By 1860, Joel Eveland had been mining for gold in California for almost 10 years. He hadn’t “struck it rich,” but he continued as a miner for many more years. There weren’t many women in California in 1860 (about two men for every woman) (Wikipedia). Either in late 1859, or early 1860, Joel returned to his childhood home in Windsor, Morgan County, Ohio. It’s not known if they had known each other before, or how they met, but on March 29, 1860, Joel married Jane C. Hyler (Ohio County Marriages). Jane was the eldest daughter of Richard and Cassandra Barkus or Barker (1850 US Census). The Hyler’s also lived in Windsor. Although Joel was 10 years older than Jane, the families may have known each other before Joel left for the Gold Rush.
Joel brought his new bride back with him to California. By June of 1860 (just two and a half months after their marriage), the couple were living in St. Louis Flats, Sierra Flats Township, Sierra County, CA (1860 U.S. Census). 33 year old Joel’s occupation in the census was miner. St. Louis Flats was a little gold town close to the booming gold town of Howland Flats…both are now ghost towns. Click here and here to learn more about the towns and how to visit them.
houses and for mining (Photo owned by James Conlan, colorized by me).
Tragically, 25 year old Jane died March 12, 1861, just two weeks before the couple’s first anniversary. Jane and her baby either died in childbirth or shortly afterwards. They are buried in a long-abandoned ghost cemetery in Sierra County (Find A Grave).
Joel did not remarry for six years. The Civil War began just a month after Jane’s death in April of 1861. The war ended in 1865, and in 1867 Joel was remarried. His new bride was his first wife’s younger sister, Jemima. Joel’s obituary explained, “In 1867 Miss Jemima Hyler came to San Francisco to wed Joel Eveland who had been such a good husband to her deceased sister.” (Ukiah Republican Press). Jemima was 22 (19 years younger than Joel). She had been 14 when her big sister Jane left for California with Joel. She had likely never been away from home.
To get to California, Jemima “sailed with friends from New York by way of the Isthmus of Panama” (Pajaronian). Lloyd Eveland (Joel’s grandson) said that his grandmother, Jemima, traveled with her brother and friends across the Isthmus and then sailed to San Francisco. By this time their was a train route across the Isthmus so the entire journey would have taken about six weeks (less than it took to cross the country by land at that time). Click here to read an 1867 guidebook about traveling on the Panama Railroad across the Isthmus.
Joel and Jemima were married in San Jose on June 6, 1867 in San Jose, Santa Clara, CA. Joel took Jemima back to St. Louis Flats where he resumed mining. Things came full circle when, nine months later, Jemima gave birth to their first child, Bertha on March 28, 1868 (one day before what would have been Joel and Jane’s 8th wedding anniversary).
John Eveland & Jemima Hyler Eveland – Curtis Family Tree – #6 and #7
Sources:
Jane C. Eveland; Find A Grave;
Lloyd Eveland; Interview; 1995
Mrs. Jemima Eveland Passed Away Sunday; Pajaronian; Watsonville, CA 1927
Ohio, County Marriages, 1774-1993; Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; 2016; Lehi, Utah; retrieved 02 May 2020 from ancestry.com
Old Pioneer Called Hence; 30 Dec 1904; Ukiah Republican Press; Ukiah, CA
Women in the Gold Rush; Wikipedia; retrieved 02 May 2020.
U.S. Census 1850; Windsor, Morgan, Ohio; Roll: M432_715; Page: 173; Image: 346; retrieved from Ancestry 02 May 2020
U.S. Census 1860; St Louis, Sierra, California; Roll: M653_66; Page: 814; Image: 293.