Gold Rush Women & Tom Bell

I live in the midst of a peaceful forest in Northern California. Very earlier in the morning all that can be heard is the sound of the creek below racing to its natural end and the owls gently calling out to one another from one end of the dense oak trees to the other. It’s the perfect time to reflect on the settlers who arrived at this spot more than one-hundred and fifty years ago. I consider the strength of pioneer women like Nancy Kelsey and Luzena Stanley Wilson. They came into the Gold Country with a dream for a better life and were determined to find it. They wanted to make a difference for their children and their children’s children and they did. Nancy was the only woman with the Bidwell-Bartleson wagon train. She made the journey here from Independence barefoot and carrying a one year old baby on her hip. The men in the party noted in their journals that whenever they felt they couldn’t go on they would look back at Nancy and gain the strength to continue on. Luzena arrived here with three children and the basic necessities to set up camp. Her husband left her alone to fend for herself while he went in search of gold. By the time he had arrived back to the make-shift home Luzena had opened a small restaurant and was selling her tasty biscuits to hungry miners. In the end she made more money than her spouse ever dreamed of finding panning for gold in the cold streams at the base of the Sierras. As you probably noticed the website has been updated. With that comes the great desire to update the content I’ve been pouring into the journal pages. As long as my brother suffers behind bars and my family is scrutinized so vigorously I don’t suppose I’ll be able to entirely leave the subject. It will find its’ way into my writing more often than not but my goal is to share more about how women influenced the west and how the impact of what they did is still felt today. I’ll still be writing about some of my favorite western characters but will add tales of the lesser known people who helped settle the frontier. Since I’ve already mentioned the Gold Country that spot of land between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe it seems fitting to write about a notorious criminal from these parts. It was on this day in 1856 that the outlaw, Tom Bell, was captured by vigilantes on the Merced River in Northern California. They patiently allowed him to write letters to his mother and his mistress and then strung him up. Bell was known as the “Gentleman Highwayman.” His true name was Thomas J. Hodges. He was a native of Rome, Tennessee, where he was born about 1826. His parents were most excellent, highly respected people, and gave young Hodges a thorough education. He graduated from a medical institution and, shortly after receiving his diploma, joined a regiment and proceeded to the seat of war in Mexico, where he served honorably as a non-commissioned officer until the close of the struggle. Like thousands of others, he was attracted to California by its golden allurements, and began life here as a miner. Evil associates, coupled with lack of success, caused him to follow in the footsteps of many, whose loose moral ideals led them into gambling as a means of subsistence. Soon tiring of this, he took to the road, where he continued his game of chance in a tenser setting, staking his revolver against whatever loose coin his victims had about them. He formed a band of desperados called the “Tom Bell Gang” and for nearly two years kept the State in a fever of excitement. Finally, his dishonest ways caught up to him. The lies he told were revealed and he was strung up for his misdeeds. That’s the way it should be. The way it ought to be, regardless of the sex of the criminal.