & another house & garden place
worth $250, making in all $750 dollars.
The money will about pay his debts & defray
his expenses to Los Angelos whither he goes; &
so you see, I am to be left alone the 2nd time.
The place he bought, is for immediate sale
& now he is rapidly winding up, & wind
ing out, & gives possession the 30th of this month.
Josiah has resisted all my efforts to go with
me to see you all & hold a general talk
about settling ourselves. He thinks you
all have not complied with the under-
standing we had at Visalia, that is to
come down here this fall & look at the
country & agree on some place to settle
ourselves. A.O. [A.O. Miller, his son-in-law] especially, he says,
promised to come & has not. My dissat-
isfaction, however, is the foundation of
his dissatisfaction. I felt & foresaw the
place would not suit me with a family
of Daughters, upon whom I place a
great value, otherwise, I might [page 2, upper corner missing]
[______]lived along, after the style of the
[?mercena]ry, make all you can & keep all you
[?can]. W. J. thinks, no doubt, that your
[ ____] would not be so anxious to leave
[_____] he sustained the same relation to her, as
[th]e rest of you. He has been very unhappy
ever since his Brother's departure & acts
like a man under conviction, for he has
suffered immensely in Religion while
living without Church Privileges in
San Luis. One of the Main Springs, I think,
to his sudden sale is to avoid the Draft,
but I do not know it, as he seldom tells
others his private thoughts. I have begged
him, & implored him to stand his ground
& confirm to the Law of the U. S. & quoted
to him the 13th of Romans, “Let every soul
be subject to the higher Powers” &c. May God
bless & save him. I have suffered not
a little distress of mind on his account.
I do not wish him, at present, to know
I have written anything about my thoughts
on the subject, as he might put a wrong
construction on it. Really, I write about
it in love & tenderness & have shed many
tears on the matter. He is my well Belov-
ed Son, whom I love most affectionately
but, then, I can see faults in any
[page 3]
child, & even in myself, over the latter
I often dwell almost to crucifixion, at
times. I only lament that you all &
your Pa have not been fortunate to get
W. J. to live near us, & be more under
Religious influences. I hope yet he may
change his mind, but the hope is faint.
You will have to hurry if you get an
other letter to him. Write sweetly & softly
for my sake & draw him if you can
His & my families are well, except
little Richard who mends slowly. I
am getting very stout of my age, & so is
your Ma, Mary, Lizzie, [[Ellis-9264|Nannie, Hind
man (Georgia Hindman Ellis, & Charley, Richard only is puny.
I have been several times on the point
of going horse back to see you to hurry
things, but fear of Missing the wagon
unless I knew which way you would
come. The lone cottonwood is doubtless
the nearest, a hundred miles nearer, I think
than the way you moved from here.^[3][4]
Both families join me in regards to you
& yours, & A. O, & wife & children & the
girls, Sophia & Mattie. I hope the little ones
in both families are well. Your Pa
WJ & SJ Davis T.O. Ellis Sr
[page 4]
P. S. I read a Letter yesterday from Los
Angeles stating that a Vigilance Commit-
<ur>tee</u>was formed there to suppress Murder,
& robbery, & also to punish those who
put out a false excitement about Colora-
do & San Francisco Mines. The Letter was
written by Heath, Old Man Bigg's son in
Law. He has just returned from Colo-
rado Mines, did not stay long, because he
said it did not take long to see all the
claims. Where one makes, a hundred
spends what they took there. No grass
between here & there, but plentiful there
nearly the only good thing. Dry washing
is the fashion & he was there in the rainy
season. He says, he knows nothing ab-
out San Francisco Mines, could not go there
& all the Men in Colorado Mines are ten
times too small to go there, in there heart
of the Apache Country, but thinks it is
a good Country. In ten days he allowed
to go to Kerne River Mines as a pref-
erence to any thing he had seen. Eight
men are hung in Las Angeles. Three Amer-
icans & 5 Californians or Indians.
[To] W. H. & S. J. Davis T.O. Ellis Sr

Additional Information

The next letter in the collection was written on 15 July 1864.

Sources

1. ↑ George W. Groh, “Gold Fever, Being a True Account, Both Horrifying and Hilarious of the Art of Healing, So-called During the California Gold Rush, (New York: Morrow, 1966), page 244.
2. ↑ Robert J. Chandler, “The Press and Civil Liberties during the Civil War, 1861-1865,” (dissertation), University of California, 1978, page 449.
3. ↑ Annie R. Mitchell, “The Way It Was: The Colorful History of Tulare County,” self-published, 1976, page 38. The Lone Cottonwood was a station on the Butterfield Stage Route, also known as Packwood Station.
4. ↑ Waterman L. Ormsby, “The Butterfield Overland Mail: Only Through Passenger on the First Westbound Stage,” (San Marino, California: The Huntington Library, 1942), frontispieces. It was south of Visalia, Tulare County.