Coming to California

Coming to California - by land or sea?

This was a long-standing mystery. With the internet, it is easier to answer this question.

The Story of the Shinn Ranch written by Shinn descendant Kathryn Kasch, says that there are two possibilities considered by the family. "According to most accounts, they came by ship and across Panama, but some thought they came overland because of a claim that James Shinn’s name is recorded at the El Morro National Monument “Inscription Rock” in New Mexico." Could be another James Shinn? These discussions were in the days before the internet. Now there are online sources to help answer the question. And there do seem to be some number of other people named James Shinn that turn up.

Julia Shinn, Charles' wife, lived in the Big House when James and Lucy Shinn were alive in the 1890s. She had ample time to talk about the trip to California with them. In 1937, she said that James, Lucy, and two children sailed from Galveston, crossed the isthmus and took a boat again for San Francisco.

Memories and newspaper reporting are often faulty. So what are other references?

Coming to California - SS Golden Age

The Maritime Heritage Report is no longer being updated, but is being maintained. It is full of useful information, including passenger lists, ships, and more. From there one can look up the information in the California Digital Newspaper Collection.

The Pacific Mail Steamship, SS Golden Age, is probably the ship that brought James, Lucy, Charles, and Annie to California from Panama as reported in the Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 11, Number 1654, 15 July 1856. [Some information about the SS Golden Age.]

Why Maybe? Because it says "Mrs. Shinn, wife and 2 children"? Is that a typo? Should it say "Mr. Shinn, wife and 2 children." Easily made error, when you have to set type upside down and backwards.

Look for yourself to see how they list a family. Generally it is "Name of husband, wife and x children."

If only Charles was on board, then it would be "Mr. Shinn, wife and child." But it is two children.

If Annie was born in California, then this passenger listing would not match the Shinn family. If she was born in Texas, then it matches well. Sure, there could have been another Shinn family coming at that time. There were other Shinns in California.

Let's Assume for a moment that this is James, Lucy, Charles, and Annie who arrived on the SS Golden Age on July 14th. Do the dates add up with our records?

15 April 1856 Panama City, the Watermelon Riot which would have made anyone afraid to travel. Would they have known about it? Was it reported in the papers?
6 May 1856 Annie was born (in Niles according to Ancestry record and Josiah Shinn)
- OR 15 May 1856 Annie was born (in Vallejo's Mills, according to the 2019 docent handbook)
22 June 1856 SS Daniel Webster left New Orleans (from this page SS Golden Age) According to Julia Shinn in the Washington Township News Register 12 March 1937, they left from Galveston. Needs more research. Perhaps the SS Daniel Webster stopped in Galveston or they took another ship. At any rate, they would have arrived in Panama with a month-old baby.
n.d. Arrived Panama...
.... The Isthmus [wiki] continues healthy and quiet. The Panama Railroad is in perfect order. Passengers per Golden Age passed over in three and a half hours." All reassuring after the Watermelon Riot.
1 July 1856 Left Panama at 10 o'clock P.M
7 July 1856 arrived Acapulco 5:20 AM and sailed at 10 AM same day
14 July 1856 "The Pacific Mail Steamship Golden Age arrived this afternoon at 3 o'clock precisely" at San Francisco with passengers from New York and New Orleans. Their trip was 22 June 1856 to 14 July 1856, about 3 weeks.
16 August 1856 Dr. Joseph Clark received a deed for the land from Sim and also executed an agreement for eventual ownership by James and Lucy Shinn. (Kathryn Kasch). The land grant and deeds is a complex subject.
23 August 1856 The first 1856 Shinn ledger (Shinn archives) says that they spent $4 on two days of housecleaning the cottage.

August 23rd was one month and seven days after arriving in SF. About the right amount of time to recover from the voyage and get to the Sim Cottage.

Was the land purchased before James and Lucy left Texas? Not sure. Good question.

How long did it take for the agreement to be signed? Check the first Shinn ledger from 1856 for clues.

Announcement of the S.S. Golden Age's arrival in San Francisco on July 14, 1856.

Mrs. [sic] Shinn, wife and 2 children, about 2/3 down the passenger list. Do we know a W G Clark?

Advertisement in the Sacramento Daily Union (16 July 1856) for passengers on the S.S. Golden Age after the arrival of the Shinn family.

The Timeline looks good. Why the uncertainty?

There are the only two documents that say that Annie was born in California - a docent manual and a Josiah Shinn's family history.

We can probably discount the docent manual, unless we know where the reference came from.
Josiah Shinn's history of the Shinn family "The history of the Shinn family in Europe and America" says that she was born in Niles on May 6, 1856. For one thing, Niles didn't exist until about 1870. Josiah Shinn's book is 425 pages long! Might Josiah have made a couple of mistakes? Sure! Allen Shinn wrote to Rod Ricciarelli (early docent) and included some corrections of Josiah's book. He corrected that page to say that she was born in Texas.

So what other facts and family recordings are there about where Annie was born? Interviews, family bibles, and census records? Let's look.

Census Records 1860 and 1870 say that

Charles and Annie were listed as born in Texas

Julia Shinn's account of the Shinn family's arrival in California

Julia Shinn said that Annie was born in Texas.

In the 1937 Washington Township Register, Julia Shinn gave the history of the Shinn family's arrival to California in 1856. Julia would have had ample time to talk with James and Lucy about their arrival in California. Annie died in the 1878 so she never spoke to her. Julia Tyler Shinn married Charles Shinn in 1888. Daughter Ruth was born in 1890. They lived with James, Lucy, Milicent, and Joseph. James passed away in 1896. Lucy lived until 1915.
So far, this accounting matches best with the documents of an earlier time but there are some inconsistencies [Read here]

THE OLD SHINN NURSERY

By Mrs. Julia Shinn

(An interview with Mrs. Sladek)

Back in 1856 Grandfather Shinn, Mr. Jo Shinn’s father, was living in Texas. He and his wife had moved from Wisconsin to Tennessee, coming down the Mississippi by boat, then on into Texas by covered wagon.

His brother-in-law lived in San Francisco and constantly wrote of this beautiful land of California. His letters told of the healthy climate, the wonderful opportunities in this new country and urged him to bring his wife and two children and settle here.

They decided to do so and sailed from Galveston, crossed the isthmus and took boat again for San Francisco. They sent their furniture around the horn and, as usual, much of it was lost.

A Mr. Sims owned a land grant, a quarter section, and had built a house on what is now the Shinn place. This house was unique for it was made of timber from two schooners. In those days sailors were constantly abandoning ship in San Francisco and striking out for the gold fields. Mr. Sims used the lumber from two of these to build his home. This house is still standing. Mr. and Mrs. Jo Shinn, Jr. are living in it.

Grandfather Shinn bought the ranch and the house and lived there for twenty years, until the big house was built in 1876. In 1870 he decided to turn part of the ranch into a nursery and ordered trees and flowering shrubs, not only from this country but from Japan and China.

We still have some of the catalogs sent from Japan. They are not in book form but are beautiful, hand painted pictures of the flowers and shrubs advertised, all done in such exquisite colors that; they deserve to be framed. Their bill of lading is interesting, too, a scroll, several yards long, written in Japanese characters.

When an unusual or beautiful tree arrived Grandfather Shinn always planted one or two on his own place. And so today we have a cypress from the Louisiana swamps, two Areca palms, an enormous Chinese camphor tree and a Japanese magnolia. The birds all love our trees but the most interesting thing we have on the place is a tree full of herons. These night herons, as soon as it is dark, go back to the creek to fish. But they spend their days high in the top of our big oak.

Joe Shinn said that Annie was born in Texas.

Joseph Shinn reminisced in 1944 in the Knave in the Oakland Tribune. "Joe, who celebrated his 83rd birthday on January 15, is the survivor of the four children of Mr. and Mrs. James Shinn, who came West from Ohio in 1856, Charles and Annie being born in Texas. Joe and Milicent (Dr. Milicent Shinn, first woman to receive a Ph.D. from the University of California, and editor of the Overland monthly when Jack London began writing) were born in the little house which originally had come around the Horn in a schooner and which now furnishes residence for Navy personnel not far from the present Shinn home. " [Note that James and Lucy went to Texas before 1856. They left Texas for California in 1856.]

Need more evidence that Annie was born in Texas?

On the back of one of the paintings of Mission Peak in the museum, Allen Shinn wrote "This is a color photo reproduction of a water color painting done by Annie Holbrook Shinn. She was born in Round Rock, Texas in 1856 and died at Niles in 1878."
Yes, the Shinn Family history from Josiah Shinn says that she was born in California. Allen Shinn's correction is above. And allegedly Milicent corrected one of the copies to say that Annie was born in Texas. She was just a few years younger than Annie and would know. Find and post here!
Allegedly there is a family bible that says that Annie was born in Texas. Find date and location and Post here!
Not the best documentation, but this could have come from an interview of Joe Shinn himself, youngest brother of Annie, in 1944 in the Knave "Niles' Oldest Resident'. "Joe, who celebrated his 83rd birthday on January 15, is the survivor of the four children of Mr. and Mrs. James Shinn, who came West from Ohio in 1856, Charles and Annie being born in Texas. Joe and Milicent (Dr. Milicent Shinn, first woman to receive a Ph.D. from the University of California, and editor of the Overland monthly when Jack London began writing) were born in the little house which originally had come around the Horn in a schooner and which now furnishes residence for Navy personnel not far from the present Shinn home." Joe's oldest sister was Annie and could have talked with her about her birth state.
Kathryn Kasch wrote "James and Lucy arrived in Niles with two small children who were born in Round Rock, Texas: four year old Charles Howard (1852) and baby Anne Holbrook who was born on May 16, 1856. On August 16, 1856, Joseph Clark received a deed for the land from Sim and also executed an agreement for eventual ownership by James and Lucy Shinn, so they must have traveled soon after Annie’s birth. According to most accounts, they came by ship and across Panama, but some thought they came overland because of a claim that James Shinn’s name is recorded at the El Morro National Monument “Inscription Rock” in New Mexico. Either way, it would have been a difficult journey! Milicent was born at Niles in 1858, followed by Joseph in 1861; the last child, Lucy Ellen, was born in 1863 but she died at age 10." [Note Kathryn did not have the SS Golden Age passenger list,]

Isthmus of Panama in 1856?

Here's 1851

References

1854 Advertisement for the "Golden Age" on the Atlantic side of the trip to California.

More about the Golden Age drawings, about

Help from Family Search

Cyndi's List Galveston - Start search here for James and Lucy on the Atlantic side.

Passenger's Lists

Ancestry All New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., Passenger Lists, 1813-1963 results for Shinn (no luck)

"Riot in Panama over the theft of a slice of watermelon claims the lives of fifteen foreigners," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, refers to Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of Central America, Volume III (San Francisco, CA: The History Company, 1887), 520-521.

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