On July 29, 1849, after an eight-year courtship, two young
schoolteachers were married in a small town in northern Vermont.
Their story could easily have been lost to history, except that
Alfred and Chastina Rix had the foresight to begin recording their
observations in a joint journal. Their unique husband-and-wife
account, which captures the turbulence of life and events during
the gold rush era, is also a personal--and compelling--chronicle of
a singular family's separation and reunion.
When the Rixes began their journal, abolition, temperance, and
the westward movement dominated New England culture and politics.
Stricken with "gold fever," Alfred headed to California, while
Chastina stayed behind. Alone with their young son in Vermont,
Chastina continued the journal, describing her loneliness and
fatigue as she labored to maintain the household, and summarizing
Alfred's frequent letters.
After establishing himself economically in San Francisco, Alfred
urged his wife to join him. Chastina and their two-year-old son
traveled by ship, via Panama, to California, where the couple
resumed their journal, continuing the pattern of alternating
entries and detailing life in the burgeoning city. Alfred's
concluding notes at the end of the journal are an abrupt reminder
that, just as now, life in the middle of the nineteenth century
could bring unexpected and personal tragedy.
In her careful editing of the journal, Lynn A. Bonfield has
preserved its original spelling and punctuation while enriching the
story with photographs and insightful annotations. Her lively
chapter introductions place the journal in the context of both New
England and California history and culture.
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