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With Great Hope: Women of the California Gold Rush
Ellen Clark Sargent
“No married woman can convert herself into a feminist knight of the rueful visage and ride about the country attempting to redress imaginary wrongs, without leaving her own household in a neglected condition that must be an eloquent witness against her.” New York Times, 1868
The memory of her arrival in Nevada City, California stayed with Ellen Clark Sargent all her life. Long after she had left the Gold Country, she recalled.
‘It was the evening of October 23, 1852 that I arrived in Nevada [City], accompanied by my husband. We had traveled by stage since the morning from Sacramento. Our road for the last eight or ten miles was through a forest of trees, mostly pines. The glory of the full moon was shining upon the beautiful hills and trees and everything seemed so quiet and restful that it made a deep impression on me, sentimental if not poetical, never to be forgotten.’
In the newly formed state of California, shaped by men and women who had endured unbelievable hardships to cross the plains, Ellen saw an opportunity to gain something she passionately wanted – the right to vote.
Despite defeat after defeat, she never gave up.
