They met at Sutter’s Fort and married in 1844, settling on the 44,000-acre Rancho del Paso—a Mexican land grant that John part-owned and managed, located just across the American River from John Sutter’s trading post. The Sinclairs were stunned by the audacious Bear Flag Revolt, played a significant part in the rescue of the Donner Party, welcomed the American conquest of Mexican California—and experienced, first-hand, the tumultuous California Gold Rush.
​
Even before they met, each had separately lived exciting parts of America’s pioneer past. In 1832, John Sinclair trekked across an unchartered continent from New York to Oregon Territory as a member of Nathaniel Wyeth’s fur-trading expedition. Afterward, he spent months aboard a Pacific Ocean whaling ship. When the whaling ship splintered on the Oahu rocks, he settled in Honolulu as a merchant—until an island visitor named John Sutter, promoting ambitious plans to create a European colony in a neglected Mexican province, drew Sinclair to California.
​
Mary’s adventures prove that history isn’t always his story! At fifteen, English-born Mary Eyre sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States, and at sixteen crossed a continent in a covered wagon. Her family’s destination was Oregon, but she escaped a cruel father with help from some California-bound Americans; an act of kindness out on the no-man’s-land prairies that changed her life.
​
Then in January 1848, gold was discovered in California—an event that changed the world. Hordes of gold-fevered men invaded the Sinclair’s property, endangering them and their young child. Before the Gold Rush: The Sinclairs of Rancho del Paso 1840-1849 is a true account of a courageous, resilient couple who lived their lives at the edge of discovery and fortune.