Last updated: March 21, 2023
Person
Abigail Arcan
William Lewis Manly's Death Valley in '49 (published 1894)
Quick Facts
Significance:
1 of 4 women to cross DEVA in 1849, Death Valley ‘49er
Place of Birth:
Billerica, Massachusetts
Date of Birth:
12/06/1818
Place of Death:
Santa Cruz, California
Date of Death:
02/24/1891
Abigail Arcan, sometimes written as "Arcane," was born Abigail Harriot Miller on Dec 6, 1818 in Billerica, Massachusetts to Stephen and Abigail Miller. On February 23, 1843, she married John Baptiste Arcan in Boston. Her husband was a “very polite Frenchman” according to William Lewis Manly, who was born in 1813 and passed in 1869, after reaching California. The Arcans were living in Illinois when they heard news of the gold out west, so they packed up their belongings and their one-year-old son Charles and set out in search of gold in April of 1849.
They arrived in Salt Lake City by October, too late to cross the Sierra Nevadas without risking devastation and struggle akin to the Donner Party’s fate just two years prior. So, the Arcans decided to join the wagon party led by Captain Hunt to still reach California, and the gold, as quickly as possible. When the news of a shorter route through what we now know as Death Valley reached their party, the Arcans took up with the Bennetts and ventured into unknown territory. John Rogers and William Lewis Manly also traveled with this party, and on occasion they traveled with the Wades and the Jayhawker party, though only sporadically.
The trek across Death Valley was terrible on everyone, though Abigail seemed most distraught for her son Charlie. He fell ill on the latter end of the journey, Manly mentioned it might be measles but it was drawn out and unclear, and had to be carried to even feel minorly comfortable. Despite his health problems, he survived the journey west. Unfortunately, his next sibling did not survive the trip. Abigail fell pregnant while on the road and while starving and dehydration and generally difficult conditions proved survivable for Abigail, the young girl born in July 1850 proved too weakened from the experience, living only 19 days.
Manly consistently compared the composure of Mrs. Bennett and Mrs. Arcan in his journal, portraying Mrs. Bennett as more emotional, but Mrs. Arcan as more frivolous and vain. When it came time to part with any belongings they could not carry on their backs, Abigail donned all of her finest clothes and piled her formal ribbons atop her head. She also dressed little Charlie in his best suit, though it does not appear that John followed their lead. A little later that day, the ox she was riding began bucking wildly. Mrs. Bennett pulled herself off of her own ox, along with her children, while John pulled Charlie out of the way. She held on to the bucking beast far longer than anyone expected, with ribbons comically flailing about. The party got a good laugh out of the antics and, after ensuring everyone’s safety and calming the oxen down, proceeded onwards. While little of value survived the move westward, Abigail did manage to keep a family heirloom safe through the entire debacle. Before marrying, Abigail had woven a white tablecloth that she brought with her, to maintain a piece of her past even in the new territory. Family legend dictates that Abigail donned the tablecloth around her shoulders like a shawl as they exited Death Valley, and it survived well enough to be donated to the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History in 2007.
They soon reached Rancho San Francisquito, which was merely a brief stop for the Arcan family. They were the first party to break from the Death Valley group, hiring a group of Mexican vaqueros to escort them to San Pedro, where they took a boat to San Francisco. According to the 1850 census, the Arcans were living in El Dorado for a time, before they moved on to San Jose and eventually Santa Cruz. Once in Santa Cruz, she gave birth to two more children— Julia Madeline in 1861 and Abigail Carolyn in 1862. Her husband passed in 1869, leaving her a widow until her death in 1891.