Learn more about significant figures of the California National Historic Trail.
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California National Historic Trail
Article 1: Bridget “Biddy” Mason, the California Trail
On 22 January 1856, Bridget “Biddy” Mason and twelve members of her extended family left the Los Angeles courtroom of Judge Benjamin Hayes as free people. She had lived as an enslaved person in California, a supposedly “free” state, for nearly five years. Her story is testament to the many obstacles that Black Americans faced in securing basic civil rights—even in states that technically prohibited slavery. Read more
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California National Historic Trail
Article 2: Mifflin W. Gibbs, the California Trail
Gibbs, like so many thousands, left the East for San Francisco in 1850, convinced that his own “judicious temperament, untiring energy, lexicon of endeavor, in which there is no such word as ‘fail,’ [was] the only open sesame” to the opportunities that awaited him in the “new” country. He may have been a “gold rusher,” but Gibbs had no interest in becoming a miner. Read more
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California National Historic Trail
Article 3: Thomas Woodson, the California Trail
Thomas Woodson was the first child born to Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman in the Jeffersons’ household. Thomas outfitted in St. Louis and made his way to Independence in 1846, where he jumped off onto the trail, California bound. His party was led by William Henry Russell, but Thomas parted ways with that group before reaching the Kansas River. Read more
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California National Historic Trail
Article 4: Eliza Donner Houghton, the California Trail
On 14 April 1846, three-year-old Eliza Donner left Springfield, Illinois, and set out for California in a covered wagon with fifteen members of her extended family. The family name would soon go down in history for the tragedy that overtook them on the long trail to California. Read more
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California National Historic Trail
Article 5: J. Goldsborough Bruff, the California Trail
News of California’s bountiful mineral resources encouraged J. Goldsborough to embark on his own overland journey. Trained as a draftsman and cartographer, Bruff’s sketches, paintings, and written descriptions of his trip, like the journals of the Corps of Discovery, became a useful guide for those who followed. His documentation of the United States’ expansion, of western landscapes, and of everyday life in California’s gold camps contributes generously to the narrative and Read more
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California National Historic Trail
Article 6: Alvin Aaron Coffey, the California Trail
California was a place of both hope and danger for enslaved African Americans. The state’s antislavery laws and plentiful business opportunities provided chances for a fresh start. These business opportunities, however, also attracted dishonest men looking to earn a quick buck. As we shall see, Alvin Coffey experienced both extremes during his three journeys across the California Trail. Read more
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California National Historic Trail
Article 7: Archy Lee, the California Trail
California entered the Union as a free state, but that did not mean that enslaved people were magically emancipated upon entering. Take, for example, the case of Archy Lee, who reached Sacramento in October 1857 with his enslaver, Charles Stovall. Despite California’s anti-slavery status, the eighteen-year-old Lee ended up in an all-out fight for his freedom. Read more