Cheryl Anne Stapp
Civilizing Influences
In 1849, California’s Gold Rush population, statewide, was 92% male. As reported in the Eastern press, the state of affairs in that...
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California's Olden Golden Days
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Apr 26, 20231 min read
The Blacksmiths
The mighty smith of folklore was the blacksmith, who worked with iron and steel and whose hammer wielded more force than his fellow...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Apr 19, 20233 min read
Sarah's Grand, Mysterious House
Seen from the outside, Winchester Mystery House is an enormous, grand jumble of fanciful turrets and spires. Inside, the sprawling...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Apr 5, 20232 min read
Reality Check
California suffered its first painful economic readjustment in the mid-1850s, although the many reasons for it were not readily apparent...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Mar 29, 20232 min read
Policewoman Alice Stebbins Wells
Since the 1890s, California law enforcement agencies had employed women in caretaker positions—as matrons, supervisors, and other...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Mar 22, 20232 min read
Conservationist Minerva Hoyt
A woman born and raised amid the lush landscapes of 19th century Mississippi seems an unlikely candidate as a conservationist of...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Mar 15, 20232 min read
Inventor Harriet Russell Strong
Harriet Russell Strong was a brilliant woman who overcame personal heartbreak and financial catastrophe to become an agriculturist, a...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Mar 8, 20232 min read
Doctor Elizabeth Follansbee
Elizabeth Follansbee was the first woman to be a member of the faculty at a medical school in California, also the first woman admitted...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Mar 1, 20232 min read
Lawyer Clara Foltz
Clara Shortridge Foltz never went to law school, yet she passed the California bar exam in September 1878, after studying law in the...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Feb 22, 20232 min read
A Wicked Woman
They say that there were more women of ill repute than there were decent ladies, in California, during the early years of the Gold Rush....
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Feb 15, 20232 min read
The Old Stage Lines
Stagecoach travel in California’s 1850s Gold Rush era— and beyond—was no sedate buggy ride in the park. Passengers frequently complained...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Feb 8, 20232 min read
Fatal Contest
Haste was the imperative to bedazzled gold-rushers, men near-frantic to get to the gold fields and stake their claim on a promising slice...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Feb 1, 20234 min read
The First Wagon Party
They are known as the Bartleson-Bidwell Party, or alternatively the Bidwell-Bartleson Party, the first organized group of emigrants to...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Jan 18, 20233 min read
The First Californians
Many centuries before European explorers found California—for at least 10,000 and possibly as many as 20,000 years—an indigenous people...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Jan 11, 20232 min read
Reform Dress for Ladies
The upstart new style in ladies’ fashions was quite unconventional. Yet it was seen everywhere across America throughout the 1850s...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Jan 4, 20232 min read
Men & Women Behind Bars
When California became a state in 1850, its elected lawmakers had a multitude of issues to resolve, not the least of which was to address...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Dec 28, 20222 min read
Noisy New Year's Eve 1922
There’s something about the coming of a new year that inspires us to symbolically shed the ups and downs of the past twelve months and...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Dec 21, 20221 min read
Old Fashioned Christmas Dinner
Merry Christmas, everyone! May your holiday be a joyous one with family and friends. What are you having for Christmas dinner? A big...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Dec 14, 20223 min read
Elusive Highwayman Black Bart
The masked highwayman who called himself Black Bart was so clever with disguises and occasional props that he successfully robbed 27...
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Cheryl Anne Stapp
Dec 7, 20222 min read
Her Crowning Glory
In July 1849, as hordes of gold-rushing men were swarming into California, a French hairdresser arrived in San Francisco and immediately...
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