Source Information
Ancestry.com. John Bidwell, Living in California, 1841-89 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000.Original data: Library of Congress. California As I Saw It: First-Person Narratives of California's Early Years, 1849-1900. Volume 141. [database on-line] Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1999. Bidwell, John. Echoes of the Past About California. Chicago: R. R. Donnelley and Sons Co., 1928.
About John Bidwell, Living in California, 1841-89
Born in Chautaugua County, New York, John Bidwell was living in Ohio when he decided to seek his fortune in California. This database is his account of living in the West between 1841 and 1889. It chronicles his journey overland from Missouri to Fort Sutter in Northern California and his adventures in the Bear Flag rebellion in 1846. Additionally, it recounts finding gold on the Feather River, the profits from which he later used to secure land north of Sacramento in 1849. For researchers of early California ancestors, this narrative can provide helpful details about the life and culture of the area before and after gold was discovered.
