Remembering Tuolumne…

By Joseph Celentano,

TCMM Historical Research Committee.

This year, 2004 is the Sesquicentennial year for Tuolumne. This means that 150 years ago, in 1854, the first Anglo family settled in this community, which we now know as Tuolumne. The area was populated for thousands of years by native peoples, referred to as the Miwok, or Me-Wuk, (meaning "the people").

Because this year a celebration is planned in September, sponsored by the Tuolumne Park & Recreation District, it was deemed appropriate to go into extensive detail about the Summers Family. This was a multi-part series and concludes with this issue.

* * * * *

The Summers Family - Part IV - Conclusion

Part III of this series ended in the year 1860.

Lee Ann Summers was married three times in her life. Her first marriage at age 18 was to John R. Richards, a Blacksmith from Wisconsin on March 7, 1868. In 1869 they had a son named Burton L. Richards. That marriage ended in a divorce.

Her second marriage at age 31 was to W.C. Whipple, in Bridgeport, CA and her son from that marriage was named Charles Frances Whipple, born August 23, 1881 and died Jan 7, 1953, in Sacramento. According to family correspondence (about 1884) they separated and later divorced.

Her third marriage at age 39 was to Charles Haslam, who was 49 years old at the time. They were married on February 17, 1889 and they had no children. Mr. Haslam died in 1901 at age 79 and Lee Ann became a widow at age 69. Mr. Haslam, who was a widower, was previously married to the former Harriet Douglass of Columbia. Charles Haslam once owned an apple ranch, which is now called the Sierra Glen Apple Ranch in the Belleview/Big Hill area.

Very little information regarding the personal life of Lee Ann has been discovered. In later years, she was often referred to as Mrs. L.A. Haslam. In the Museum there is evidence that she was involved in a photography business in Carters.

In the matter of her father's death, there is no indication of what happened to the individuals that shot and killed Frank Summers. This was 150 years ago; was it presumed to be "mutual combat" or "self-defense"? There was no trial, only a coroner's inquest. There is no known record of Frank Summers burial.

Summers Family Researcher Ruth Hansen Brown states the McHenry Museum in Modesto, CA has a receipt showing that $10 was paid by the County to a doctor for Frank Summers' autopsy. Is Frank buried in Modesto?

In May 1856 Wilse Walkingstaff murdered young James Ham in a jealous rage over a young woman. Mr. Ham was the first to be buried on a hill under a live oak tree in what became known in 1856 as Summersville Cemetery. In 1860, Lee Ann's cousin, Silas Gibbs, only eight days old, was the first child to be buried in Summersville Cemetery (now known as Carters Cemetery). Baby Silas was the fourth child of William Dulaney Gibbs and Mary Frances Summers, a younger sister by 11 years to our Frank Summers.

In addition to miners, many farmers, cattlemen and ranchers were beginning to populate the area from Summersville to Marlow Camp to Blanket Creek.

For a short time, miners called the area "Summers Camp." Prominent families including the Lord, Baker, C.H. Carter, Daly, Walling, Ralph and Ingall's families, moved into the area. In 1865, the Summerville Elementary School District was established. In 1882, Frank Baker began amassing his 600 acres of homestead land. Mr. Baker donated and deeded a portion of his ranch property for a school in Summersville. This is where the present Summerville Elementary School exists. Due to a typographical error of the time, note there is only one "s" in Summerville School. It was an early error and was never corrected. That's where we get the Summerville School name in Summersville.

Because of an Act of Congress in 1820, land patents for town sites created on public domain land were authorized. In 1876, the Summersville Townsite was surveyed and a patent was issued in 1884.

By the 1870's, Summersville was a thriving community with stores, hotels, saloons, doctor, lawyer, butcher shops, drug stores, express office, fraternal organizations, several churches, cigar manufacturer, livery stables, barber shops, milliners and dressmakers.

In 1888 Summersville residents wanted to have their own post office designation. The Post Office Department denied the application, because another post office in Contra Costa County, called Somersville, was already established. The Post Office Department, fearing confusion, suggested that Charles H. Carter general store house the post office. Since Mr. Carter was already taking care of the official mailbags for the area, it was agreed that the new post office would be called "Carters."

The official name for this community was resolved when the Sierra Railway completed its main line into the Depot Plaza in 1899. The railroad station was dubbed "Tuolumne", within the post office boundaries of Carters. In 1901, a post office was established in the West Side Lumber Company's office at Main Street and Bay Avenue (called "New Town"). In 1905, the Carters Post Office (in "Old Town") was abandoned. However, by 1908, the Old Town and the New Town post offices were combined at the West Side building and the area was finally called Tuolumne.

Lee Ann's mother, Mrs. Elizabeth (Summers) Connally, died on December 5^th, 1901 at age 69, possibly in Visalia, CA where she was living with her other daughter, Alice Lee (Connally) Winwood (Lee Ann's half-sister).

Lee Ann moved to Campo Seco in November 1924, four years before her own death.

Lee Ann (nee: Summers) Richards-Whipple-Haslam died Feb 28, 1928 in Shaws Flat at age 79.

The Summers Family had a reunion on May 1, 1993 in the Tuolumne Depot Park. Approximately 100 family members attended. Most of the attendees were descendants of James Summers, John "Jack" Summers, and Mary Frances (Summers) Gibbs.

Where did they all go? Some of the descendents of the original Summers' family currently reside just over the Sonora Pass in Inyo County and Mono County. Many reside in the central San Joaquin Valley area. Most are spread out all over the country.

For example, in 1879 for six months, Dr. George Summers, MD, Frank's eldest brother who once lived in Summersville, contracted to operate the Bodie, CA County Hospital.

In 1877, other Summers' family members formed the "Summers and Company Meat Market" in Bodie. They operated a large slaughterhouse and had a virtual monopoly in the meat business. But by 1883, Bodie "fizzled out" and there were no more customers for beef.

The TCMM Pioneer Exhibit Gallery has photographs of many Summers Family descendents. Some of the photographs are Elizabeth Summers; Lee Ann Summers; Charles Whipple; Mr. & Mrs. James Lee and Ada Dell Gibbs; Dolly, Eldridge and Dell Connally; George and Katherine (Connally) Marshall; Charles Eldridge Connally and Mary Louise (Gianelli) Connally's wedding day at Long Gulch in 1893; Mr. & Mrs. John and Ida Dell (Connally) Love wedding day on June 20, 1917. A painting by Ada Dell (Gurley) Gibbs (ca.1949).

Take a memorable stroll along the quiet walk of time to visit and pay respect to the old Long Gulch and Summersville pioneers by visiting the historic Carters Cemetery in Tuolumne on Cemetery Lane. Some of the family descendents still reside in Tuolumne today. Absorb a little pioneer history and walk up and down the aisles of the 150-year-old graveyard and view the pioneer plots and names of many prominent families of Summersville, Carters and Tuolumne ----- the town with three names.

The End, Part IV of IV.

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Research notes: As with any historical and genealogical research, the spelling of names, accuracy of dates and places can vary. With oral histories handed down from generation to generation, this happens quite often. This leads to a little confusion with just "who-is-who," which can be misleading. What is mentioned in one census can be the opposite in another census. Census records are not reliable. We attempted to be as accurate as possible with this four-part article. There was no speculation. (We didn't make it up.) If there is something you feel the TCMM Historical Research Committee should be aware of, or if you just have a question, feel free to call or E-mail the museum and leave a message.

[For purposes of this research article, we attempted to locate the gravesite in Carters Cemetery for Lee Whipple-Haslam. According to cemetery documents, there was no record of her being interred there, as reported in her obituary in a local newspaper. We examined the hundreds of headstones, but our Lee Ann was not located. But our search will continue.]

This entire article is available on the Museum Website for review at www.TuolumneMuseum.org. Click on the history of the "Summersville Pioneer Families" Web page.

Research sources: Credits and thanks to:

---Georgia Kinney Bopp Family Genealogy Book "Summers Family in California", the GKBopp database, and Ruth Hansen Brown. Both are descendents of Samuel and Elizabeth (McWherter) Summers.

---The book "Early Days in California", by Mrs. L. Haslam, published in 1928.

---Personal notes by Marie Rozier from the Tuolumne City Memorial Museum archived files.

---Sharon Marovich, Tuolumne County Historical Society, Sonora, CA

---Joyce Crawford, Researcher, Tuolumne County Genealogical Society, Sonora, CA

---Ann Williams, Researcher, Tuolumne County Genealogical Society, Sonora, CA

---Joseph Celentano, Historical Researcher, Tuolumne City Memorial Museum, Tuolumne, CA

© TCMM September 2004

"AN OLD PIONEER AT FINAL REST"

OBITUARY

The Sonora Union Democrat

Tuolumne County, California March 3, 1928

"The shadows fell for Mrs. Lee Whipple-Haslam, a pioneer woman of Tuolumne County last Tuesday at 10:30 AM, at her home at Camp Seco. The immediate cause of her death was acute dilation of the heart, which followed a complication of all ailments to her vital organs.

"Mrs. Whipple-Haslam was born in Missouri and was aged 79 years when she passed. Her father, Franklin Summers, was a pioneer of 1852. A year later he went back to his Missouri home and returned to Tuolumne County with his wife and daughter, the child being four years old when she arrived here in 1853. Here in the rough days she grew to womanhood and imbibed at first hand much of the early history of the county, which she subsequently wrote and had it published in book form. She was a woman of high character and a keenly intelligent mind and a marvelous memory, which made it possible for her to recall the incidents of early days and portray them long after she has passed the meridian of life.

"Deceased spent most of the years of her life in Tuolumne County. In early youth she lived at Shaw's Flat, and in her young womanhood at Summersville, now Tuolumne. The older town was named after her father and uncles.

"She is survived by two sons, Burton L. Richards and Chas. Whipple, two half brothers, George and Frank Connally, a half sister Mrs. T.C. Winwood, and two grand-daughters and several great-grand children.

"The funeral was conducted Thursday afternoon at 2 o'clock by Undertaker O'Belrne from his chapel in Sonora, thence to the Methodist Church in Tuolumne, where services preceded interment in the family plot in the Carter cemetery."