Theron Eustice Cogswell1

M, b. after 1875, d. circa 1875
FatherJames L. Cogswell DDS b. 29 Nov 1830, d. 1921
MotherEmily A. (Scofield) Cogswell b. 1839, d. 1911
Last Edited12 Jan 2018
     Theron Eustice Cogswell died circa 1875; Died at 6 months old.1 He was born after 1875; Guesstimate. He was the son of James L. Cogswell DDS and Emily A. (Scofield) Cogswell.

Citations

  1. [S534] Dr. James Cogswell, "Dr. James Cogswells autobiography."

Mr. Unknown Bernard1

M
Last Edited9 Mar 2017
     Mr. Unknown Bernard married Emily A. (Scofield) Cogswell before 1867.

Family

Emily A. (Scofield) Cogswell b. 1839, d. 1911

Citations

  1. [S534] Dr. James Cogswell, "Dr. James Cogswells autobiography."

Amos Cogswell1

M, b. 19 February 1754, d. 4 January 1845
FatherBenjamin Cogswell2,3 b. 1 Jul 1730, d. c 1828
MotherLois (Thompson) Cogswell3 b. c 1732, d. 26 Mar 1800
Last Edited11 Sep 2013
     Amos Cogswell married an unknown person. He was born on 19 February 1754 at Coventry, Tolland County, Connecticut.2,3 He was the son of Benjamin Cogswell and Lois (Thompson) Cogswell.2,3 Amos Cogswell married Rebecca (Chamberlain) Cogswell circa 1775.2,3 Amos Cogswell married Sarah (Barnaby) Cogswell on 22 September 1799.2,3 Amos Cogswell died on 4 January 1845 at age 90.2,3
     He began military service at Soldier in the Amrican Revolution.

Family 1

Rebecca (Chamberlain) Cogswell d. 12 Apr 1798
Children

Family 2

Sarah (Barnaby) Cogswell d. ?
Children

Citations

  1. [S534] Dr. James Cogswell, "Dr. James Cogswells autobiography."
  2. [S954] Donald James Cogswell, Descendants of John Cogswell.
  3. [S993] Rolene Kiesling, "Rolene Kiesling Research 6/2011."

George A. Cornwell1

M, b. circa 1917, d. 1984
Last Edited6 Apr 2019
     George A. Cornwell was born circa 1917 at Modesto, Stanislaus Co., CA.1 He married Joanne (Lawton) Cornwell circa 1940; Guesstimate. George A. Cornwell died in 1984 at Los Gatos, CA.1
     He $30,000 donated to the museum/library fund in his memory. He lived between 1960 and 1990 at PML, Groveland, Tuolumne Co., CA; Vacation home
also had ranch property near Second Garrotte since 1964.1

Family

Joanne (Lawton) Cornwell d. 2006

Citations

  1. [S2995] PML News, Dec 1984.

Joanne (Lawton) Cornwell

F, d. 2006
Last Edited6 Apr 2019
     Joanne (Lawton) Cornwell married George A. Cornwell circa 1940; Guesstimate. Joanne (Lawton) Cornwell died in 2006 at Los Gatos, CA.1

Family

George A. Cornwell b. c 1917, d. 1984

Citations

  1. [S505] Unknown author, Article - Misc newspapers.

Dolores Marie (Zukowski) Crouch1

F, b. 19 October 1931, d. 26 April 1993
FatherBronislaw Zukowski2 b. c 1893, d. 4 Oct 1940
MotherSophie (Pietrowski) Zukowski Bytner2 b. c 1902
Bur-RevO
Last Edited29 Nov 2017
     Dolores Marie (Zukowski) Crouch was born on 19 October 1931 at Cook Co., Illinois.3,2,4,5 She was the daughter of Bronislaw Zukowski and Sophie (Pietrowski) Zukowski Bytner.2 Dolores Marie (Zukowski) Crouch married William Crouch on 4 November 1953 at San Diego Co., California; Presumed marriage; they shared PO box in Groveland.6,7 Dolores Marie (Zukowski) Crouch died on 26 April 1993 at Tuolumne Co., California, at age 61; Obit reads May 2, 1993.8,9 She was buried in May 1993; Although a memorial was held for Dee Crouch at Our Lady of Mt Carmel Church, she was not buried there.10,5
     Dolores Marie (Zukowski) Crouch was also known as Dee Crouch. She lived between 1983 and 1993 at Groveland, Tuolumne Co., CA.5

Family

William Crouch b. 5 Sep 1929, d. 25 Feb 2014

Citations

  1. [S1603] US Public Records Index, Vol 1, Tuolumne Co., California, Delores M Crough, born 19 Oct 1991, res. Groveland CA (no street address, 2 PO Boxes) ph 5192.
  2. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000, DELORES MARIE CROUCH, female born Illinois, died Tuolumne County 26 Apr 1993, age 61 years. Mother's maiden surname PIETROWSKI, father's surname ZUKOWSKI.
  3. [S1603] US Public Records Index, Vol 1, Tuolumne Co., California, Delores M Crough, born 19 Oct 1931, res. Groveland CA (no street address, 2 PO Boxes) ph 5192.
  4. [S2751] Ancestry Operations Inc., 2008, Doloros Zukowski, born 19 Oct 1931 at Cook Co., IL, File No. 6042112. Archived in Cook County Genealogy Reaords (Births) Chicago, IL. Active repository Cook County Clerk.
  5. [S2929] PML News, June, 1993.
  6. [S1603] US Public Records Index, Vol 1, Tuolumne Co., California, Delores M Crouch, born 19 Oct 1931, res. Groveland CA (no street address, 2 PO Boxes) ph 5192.
  7. [S286] Unknown compiler, Dolores M Zukowski, female born c 1931, age 22 years, married 14 Nov 1953 in San Diego Co., California, William A Crouch, age 24 years.
  8. [S8] SSDI, Delores Crouch, born 19 Oct 1931, died 26 Apr 1993. SSN issued Illinois.
  9. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000, Delores (sic) Marie Crouch [Delores Marie Zukowski] SSN 354248608, female born 19 Oct 1931 in Illinois, died 26 Apr 1993 in Tuolumne Co.; mother's maiden surname Pietrowski, father's surname Zukowski.
  10. [S535] Unknown author, Article - Memorial Services Held Recently for Former Board-Member Dee Crouch, STCHS Newsletter, undated clipping from History Resource Center file: Memorial services were held last Friday in Our Lady of Mt Carmel Church for former Board member and avid volunteer in STCHS activities, Dee Crouch.
    Crouch, who was one of Groveland's hardest-working volunteers, was elected to the Historical Soceity's board in 1989. She became membership chairperson at that time.
    Many will remember her also as the hard-working volunteer who so successfully ran the bake sale booth at the Fall Historical Society picnics in the park.
    Memorial donations in her honor may be made to the STCHS Musueum-Library fund. They may be sent to the adress published in the Bulletin.

Charles John Emerson1

M, b. 6 October 1886, d. 10 September 1946
Last Edited11 Aug 2007
     Charles John Emerson married Dora Marie Knuckles, daughter of Mr. Unknown Knuckles. Charles John Emerson was born on 6 October 1886 at Wisconsin.2,1 He died on 10 September 1946 at Santa Clara Co., California, at age 59.2
     He was (an unknown value) in 1920 at Civil Engineer, Tuolumne Co., California.1

Family

Dora Marie Knuckles b. 24 Sep 1895, d. 23 Feb 1982

Citations

  1. [S533] Unknown author, Census - 1920, Groveland, Tuolumne Co., CA.
  2. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000, EMERSON CHARLES JOHN Male born Wisconsin 10/06/1886 Mother's maiden surname CONNOR, father's surname EMERSON Died SANTA CLARA Co. 09/10/1946 Age 59 yrs.

Dora Marie Knuckles1,2

F, b. 24 September 1895, d. 23 February 1982
FatherMr. Unknown Knuckles
Last Edited20 Apr 2007
     Dora Marie Knuckles married Charles John Emerson. Dora Marie Knuckles was born on 24 September 1895 at Kansas.1,2 She was the daughter of Mr. Unknown Knuckles. Dora Marie Knuckles died on 23 February 1982 at Contra Costa Co., California, at age 86.2
     She CA Death Index @ rootsweb.com

EMERSON DORA NUCKLES
09/24/1895
KENYON
NUCKLES
F
KANSAS
CONTRA COSTA
02/23/1982
525-88-5988
86 yrs.

Family

Charles John Emerson b. 6 Oct 1886, d. 10 Sep 1946

Citations

  1. [S533] Unknown author, Census - 1920, Groveland, Tuolumne Co., CA.
  2. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000.

Mr. Unknown Knuckles1

M
Last Edited11 Aug 2007

Family

Child

Citations

  1. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000.

Herbert Bayley Ewing1,2,3

M, b. 10 September 1918, d. 12 February 1990
FatherFrank B. Ewing4 b. 8 Jun 1885, d. 13 Jul 1963
MotherGrace Charlotte Sovulewski b. 16 Jun 1898, d. 31 Mar 1981
Last Edited7 Sep 2014
     Herbert Bayley Ewing was born on 10 September 1918 at Yosemite National Park, California.3 He was the son of Frank B. Ewing and Grace Charlotte Sovulewski.4 Herbert Bayley Ewing married Ruth Elener Ewing circa 1945.5 Herbert Bayley Ewing died on 12 February 1990 at Tuolumne Co., California, at age 71.6
     He and Ruth Elener Ewing "THE RANGER AND I"
WRITTEN BY RUTH EWING FOR GOOD HOUSEKEEPING MAGAZINE IN OCTOBER, 1956

Today I can laugh when I think back to my first frightening experience as a ranger's wife in a wild High Sierra outpost Yosemite National Park. But it wasn't one bit funny then; not for this young tenderfoot. I had always sworn I'd go anywhere with the man I married, live in a shack if necessary, but I had never dreamed I would have to prove it.

I was put to the test a little more than a year after my marriage, when, at the close of world war II, my husband swapped the olive drab of the Army Air Force bomber pilots for the forest green of the National Park Service and a life of patrolling remote park regions as a sort of public guardian angel. Being a sheltered city girl with a conventional approach to matters of housekeeping, child rearing, and social life, this Heigh-ho-silver-and-away-we-go-to-the-backwoods proposition somehow did not seem attractive.

Herb's salary was to be $2,200 per annum. (I thought I had heard it wrong the first time too, but it was $2,200, minus deductions and uniform expenses - and an annum still sliced into 365 equal parts.) Naturally, at this point, I expressed what I thought was reasonable concern over ways and means. Just how, I wanted my husband to explain, did one feed a family, including a newborn son, for a whole year on a ranger's pay?

"You don't have so many expenses in the mountains," was his lame reply. "There'll be no movies to spend money on, no monthly utility bills to pay, no keeping up with the Joneses, no big entertainment bills--"

"You paint a very enticing picture." I said sarcastically. "No beauty parlor, no dress shop, no fun, no nothing."

My easygoing six-footer just said, "Don't worry, honey. You're going to love it ."

I'd have given odds against it. Nevertheless, we loaded provisions, bedding, bottles, dishes, pots, pans, high chair, crib, and our five-month-old Bobby into our battered Chevy and headed for Tuolumne Meadows, a vast alpine grassland ringed in by massive domes and awesome snow-clad peaks, about 50 miles from Yosemite Park headquarters and 8,600 feet above sea level. The three-hour ascent brought us in just minutes behind the season's first snowplow. Officially, ranger Herbert Bayley Ewing and family were "at home."

Some home! It was nothing more than two adjoining 12' x 14' tents with wood floors. Equipment and furniture consisted of one wood-burning stove, two war-surplus iron cots, a wood picnic table with built-in bench seats, one shelf nailed to the tent frame, and two gasoline lanterns. Period.

"Where's the bathroom?" I asked.

Herb showed me the trail to the outhouse .

"Where's the icebox? "

Don't need one. Nights get cold here." Herb said.

"Where's the water, then?"

Herb kicked open the screen door and pointed. Sure enough, in line with his finger, a full 200 yards away, I saw a spigot sticking up from the ground.

If I hadn't been so cold and hungry and scared, I'd have bundled up my infant and started for the East Coast right then and there, by way of Reno. As it was, I just sat down on a sagging cot and sobbed.

Herb and I were a continent apart in our thinking. I was a city girl with no taste whatever for the outdoor life. Herb had been born in Yosemite, the son and grandson of a park ranger. We argued that night until the gas lantern sputtered and ran out of fuel. Then I said flatly that I would try it for just one week. If it didn't work out, and it was a foregone conclusion it wouldn't, I would take Bobby back East where I belonged.

Anyone who tells you that mountain air is bracing must have made his observations on some Appalachian foothill. Take it from me: until you get used to it, the thin air at a mile and a half above sea level positively knocks you out. During the next few days I puffed dizzily just going from faucet to tent with pail after pail of icy water. It was a full-blown career trying to keep enough on the stove for Bobby's formula, for diapers, for sterilizing, for bathing, for cooking, and for more diapers. How I would have marveled at a kitchen sink with hot and cold running water! Or at some simple little nicety like a doorknob !

With the stove burning all day long, that tent got so hot I had to keep the side walls rolled up. That meant letting in, along wit the highly touted cool mountain air, swarms of mosquitoes, gnats, horseflies, and occasional thieving squirrels.

Even in summer, night temperatures at Tuolumne average below freezing. My first teeth-chattering attempts at midnight diaper changing proved that neither mother nor baby were doing well that way. So I made a pint-size sleeping bag for Bobby from seersucker and pillow stuffing, complete with arms, a zippered back, and--most important--a waterproof snap-in pad. Then I'd put five layers of diapers on him--one for luck--and zip my little towhead up for the night. The little traitor seemed to love his new way of life, horseflies and all. Of course he had no outhouse problems.
Remember the nervous fellow who couldn't go to sleep, waiting for the one-legged man upstairs to drop his second shoe? I knew just how he felt. Without having been particularly aware of them, I had lived all my life where the familiar, comforting sounds of trains, plans, trucks, autos, sirens, foghorns, and other voices of the urban night lulled me to sleep. Here, about the only break in the silence came nightly when a crash as of cymbals indicated that a prowling bear had just whacked the lid from our garbage can. Considering the thin canvas wall of our tent, such nocturnal noises were anything but lullabies for me. Only sheer exhaustion enabled me to sleep at all.

I'm not sure why I didn't call it quits after that first week. It was nip and tuck. All I know is that things did improve. Somehow Herb and another ranger managed to scare up enough pipe to run a water line to our tent. In my book that achievement, "Operation Little Squirt" goes down with the building of the Roman aqueducts. I took to my daily washing chores with new spirit.

Gradually, some of Herb's pioneer know-how rubbed off on me. I got the knack of ironing his uniform shirts--pocket bellows and all--on the rough picnic table, using kerosene iron. And even at that altitude I learned how to bake what passed for a cake. At least the squirrels thought so. I was out of the rut and into a groove as far as squaw labor was concerned. I'm not denying that I would still have given half a year's pay to clatter down some boulevard in spike heels and a swishing skirt and to take in the sights and the sounds and the feel--both internally and externally--of a big metropolis, dirty old air and all. But I loved seeing my blond, fair-skinned Bobby get tan and healthy in the bright mountain light of the "high country." And to know that for Herb, there was work to do and satisfaction from doing it.

I can now throw a saddle a third my own weight over a horse and cinch it up. I can pack a mule and often do, throwing a squaw hitch that would be a credit to a professional mule skinner, and I can run the station when Herb is away. About once a week now I have a reason to don feminine attire, which means denim riding skirt instead of denim pants. That is when we go out to dinner. We really do, at the little High Sierra hikers' camp on Merced Lake. That is our only social activity during the summer. There is no church. On the other hand, unless you cheat at two-handed gin rummy, there is no sin either, so we come out even.

That first summer taught me a lot of elementary things you don't boil a three-minute egg in three minutes at high altitudes, horseshoes last only six weeks on rough mountain trails, never walk behind a horse without making a noise, and never stand on a granite dome in a lightning storm. And as some of the park service esprit de corps seeped through my weather-beaten skin, I began to understand the urge that made a man like my husband want to be a ranger in spite of the meager pay and the hardships of the job.

For the past three years, Herb's summer assignments have take us to Merced Lake Ranger Station. Although this is the most beautiful outpost region in the park, it is perhaps the most remote as well.

But our log cabin is a tremendous improvement over the old tent. It has a kitchen with a wood stove and hot and cold running water (hot while the stove is burning), a combination living-dining room with fireplace, and a bedroom, which doubles as a food cooler. And we have a homemade shower outside the cabin, where we bathe by candlelight after dinner--that is, when we can spare the hot water.

Our period of isolation is over sometime in mid-September, when we return to our more comfortable winter quarters area. Herb's duties then vary from traffic patrol, ski-area supervision, or desk work in the chief ranger's office, to dramatic ski-rescue missions. Instead of fishing and riding for recreation, we have skiing, ice skating, and a round of social affairs. Bobby goes to grammar school just a few hundred feet from our house.

What does it all add up to after these nine years? Herb is now thirty-six, I'm thirty-four, and Bobby is ten. We are up to $4,035 per year. I supplement that income by working part time in winter at a Yosemite photo studio, and I earn pin money as Yosemite correspondent for three city newspapers. Materially, our rewards are modest, and we shall never be rich. We may live out our lives as ranger-and-wife right in Yosemite and retire, as Herb's folks have done. Or we could be transferred to Alaska, Hawaii, or to any of the thirty-odd other states in the union that use rangers.

Meanwhile, we have abundant health, civil-service security, some prestige in our domain, and many fine friends.

I don't know exactly when I caught "Sierra fever" and fell in love with these wonderful mountains. It was a gradual process of sharing adventures and some misadventures and scenic grandeur. Sometimes when we go out on an overnight ride and bed down in our sleeping bags by a lake or stream, I lie awake a while and think about my lot as a ranger's wife. It is then I realize that I'm happy just keeping the men in my life happy.

It's Herb's turn to say, "I told you so," but never has he reminded me of that day when he predicted, "Don't worry, honey. You're going to love it." at Yosemite National Park, California.7 Herbert Bayley Ewing was National Park Service Ranger, Yosemite National Park

Three Generations of Rangers
as told by Ruth Ewing (2006)


Gabriel Sovulewski (Herb Ewing's grandfather) served 1906-1936. He was appointed park supervisor in 1906. Gabriel was born in Poland in 1866 and emigrated to the United States when he was 16.

Frank B. Ewing served 1916-1950. While Frank served as a ranger only from 1916 until 1918, he remained with the NPS in Yosemite for 34 years as Roads-and-Trails foreman and finally as Chief of Operations. His most notable years spanned the time he was in charge of roads and trails, succeeding his illustrious father-in-law, Gabriel Sovulewski.

Herbert B. Ewing served 1946-1977. Grandson of Gabriel Sovulewski, son of Frank Ewing and raised in Yosemite, Herb was destined to be a ranger. Those two men took him all over the park and he absorbed their history, as well as the amazing geography. Thus Herb knew more about Yosemite than any ranger in his generation. between 1946 and 1977 at Yosemite National Park, California.8 He and Ruth Elener Ewing were retired in 1977; On Herb's retirement the couple moved to nearby Pine Mountain Lake. Ruth moved to Wesley Homes in 2006 to be closer to her son after the death of her husband.9

Family

Ruth Elener Ewing b. 6 Jul 1920, d. 23 Jan 2013

Citations

  1. [S536] Unknown author, Article - A family's history is Yosemite's as well.
  2. [S537] Unknown author, Article - Three Generations of Rangers as told by Ruth Ewing.
  3. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000.
  4. [S543] Herbert Bayley Ewing, circa 2006 unknown repository, Three Generations of Rangers as told by Ruth Ewing (2006)


    Gabriel Sovulewski (Herb Ewing's grandfather) served 1906-1936. He was appointed park supervisor in 1906. Gabriel was born in Poland in 1866 and emigrated to the United States when he was 16.

    Frank B. Ewing served 1916-1950. While Frank served as a ranger only from 1916 until 1918, he remained with the NPS in Yosemite for 34 years as Roads-and-Trails foreman and finally as Chief of Operations. His most notable years spanned the time he was in charge of roads and trails, succeeding his illustrious father-in-law, Gabriel Sovulewski.

    Herbert B. Ewing served 1946-1977. Grandson of Gabriel Sovulewski, son of Frank Ewing and raised in Yosemite, Herb was destined to be a ranger. Those two men took him all over the park and he absorbed their history, as well as the amazing geography. Thus Herb knew more about Yosemite than any ranger in his generation.
  5. [S2551] Union Democrat, 5 Feb 2013, online, She met Herbert B. Ewing, a pilot in the Air Force, through a neighbor and they married by the end of the war. They lived in Texas, South Dakota and California. She moved with her husband, who was born in Yosemite National Park, to the park in 1946, where Mr. Ewing worked for the National Park Service.
  6. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000, EWING HERBERT BAYLEY Male born 09/10/1918 California; Mother's maiden name - SOVULEWSKI Died TUOLUMNE Co 02/12/1990 567-03-7570 71 yrs- - - - -.
  7. [S544] Ruth Ewing, "The Ranger and I."
  8. [S543] Herbert Bayley Ewing, circa 2006 unknown repository, Three Generations of Rangers
    as told by Ruth Ewing (2006)


    Gabriel Sovulewski (Herb Ewing's grandfather) served 1906-1936. He was appointed park supervisor in 1906. Gabriel was born in Poland in 1866 and emigrated to the United States when he was 16.

    Frank B. Ewing served 1916-1950. While Frank served as a ranger only from 1916 until 1918, he remained with the NPS in Yosemite for 34 years as Roads-and-Trails foreman and finally as Chief of Operations. His most notable years spanned the time he was in charge of roads and trails, succeeding his illustrious father-in-law, Gabriel Sovulewski.

    Herbert B. Ewing served 1946-1977. Grandson of Gabriel Sovulewski, son of Frank Ewing and raised in Yosemite, Herb was destined to be a ranger. Those two men took him all over the park and he absorbed their history, as well as the amazing geography. Thus Herb knew more about Yosemite than any ranger in his generation.
  9. [S2551] Union Democrat, 5 Feb 2013, online, The couple retired to Pine Mountain Lake, near Groveland. They enjoyed traveling and playing golf. Mrs. Ewing moved to Wesley Homes in 2006 to be closer to her son after the death of her husband.

Frank B. Ewing1,2,3

M, b. 8 June 1885, d. 13 July 1963
FatherMr. Unknown Ewing
MotherMiss Unknown Bayley
Last Edited15 Aug 2007
     Frank B. Ewing was born on 8 June 1885 at California.3 He was the son of Mr. Unknown Ewing and Miss Unknown Bayley. Frank B. Ewing married Grace Charlotte Sovulewski, daughter of Gabriel Sovulewski and Rose Ryder, before 1918 at Yosemite National Park, California. Frank B. Ewing died on 13 July 1963 at Mariposa Co., California, at age 78.4
     He was (an unknown value) between 1916 and 1950 at Yosemite National Park, California.5

Family

Grace Charlotte Sovulewski b. 16 Jun 1898, d. 31 Mar 1981
Child

Citations

  1. [S536] Unknown author, Article - A family's history is Yosemite's as well.
  2. [S537] Unknown author, Article - Three Generations of Rangers as told by Ruth Ewing.
  3. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000.
  4. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000, EWING FRANK B Male born California 06/08/1885 Mother's maiden surname - BAYLEY Died Mariposa Co. 7/13/1963.
  5. [S543] Herbert Bayley Ewing, circa 2006 unknown repository, Three Generations of Rangers
    as told by Ruth Ewing (2006)


    Gabriel Sovulewski (Herb Ewing's grandfather) served 1906-1936. He was appointed park supervisor in 1906. Gabriel was born in Poland in 1866 and emigrated to the United States when he was 16.

    Frank B. Ewing served 1916-1950. While Frank served as a ranger only from 1916 until 1918, he remained with the NPS in Yosemite for 34 years as Roads-and-Trails foreman and finally as Chief of Operations. His most notable years spanned the time he was in charge of roads and trails, succeeding his illustrious father-in-law, Gabriel Sovulewski.

    Herbert B. Ewing served 1946-1977. Grandson of Gabriel Sovulewski, son of Frank Ewing and raised in Yosemite, Herb was destined to be a ranger. Those two men took him all over the park and he absorbed their history, as well as the amazing geography. Thus Herb knew more about Yosemite than any ranger in his generation.
  6. [S543] Herbert Bayley Ewing, circa 2006 unknown repository, Three Generations of Rangers as told by Ruth Ewing (2006)


    Gabriel Sovulewski (Herb Ewing's grandfather) served 1906-1936. He was appointed park supervisor in 1906. Gabriel was born in Poland in 1866 and emigrated to the United States when he was 16.

    Frank B. Ewing served 1916-1950. While Frank served as a ranger only from 1916 until 1918, he remained with the NPS in Yosemite for 34 years as Roads-and-Trails foreman and finally as Chief of Operations. His most notable years spanned the time he was in charge of roads and trails, succeeding his illustrious father-in-law, Gabriel Sovulewski.

    Herbert B. Ewing served 1946-1977. Grandson of Gabriel Sovulewski, son of Frank Ewing and raised in Yosemite, Herb was destined to be a ranger. Those two men took him all over the park and he absorbed their history, as well as the amazing geography. Thus Herb knew more about Yosemite than any ranger in his generation.

Grace Charlotte Sovulewski1,2,3

F, b. 16 June 1898, d. 31 March 1981
FatherGabriel Sovulewski b. 1866, d. 1939
MotherRose Ryder b. c 1874, d. Aug 1928
Last Edited15 Aug 2007
     Grace Charlotte Sovulewski was born on 16 June 1898 at California.3 She was the daughter of Gabriel Sovulewski and Rose Ryder. Grace Charlotte Sovulewski married Frank B. Ewing, son of Mr. Unknown Ewing and Miss Unknown Bayley, before 1918 at Yosemite National Park, California. Grace Charlotte Sovulewski died on 31 March 1981 at Mariposa Co., California, at age 82.3
     She CA death index @ rootsweb.com

EWING GRACE CHARLOTTE
06/16/1898
RYDER
SOVULEWSKI
F
CALIFORNIA
MARIPOSA
03/31/1981
560-64-2308
82 yrs.
As of before 1918,her married name was Ewing.

Family

Frank B. Ewing b. 8 Jun 1885, d. 13 Jul 1963
Child

Citations

  1. [S537] Unknown author, Article - Three Generations of Rangers as told by Ruth Ewing.
  2. [S536] Unknown author, Article - A family's history is Yosemite's as well.
  3. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000.

Gabriel Sovulewski1,2

M, b. 1866, d. 1939
Bur-RevO
Last Edited15 Aug 2007
     Gabriel Sovulewski was born in 1866 at Poland. He married Rose Ryder before 1898.3 Gabriel Sovulewski died in 1939 at California. He was buried in 1939 at Yosemite Cemetery, Yosemite National Park, California.4
     He
- - - - -
COMMENCEMENT PROGRAM , May 28, 1936
Mariposa County High School
COMMENCEMENT PROGRAM
Thursday, May 28, 1936 8:00 o'clock

Band led by Conrad Bergland played 3 marches, "Hippodrome", "Ironclad" & "New Colonial"
Processional - Mrs. Agnes Bertken
Invocation - Father Hunt
Salutatory - Jane Trabucco
Solo - Russell Lind accompanied by Mrs. Agnes Bertken
Valedictory - Rodney Clark
Presentation of Amer. Legion Awards - L. T. Milburn
Address - Dan H. Gilson
"Rural vs City Education"
Announcement of Cup Awards - Cleo Adelsbach
Presentation of the Class - J. L. Spriggs
Awarding of Diplomas - Gabriel Sovulewski, Pres. of Board
Benediction - Rev. Lee
- - - -
Yosemitecampers.com

Hutchings–Sovulewski Homesites (Site YC-12). The fruit orchard planted by James Mason Hutchings after 1864, in what is now the Lower Yosemite Fall area, comprises the surface evidence of Site YC-12. This site area also formerly contained the Hutchings cabin, barn, sheds, and other outbuildings that were once part of his homestead.

The cabin was built of hewn logs joined with a V-notch and rested on a stone foundation. It had a covered open porch on one side and a later frame, board, and batten addition on the opposite end. Shakes clad the roof and chinked the cracks between the logs. The home was heated by a large stone fireplace and chimney (NPS 1987; Olmsted 1880).

The Hutchings family resided in the cabin at least on a part-time basis until 1902. After James Mason Hutchings’ death, the structure was used to store hay for several years, until it was cleaned out in 1906 and assigned to Park Superintendent Gabriel Sovulewski (Pavlik 1988).

In 1909, the former Hutchings cabin was demolished (NPS 1987). A year later a new, two-story, wood-frame home was built for Gabriel Sovulewski in the same vicinity. The Sovulweski home was the first residence built in Yosemite Valley by the Department of the Interior. In the late 1920s, the Yosemite Advisory Board deemed the Sovulewski home an obstruction on the landscape and recommended its removal. After failed requests by Sovulewski to relocate the structure, the home was removed in the fall of 1936 (Pavlik 1988).

Recent excavations at this site identified structural remains likely associated with the Sovulewski home and refuse associated with both Hutchings and Sovulewski and Camp Lost Arrow.
- - - - -
http://www.nps.gov/archive/yose/learn/elphb3.pdf

SARGEANT GABRIEL SOVULEWSKI(1866-1938) Transportation, GuardianGabriel "Gabe" Sovulewski was born in Poland and came to America at age 16. He enlisted in thearmy, and served in the Sequoia and General Grant in 1891. He served as Quartermaster Sgt. in Yosemite with the 4th Cavalry from 1895-1897. He returned to Yosemite in 1906, and spent the remainder of his life there. After Army left in 1914, he stayed on and helped supervise the management of the park. He was best noted for his work on the trail system, and waspersonally responsible for laying out most of the 740+ miles of trails. He was part-timeadministrator, and served as acting superintendent. He retired in 1936 after 42 years of service to Yosemite.

*ROSE RIDER SOVULEWSKI(1874-1928) Living Services, GuardianRose Inez Rider married Gabriel Sovulewski in 1896. They made their home in Yosemite andraised 7 children in the Valley. Because of her leadership in community affairs, Rose was knownas "Mother Sovulewski." She served as both doctor and nurse for many years and worked asher husband's clerk. He ended military service before 1895.5 He was (an unknown value) between 1906 and 1936 at Yosemite National Park, California.6,7

Family

Rose Ryder b. c 1874, d. Aug 1928
Children

Citations

  1. [S536] Unknown author, Article - A family's history is Yosemite's as well.
  2. [S537] Unknown author, Article - Three Generations of Rangers as told by Ruth Ewing.
  3. [S234] Karen Davis, "Karen Davis Research", from interview with Ruth Ewing 2006.
  4. [S14] Hank Johnston and Marth Lee, Yosemite Cemetery.
  5. [S536] Unknown author, Article - A family's history is Yosemite's as well, Rose and Gabriel SOVULEWSKI Gabriel SOVULEWSKI was born in Poland, came to America at 16 and enlisted in the Army. In 1895 he was Sergeant of Troop K 4th Cavalry during the time the U.S. Army administered the park. He continued in administration after he became a civilian. Many of the 740 miles of trails were planned and laid out by him. Mrs. Sovulewski lived in Yosemite Valley for 22 years and died in August 1928 at 54. No date is given for Gabriel SOVULEWSKI's death.
  6. [S543] Herbert Bayley Ewing, circa 2006 unknown repository, Three Generations of Rangers
    as told by Ruth Ewing (2006)


    Gabriel Sovulewski (Herb Ewing's grandfather) served 1906-1936. He was appointed park supervisor in 1906. Gabriel was born in Poland in 1866 and emigrated to the United States when he was 16.

    Frank B. Ewing served 1916-1950. While Frank served as a ranger only from 1916 until 1918, he remained with the NPS in Yosemite for 34 years as Roads-and-Trails foreman and finally as Chief of Operations. His most notable years spanned the time he was in charge of roads and trails, succeeding his illustrious father-in-law, Gabriel Sovulewski.

    Herbert B. Ewing served 1946-1977. Grandson of Gabriel Sovulewski, son of Frank Ewing and raised in Yosemite, Herb was destined to be a ranger. Those two men took him all over the park and he absorbed their history, as well as the amazing geography. Thus Herb knew more about Yosemite than any ranger in his generation.
  7. [S536] Unknown author, Article - A family's history is Yosemite's as well, Rose and Gabriel SOVULEWSKI Gabriel SOVULEWSKI was born in Poland, came to America at 16 and enlisted in the Army. In 1895 he was Sergeant of Troop K 4th Cavalry during the time the U.S. Army administered the park. He continued in administration after he became a civilian. Many of the 740 miles of trails were planned and laid out by him. Mrs. Sovulewski lived in Yosemite Valley for 22 years and
    died in August 1928 at 54. No date is given for Gabriel SOVULEWSKI's death.
  8. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000, SOVULEWSKI ROBERT R Male born California 01/13/1909 Mother's maiden surname RIDER Died EL DORADO Co. 02/13/1964 571-50-8124 Age 55 yrs.
  9. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000, SOVULEWSKI JOSEPH R Male born California 03/19/1911 Mother's maiden name RIDER Died MARIN Co. 03/17/1966 55 yrs.
  10. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000, SOVULEWSKI THOMAS ERNEST Male born California 06/28/1912 Mother's maiden surname RIDER Died FRESNO Co. 02/04/1994 560-09-1374 Age 81 yrs.

Ruth Elener Ewing1

F, b. 6 July 1920, d. 23 January 2013
Last Edited7 Sep 2014
     Ruth Elener Ewing was born on 6 July 1920 at Spring Valley, New York.1 She married Herbert Bayley Ewing, son of Frank B. Ewing and Grace Charlotte Sovulewski, circa 1945.2 Ruth Elener Ewing died on 23 January 2013 at Wesley Homes, Des Moines, Washington, at age 92.3
     She and Herbert Bayley Ewing "THE RANGER AND I"
WRITTEN BY RUTH EWING FOR GOOD HOUSEKEEPING MAGAZINE IN OCTOBER, 1956

Today I can laugh when I think back to my first frightening experience as a ranger's wife in a wild High Sierra outpost Yosemite National Park. But it wasn't one bit funny then; not for this young tenderfoot. I had always sworn I'd go anywhere with the man I married, live in a shack if necessary, but I had never dreamed I would have to prove it.

I was put to the test a little more than a year after my marriage, when, at the close of world war II, my husband swapped the olive drab of the Army Air Force bomber pilots for the forest green of the National Park Service and a life of patrolling remote park regions as a sort of public guardian angel. Being a sheltered city girl with a conventional approach to matters of housekeeping, child rearing, and social life, this Heigh-ho-silver-and-away-we-go-to-the-backwoods proposition somehow did not seem attractive.

Herb's salary was to be $2,200 per annum. (I thought I had heard it wrong the first time too, but it was $2,200, minus deductions and uniform expenses - and an annum still sliced into 365 equal parts.) Naturally, at this point, I expressed what I thought was reasonable concern over ways and means. Just how, I wanted my husband to explain, did one feed a family, including a newborn son, for a whole year on a ranger's pay?

"You don't have so many expenses in the mountains," was his lame reply. "There'll be no movies to spend money on, no monthly utility bills to pay, no keeping up with the Joneses, no big entertainment bills--"

"You paint a very enticing picture." I said sarcastically. "No beauty parlor, no dress shop, no fun, no nothing."

My easygoing six-footer just said, "Don't worry, honey. You're going to love it ."

I'd have given odds against it. Nevertheless, we loaded provisions, bedding, bottles, dishes, pots, pans, high chair, crib, and our five-month-old Bobby into our battered Chevy and headed for Tuolumne Meadows, a vast alpine grassland ringed in by massive domes and awesome snow-clad peaks, about 50 miles from Yosemite Park headquarters and 8,600 feet above sea level. The three-hour ascent brought us in just minutes behind the season's first snowplow. Officially, ranger Herbert Bayley Ewing and family were "at home."

Some home! It was nothing more than two adjoining 12' x 14' tents with wood floors. Equipment and furniture consisted of one wood-burning stove, two war-surplus iron cots, a wood picnic table with built-in bench seats, one shelf nailed to the tent frame, and two gasoline lanterns. Period.

"Where's the bathroom?" I asked.

Herb showed me the trail to the outhouse .

"Where's the icebox? "

Don't need one. Nights get cold here." Herb said.

"Where's the water, then?"

Herb kicked open the screen door and pointed. Sure enough, in line with his finger, a full 200 yards away, I saw a spigot sticking up from the ground.

If I hadn't been so cold and hungry and scared, I'd have bundled up my infant and started for the East Coast right then and there, by way of Reno. As it was, I just sat down on a sagging cot and sobbed.

Herb and I were a continent apart in our thinking. I was a city girl with no taste whatever for the outdoor life. Herb had been born in Yosemite, the son and grandson of a park ranger. We argued that night until the gas lantern sputtered and ran out of fuel. Then I said flatly that I would try it for just one week. If it didn't work out, and it was a foregone conclusion it wouldn't, I would take Bobby back East where I belonged.

Anyone who tells you that mountain air is bracing must have made his observations on some Appalachian foothill. Take it from me: until you get used to it, the thin air at a mile and a half above sea level positively knocks you out. During the next few days I puffed dizzily just going from faucet to tent with pail after pail of icy water. It was a full-blown career trying to keep enough on the stove for Bobby's formula, for diapers, for sterilizing, for bathing, for cooking, and for more diapers. How I would have marveled at a kitchen sink with hot and cold running water! Or at some simple little nicety like a doorknob !

With the stove burning all day long, that tent got so hot I had to keep the side walls rolled up. That meant letting in, along wit the highly touted cool mountain air, swarms of mosquitoes, gnats, horseflies, and occasional thieving squirrels.

Even in summer, night temperatures at Tuolumne average below freezing. My first teeth-chattering attempts at midnight diaper changing proved that neither mother nor baby were doing well that way. So I made a pint-size sleeping bag for Bobby from seersucker and pillow stuffing, complete with arms, a zippered back, and--most important--a waterproof snap-in pad. Then I'd put five layers of diapers on him--one for luck--and zip my little towhead up for the night. The little traitor seemed to love his new way of life, horseflies and all. Of course he had no outhouse problems.
Remember the nervous fellow who couldn't go to sleep, waiting for the one-legged man upstairs to drop his second shoe? I knew just how he felt. Without having been particularly aware of them, I had lived all my life where the familiar, comforting sounds of trains, plans, trucks, autos, sirens, foghorns, and other voices of the urban night lulled me to sleep. Here, about the only break in the silence came nightly when a crash as of cymbals indicated that a prowling bear had just whacked the lid from our garbage can. Considering the thin canvas wall of our tent, such nocturnal noises were anything but lullabies for me. Only sheer exhaustion enabled me to sleep at all.

I'm not sure why I didn't call it quits after that first week. It was nip and tuck. All I know is that things did improve. Somehow Herb and another ranger managed to scare up enough pipe to run a water line to our tent. In my book that achievement, "Operation Little Squirt" goes down with the building of the Roman aqueducts. I took to my daily washing chores with new spirit.

Gradually, some of Herb's pioneer know-how rubbed off on me. I got the knack of ironing his uniform shirts--pocket bellows and all--on the rough picnic table, using kerosene iron. And even at that altitude I learned how to bake what passed for a cake. At least the squirrels thought so. I was out of the rut and into a groove as far as squaw labor was concerned. I'm not denying that I would still have given half a year's pay to clatter down some boulevard in spike heels and a swishing skirt and to take in the sights and the sounds and the feel--both internally and externally--of a big metropolis, dirty old air and all. But I loved seeing my blond, fair-skinned Bobby get tan and healthy in the bright mountain light of the "high country." And to know that for Herb, there was work to do and satisfaction from doing it.

I can now throw a saddle a third my own weight over a horse and cinch it up. I can pack a mule and often do, throwing a squaw hitch that would be a credit to a professional mule skinner, and I can run the station when Herb is away. About once a week now I have a reason to don feminine attire, which means denim riding skirt instead of denim pants. That is when we go out to dinner. We really do, at the little High Sierra hikers' camp on Merced Lake. That is our only social activity during the summer. There is no church. On the other hand, unless you cheat at two-handed gin rummy, there is no sin either, so we come out even.

That first summer taught me a lot of elementary things you don't boil a three-minute egg in three minutes at high altitudes, horseshoes last only six weeks on rough mountain trails, never walk behind a horse without making a noise, and never stand on a granite dome in a lightning storm. And as some of the park service esprit de corps seeped through my weather-beaten skin, I began to understand the urge that made a man like my husband want to be a ranger in spite of the meager pay and the hardships of the job.

For the past three years, Herb's summer assignments have take us to Merced Lake Ranger Station. Although this is the most beautiful outpost region in the park, it is perhaps the most remote as well.

But our log cabin is a tremendous improvement over the old tent. It has a kitchen with a wood stove and hot and cold running water (hot while the stove is burning), a combination living-dining room with fireplace, and a bedroom, which doubles as a food cooler. And we have a homemade shower outside the cabin, where we bathe by candlelight after dinner--that is, when we can spare the hot water.

Our period of isolation is over sometime in mid-September, when we return to our more comfortable winter quarters area. Herb's duties then vary from traffic patrol, ski-area supervision, or desk work in the chief ranger's office, to dramatic ski-rescue missions. Instead of fishing and riding for recreation, we have skiing, ice skating, and a round of social affairs. Bobby goes to grammar school just a few hundred feet from our house.

What does it all add up to after these nine years? Herb is now thirty-six, I'm thirty-four, and Bobby is ten. We are up to $4,035 per year. I supplement that income by working part time in winter at a Yosemite photo studio, and I earn pin money as Yosemite correspondent for three city newspapers. Materially, our rewards are modest, and we shall never be rich. We may live out our lives as ranger-and-wife right in Yosemite and retire, as Herb's folks have done. Or we could be transferred to Alaska, Hawaii, or to any of the thirty-odd other states in the union that use rangers.

Meanwhile, we have abundant health, civil-service security, some prestige in our domain, and many fine friends.

I don't know exactly when I caught "Sierra fever" and fell in love with these wonderful mountains. It was a gradual process of sharing adventures and some misadventures and scenic grandeur. Sometimes when we go out on an overnight ride and bed down in our sleeping bags by a lake or stream, I lie awake a while and think about my lot as a ranger's wife. It is then I realize that I'm happy just keeping the men in my life happy.

It's Herb's turn to say, "I told you so," but never has he reminded me of that day when he predicted, "Don't worry, honey. You're going to love it." at Yosemite National Park, California.4 Ruth Elener Ewing was also known as Mrs. Ruth Ewing. She Ruth has been interviewed and a CD is on file in the museum's archives.
There is a disply in the museum relating to her family. During her years in the National Park, Mrs. Ewing worked for the Post Office and at the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite Valley.5 She lived between 1946 and 1977 at Yosemite National Park, California.6 She and Herbert Bayley Ewing were retired in 1977; On Herb's retirement the couple moved to nearby Pine Mountain Lake. Ruth moved to Wesley Homes in 2006 to be closer to her son after the death of her husband.7

Family

Herbert Bayley Ewing b. 10 Sep 1918, d. 12 Feb 1990

Citations

  1. [S2551] Union Democrat, 5 Feb 2013, online, Mrs. Ewing was born in Spring Valley, N.Y., to Amsy and Clara Elener and graduated from high school there.
  2. [S2551] Union Democrat, 5 Feb 2013, online, She met Herbert B. Ewing, a pilot in the Air Force, through a neighbor and they married by the end of the war. They lived in Texas, South Dakota and California. She moved with her husband, who was born in Yosemite National Park, to the park in 1946, where Mr. Ewing worked for the National Park Service.
  3. [S2551] Union Democrat, 5 Feb 2013, online, Former Pine Mountain Lake resident Ruth Beatrice Ewing died Jan. 23 2013 at Wesley Homes in Des Moines, Wash. She was 92.
  4. [S544] Ruth Ewing, "The Ranger and I."
  5. [S2551] Union Democrat, 5 Feb 2013, online, Mrs. Ewing worked for the U.S. Postal Service and at the Ansel Adams Studio in Yosemite Valley. Although she grew up in New York, she became a highly competent fisherwoman, horseback rider and amateur naturalist, her family said.
  6. [S2551] Union Democrat, 5 Feb 2013, online, Ruth Beatrice Ewing July 6, 1920 — Jan. 23, 2013
    Former Pine Mountain Lake resident Ruth Beatrice Ewing died Jan. 23 at Wesley Homes in Des Moines, Wash. She was 92.
    Mrs. Ewing was born in Spring Valley, N.Y., to Amsy and Clara Elener and graduated from high school there. She worked as an inspector for the Grumman Airplane Co. during World War II.
    She met Herbert B. Ewing, a pilot in the Air Force, through a neighbor and they married by the end of the war. They lived in Texas, South Dakota and California.
    She moved with her husband, who was born in Yosemite National Park, to the park in 1946, where Mr. Ewing worked for the National Park Service.
    Mrs. Ewing worked for the U.S. Postal Service and at the Ansel Adams Studio in Yosemite Valley. Although she grew up in New York, she became a highly competent fisherwoman, horseback rider and amateur naturalist, her family said.
    The couple retired to Pine Mountain Lake, near Groveland. They enjoyed traveling and playing golf.
    Mrs. Ewing moved to Wesley Homes in 2006 to be closer to her son after the death of her husband.S
    She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Robert Ewing and Nancy Tosta, of Burien, Wash.; a grandson, Kyle Ewing, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; and identical twin great-grandsons.
    No services are planned.
    Bonney-Watson in Seatac, Wash., is handling arrangements.
  7. [S2551] Union Democrat, 5 Feb 2013, online, The couple retired to Pine Mountain Lake, near Groveland. They enjoyed traveling and playing golf. Mrs. Ewing moved to Wesley Homes in 2006 to be closer to her son after the death of her husband.

Mr. Unknown Ewing1

M
Last Edited15 Aug 2007
     Mr. Unknown Ewing married Miss Unknown Bayley circa 1884.

Family

Miss Unknown Bayley
Child

Citations

  1. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000, EWING FRANK B Male born California 06/08/1885 Mother's maiden surname - BAYLEY Died Mariposa Co. 7/13/1963.

Miss Unknown Bayley1

F
Last Edited15 Aug 2007
     Miss Unknown Bayley married Mr. Unknown Ewing circa 1884.
     As of circa 1884,her married name was Ewing.

Family

Mr. Unknown Ewing
Child

Citations

  1. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000, EWING FRANK B Male born California 06/08/1885 Mother's maiden surname - BAYLEY Died Mariposa Co. 7/13/1963.

Rose Ryder1

F, b. circa 1874, d. August 1928
Bur-RevO
Last Edited15 Aug 2007
     Rose Ryder was born circa 1874. She married Gabriel Sovulewski before 1898.2 Rose Ryder was buried in August 1928 at Yosemite National Park, California.3 She died in August 1928 at California.3
     As of before 1898,her married name was Rose (Ryder) Sovulewski.2

Family

Gabriel Sovulewski b. 1866, d. 1939
Children

Citations

  1. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000.
  2. [S234] Karen Davis, "Karen Davis Research", from interview with Ruth Ewing 2006.
  3. [S536] Unknown author, Article - A family's history is Yosemite's as well, Rose and Gabriel SOVULEWSKI Gabriel SOVULEWSKI was born in Poland, came to America at 16 and enlisted in the Army. In 1895 he was Sergeant of Troop K 4th Cavalry during the time the U.S. Army administered the park. He continued in administration after he became a civilian. Many of the 740 miles of trails were planned and laid out by him. Mrs. Sovulewski lived in Yosemite Valley for 22 years and died in August 1928 at 54. No date is given for Gabriel SOVULEWSKI's death.

Joseph R. Sovulewski1

M, b. 19 March 1911, d. 17 March 1966
FatherGabriel Sovulewski2 b. 1866, d. 1939
MotherRose Ryder b. c 1874, d. Aug 1928
Last Edited15 Aug 2007
     Joseph R. Sovulewski was born on 19 March 1911 at California.2 He was the son of Gabriel Sovulewski and Rose Ryder.2 Joseph R. Sovulewski died on 17 March 1966 at Marin Co., California, at age 54.2

Citations

  1. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000.
  2. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000, SOVULEWSKI JOSEPH R Male born California 03/19/1911 Mother's maiden name RIDER Died MARIN Co. 03/17/1966 55 yrs.

Robert R. Sovulewski1

M, b. 13 January 1909, d. 13 February 1964
FatherGabriel Sovulewski2 b. 1866, d. 1939
MotherRose Ryder b. c 1874, d. Aug 1928
Last Edited15 Aug 2007
     Robert R. Sovulewski was born on 13 January 1909 at California.2 He was the son of Gabriel Sovulewski and Rose Ryder.2 Robert R. Sovulewski died on 13 February 1964 at El Dorado Co., California, at age 55.2

Citations

  1. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000.
  2. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000, SOVULEWSKI ROBERT R Male born California 01/13/1909 Mother's maiden surname RIDER Died EL DORADO Co. 02/13/1964 571-50-8124 Age 55 yrs.

Thomas Ernest Sovulewski1

M, b. 28 June 1912, d. 2 April 1994
FatherGabriel Sovulewski2 b. 1866, d. 1939
MotherRose Ryder b. c 1874, d. Aug 1928
Last Edited15 Aug 2007
     Thomas Ernest Sovulewski was born on 28 June 1912 at California.2 He was the son of Gabriel Sovulewski and Rose Ryder.2 Thomas Ernest Sovulewski died on 2 April 1994 at Fresno Co., California, at age 81.2

Citations

  1. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000.
  2. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000, SOVULEWSKI THOMAS ERNEST Male born California 06/28/1912 Mother's maiden surname RIDER Died FRESNO Co. 02/04/1994 560-09-1374 Age 81 yrs.

Maggie (Folsom) Renshaw1

F, b. 2 November 1886, d. 17 January 1945
FatherIra B. Folsom b. Aug 1833, d. 2 May 1904
MotherMary Elizabeth (Alexander) Folsom Varain Trujillo b. 2 Aug 1860, d. 25 Jan 1944
Last Edited16 Jul 2011
     Maggie (Folsom) Renshaw was born on 2 November 1886 at California, probably in Tuolumne County.2 She was the daughter of Ira B. Folsom and Mary Elizabeth (Alexander) Folsom Varain Trujillo. Maggie (Folsom) Renshaw married Lewis Johnson Renshaw circa 1905 at California.1 Maggie (Folsom) Renshaw died on 17 January 1945 at Madera Co., California, at age 58.2
     Maggie (Folsom) Renshaw was also known as Mattie Folsom. She appeared on the census of 1900 in the household of Fred Meyer at Twp 3, Tuoulumne Co., CA; gold miner.3

Family

Lewis Johnson Renshaw b. 11 Apr 1875

Citations

  1. [S1332] 1910 US Census, San Luis Obispo Co., California, population schedule, Cambria, ED 44, SD 5, Sheet 9-B (follows page 229 stamped), Dwelling 170, Household 177, LEWIS JOHNSON RENSHAW, head, male white age 35 years, married 5 years, born Illinois, both parents born Illinois, Druggist in a store, worker, can read and write, Owns House; MATTIE RENSHAW, wife, female white age 23 years, married 5 years, mother of 1 child, 1 child living, born California, father born New Hampshire, mother born California, can read and write; ARTHUR NORMAN RENSHAW, son, male white, age 11 months, born California, father born Illinois, mother born California; GEORGE S DICKIE, Boarder, wale white age 32 years, [Divorced?], born Canada, both parents born Canada, to US 1893, Naturalized, English speaker, Merchant in Store, Employer.
  2. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000, MATTIE FOLSOM RENSHAW, female born California 02 Nov 1886, died Madera Co. 17 Jan 1945, age 58. Father's surname Folsom, mother's maiden surname Alexander. ID No. 508560.
  3. [S2170] 1 June 1900 United States of America, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C., National Archives and Records Administration.

Ira J. Folsom1

M, b. 18 August 1882, d. 1924
FatherIra B. Folsom b. Aug 1833, d. 2 May 1904
MotherMary Elizabeth (Alexander) Folsom Varain Trujillo b. 2 Aug 1860, d. 25 Jan 1944
Bur-RevD
Last Edited24 Dec 2017
     Ira J. Folsom was born on 18 August 1882 at Big Oak Flat, Tuolumne Co., California. He was the son of Ira B. Folsom and Mary Elizabeth (Alexander) Folsom Varain Trujillo. Ira J. Folsom was buried in 1924 at Divide Cemetery 4-144, Big Oak Flat, Tuolumne Co., California.2 He was buried in 1924 at Divide Cemetery 4-144, Big Oak Flat, Tuolumne Co., California.2,3 He died in 1924 at Tuolumne Co., California; Since Ira Folsom does not appear in the Burial Transfer Permit files, it is likely that he died in Tuolumne County.4,5
     He was in 1904 at Big Oak Flat, Tuolumne Co., California.6 He was Employee of Trujillo Mine, Big Grizzley Flat in 1910. He appeared on the census of 1910 at Confidence, Tuolumne co., California; This MIGHT be son of Ira B. Folsom

1910 Census of Twp 5, Confidence, Tuolumne Co., CA
Series: T624 Roll: 111 Page: 94

FOLSOM IRA J 27 M W CA NH CA amalgamator/quartz mill.
He was in 1914 at Big Oak Flat, Tuolumne Co., California.7

Citations

  1. [S540] Unknown author, IGI/FGR familysearch.org.
  2. [S36] Collected Monumental Inscriptions Cemetery Survey, Oak Grove Cemetery District, Groveland Yosemite Gateway Museum, GYGM History Resource Center, Groveland, Tuolumne Co., California, 95321, This grave is marked with a Boone stone.
  3. [S9] Tuolumne Co. Historical Society, Burdens Burial Records, IRA J FOLSOM, age 39, died 27 Aug 1924 and was buried 29 August 1924 in Big Oak Flat.
  4. [S75] Burial Permits, Tuo Co., 1-12, No record.
  5. [S538] Unknown author, Query - Letter to W. Anker from Ken Renshaw, Renshaw says that Ira B. Folsom died in Big Oak Flat circa 1934.
  6. [S605] Tuo Co. Voter Registration: Ira John Folsom, age 21, Big Oak Flat.
  7. [S605] Tuo Co. Voter Registration: BIG OAK FLAT: Ira J. Folsom, Mill Man, Big Oak Flat, Dem.

Alexander Gamble

M, b. circa 1820, d. 3 February 1900
Father(?) Gamble
Last Edited1 Mar 2018
     Alexander Gamble was born circa 1820 at Ireland. He was the son of (?) Gamble. Alexander Gamble died on 3 February 1900 at San Francisco, San Francisco Co., CA; Death Notice
San Francisco Chronical
4 Feb 1900
pg 18

Gamble - In this city, February 3, Alexander Gamble, a native of Ireland, aged 80 years.
     He was a witness Brief Bio:

HISTORY OF THE State of California AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF Oakland and Environs ALSO Containing Biographies of Well-Known Citizens of the Past and Present. BY J. M. GuiNN, A. M.
Publication date 1907

John Gamble, a pioneer educator of the state of California, and pioneer of 1853, was born in the north of Ireland, in County Antrim, in 1823, of Scotch parentage, and when about eleven years bid was brought to America by his
parents. He received his primary education in the public schools of Maine, after which he became a student in Waterville College. Stu-
dious by nature and intent upon securing a broad fund of information, he applied himself diligently and in young manhood established a reputation for himself as a teacher in an academy at Skowhegan, Me. Mr. Gamble was induced to come to
California by two of his brothers, Alexander and Peter Gamble, the former of whom came to California via the Horn in 1849. After he joined his brothers in the state they were lo-
cated at Big Oak Flat, Tuolumne county, and in Chinese Camp, and there engaged in business for several years. Mr. Gamble then went to
Big Oak Flat and for two years followed mining pursuits independently. He rapidly rose to a position of prominence among the more substantial citizens of Tuolumne county, where he
assisted in the organization of the first schools and later engaged in teaching, being so occupied in that section for about fifteen years. At that time he came to San Francisco because of better educational advantages for his children and for some years following engaged in teaching in San Mateo county. About fifteen years prior to
his death he retired from educational work, and removing to Alameda in 1897, erected a residence on Caroline street and there spent the evening of
his days in quiet and contentment. He was always a home-loving man, preferring the peace of his home to the excitement of club life, never affiliating either with club or secret society. He
was a Republican in politics, but beyond participating as a loyal citizen should in the establishment and maintenance of good government, cared nothing for personal recognition along these lines. He was an indefatigable student,
and wide reader and had the faculty of assimilating the best in whatever he read. He had considerable knowledge of law, which he had taken up at one time, although he never cared to
practice the profession. His death occurred in August, 1905.

In Skowhegan, Me., Mr. Gamble was united in marriage with Miss Lucy A. Lord, a native of that place, and born of this union were the following children : John A., born in the east and now residing in San Mateo county ; Lucy,
the wife of Fred W. Crossett; William P., deceased ; Mary E., a teacher in the Oakland schools ; Thomas A., an attorney of Seattle ; and James M., of San Francisco.

with John Gamble.1 Alexander Gamble immigrated circa 1834; Guesstimate. He lived between 1834 and 1849 at Gamble Homestead, Linneus, Aroostook Co., ME. He was educated in 1847 at Waterville, ME; Graduate of Waterville College. He was Principal @ East Corinth Academy between 1847 and 1849 at ME. He lived in 1849; To CA from Maine via "The Horn." He appeared on the census of 1850 at Oak Flats [sic], Tuolumne Co., CA.2 He http://www.malakoff.com/goldcountry/mcbofgb.htm
The Gamble Block, as it was known during the 1850’s and 1860’s, is one of the finest and largest stone store buildings remaining in the Gold Country. Completed in 1852, the structure was built for Alexander Gamble, a very successful Gold Rush merchant. Constructed in a similar fashion to the Odd Fellows Hall, of stone, lime mortar, and brick, this large building actually housed three separate stores within. Behind each of the six large iron doors are conventional wooden doors with glass panels. During the day the iron doors would be opened and fastened against the walls, allowing the store’s customers to enter and exit through the inner doors. At night, everything would be locked tight against fire and theft.
Inside the building, a stone wall divides the middle lengthwise and two other partitions divide the space in thirds. The result is three separate stores facing the street, each with a rear room for storage or office space. The building originally had a wooden roof over the porch, which burned; then a corrugated iron roof, which blew off in a windstorm; the porch now gets by with the sky.
The store on the west was first used as a general merchandise store by J. D. Murphy and Luigi Marconi. Joseph Raggio later did quite well selling choice foodstuffs and fancy liquors to miners lucky enough to afford them. The middle store was occupied over the years by Dominic Cuneo, a man named Noziglia who ran a store of some sort, a Mr. Cody, and a Colonel Roote who operated a drug store. The eastern most store housed the Wells Fargo & Co. Express Office from the 1850’s until 1893 when it closed its office. Many other businesses have occupied these stores over the years, including a tinsmith, a cobbler shop, a grocery store, several saloons, and the post office which operated during the late 1860’s with William Urich as postmaster.
- - - - -
1860 Census of 4 twp., Tuolumne Co., CA
Series: M653 Roll: 71 Page: 180

GAMBLE ALEXANDER 35 M W IREL      farmer

John Gamble     34     IRE     miner     (in 1870 he was a school teacher)
Lucy A          23     ME
John A          6     ME
Lucy G          3     CA
Peter N          4/12     CA
Jane          24     ME

Pg. 178
Peter Gamble     28     ME     laborer
- - - - -
The Big Oak Flat Road (1955) by Irene D. Paden and Margaret E. Schlichtmann
Chapter V
THE TOWN ON THE TUOLUMNE

“Charlie,” as Hoswell was called by everyone, became part of the life of the vicinity. Catherine Munn Phelan, of Moccasin, spoke about him: “When we lived at the base of Moccasin Hill,” she said, “we children walked to school to Stevens’ Bar—a good three miles—and there good-hearted Charlie took us over the river and never charged us a cent. He did that twice a day, back and forth, and even donated a part of his house as a school. There were about twenty of us. Mr. Gamble was our teacher and he handled all the grades, coming horseback from Big Oak Flat each day.”

Note: Mr. Gamble must refer to John Gamble of Big Oak Flat in the 1870 census
- -
The Big Oak Flat Road (1955) by Irene D. Paden and Margaret E. Schlichtmann
pg 130
....the fireproof store of Gilbert and Gamble in which Wells Fargo had its office......

....The building was used as a grocery by Gilbert and Gamble before it survived the fire of 1863. It was then purchased by the Oddfellows.....

....these merchants included A. Gamble, Peter and John Gamble.....Gamble's store in BOF was supplied by pack animals.....

...Court was held in this office. We have some inconclusive evidence that Judge McGehee (or Magee) presided about 1870, with Judge John Gamble and Judge Fred Murrow (known as the marrying judge) following in less than ten years. Wells, Fargo & Co. closed its office and left the town in 1893. .....

.....In it William Bouryer ran a gun-smithy. When he died it was added to the Mecartea property. Just across the highway is the Harper house, residence of Charles and Edwin Harper and once the home of John Gamble and family. .... in 1852 at Gamble Block, Big Oak Flat, Tuolumne Co., California, USA. He was associated with Peter Gamble Peter Gamble's Mill
before 1870 at Aurora, NV.3 Alexander Gamble was in 1876 at San Francisco, San Francisco Co., CA.4

Citations

  1. [S234] Karen Davis, "Karen Davis Research."
  2. [S2424] U. S. Census, unknown repository address.
  3. [S505] Unknown author, Article - Misc newspapers.
  4. [S1753] Unknown compiler, "CA Voter Registers, 1866-1898", Ancestral File.

(?) Gamble

M
Last Edited4 Oct 2016
     (?) Gamble was born at Scotland. He married an unknown person.

Family

Children

John Gamble1

M, b. circa 1823, d. 1905
Father(?) Gamble
Last Edited2 Mar 2018
     John Gamble married Lucy A. (Lord) Gamble.2 John Gamble was born circa 1823 at Maine (Ireland pr/census).1 He was the son of (?) Gamble. John Gamble died in 1897 at San Francisco Co., California; ERROR.2 He died in 1905 at Alameda Co., California.3
     He Brief Bio:

HISTORY OF THE State of California AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF Oakland and Environs ALSO Containing Biographies of Well-Known Citizens of the Past and Present. BY J. M. GuiNN, A. M.
Publication date 1907

John Gamble, a pioneer educator of the state of California, and pioneer of 1853, was born in the north of Ireland, in County Antrim, in 1823, of Scotch parentage, and when about eleven years bid was brought to America by his
parents. He received his primary education in the public schools of Maine, after which he became a student in Waterville College. Stu-
dious by nature and intent upon securing a broad fund of information, he applied himself diligently and in young manhood established a reputation for himself as a teacher in an academy at Skowhegan, Me. Mr. Gamble was induced to come to
California by two of his brothers, Alexander and Peter Gamble, the former of whom came to California via the Horn in 1849. After he joined his brothers in the state they were lo-
cated at Big Oak Flat, Tuolumne county, and in Chinese Camp, and there engaged in business for several years. Mr. Gamble then went to
Big Oak Flat and for two years followed mining pursuits independently. He rapidly rose to a position of prominence among the more substantial citizens of Tuolumne county, where he
assisted in the organization of the first schools and later engaged in teaching, being so occupied in that section for about fifteen years. At that time he came to San Francisco because of better educational advantages for his children and for some years following engaged in teaching in San Mateo county. About fifteen years prior to
his death he retired from educational work, and removing to Alameda in 1897, erected a residence on Caroline street and there spent the evening of
his days in quiet and contentment. He was always a home-loving man, preferring the peace of his home to the excitement of club life, never affiliating either with club or secret society. He
was a Republican in politics, but beyond participating as a loyal citizen should in the establishment and maintenance of good government, cared nothing for personal recognition along these lines. He was an indefatigable student,
and wide reader and had the faculty of assimilating the best in whatever he read. He had considerable knowledge of law, which he had taken up at one time, although he never cared to
practice the profession. His death occurred in August, 1905.

In Skowhegan, Me., Mr. Gamble was united in marriage with Miss Lucy A. Lord, a native of that place, and born of this union were the following children : John A., born in the east and now residing in San Mateo county ; Lucy,
the wife of Fred W. Crossett; William P., deceased ; Mary E., a teacher in the Oakland schools ; Thomas A., an attorney of Seattle ; and James M., of San Francisco.2

He appeared on the census; 1860. He appeared on the census of 1850; presumably Maine. He was educated in 1851 at Waterville, Maine; COLBY UNIVERSITY graduate.2 He was Teacher @ Big Oak Flat between 1852 and 1878 at Tuolumne Co., California.4,2 He appeared on the census of 1860 at Big Oak Flat, Tuolumne Co., California.5 He lived between 1861 and 1864 at Aurora, NV;
RESIDENTS OF AURORA, NEVADA - 1861-1864
[From the book An 1864 Directory and Guide to Nevada’s Aurora by Clifford Alpheus Shaw. Each resident’s name is followed by a source abbreviation in parentheses that is keyed to a list of references at the end of this document.]

Gamble, J. (M61).

Gamble, Peter (P61); (R62); (M61); brother of Alexander Gamble from San Francisco; mine speculator with Wide West Mining Co. who brick house on N end on Winnemucca in “middle of street” (E64).

• (M61) “A Correct list of the names of the voters polled at Aurora Mono Co State of
California June 1st 1861,” Mono County Museum Archives, Bridgeport, California.

• (P61) List of voters polled at Aurora, August 31, 1861, courtesy of Robert E. Stewart.

• (R62) Kelly, J. Wells. First Directory of Nevada Territory. San Francisco, 1862.

• (E64) Esmeralda County Tax Assessor’s Roll for the fiscal year ending May 1, 1864.
Nevada Historical Society, Reno. He appeared on the census of 1870 at Big Oak Flat P.O., Twp 4, Tuolumne Co., California.6 He was Justice of the Peace between 1872 and 1874 at 3rd & 4th Judicial Dist.7 He was Teacher @ San Francisco between 1878 and 1897.2 He appeared on the census of 1880 at San Francisco Co., California.8 He appeared on the census of 1900 at Alameda Co., California.9

Family

Lucy A. (Lord) Gamble b. c 1837, d. 14 Oct 1917
Children

Citations

  1. [S2425] 1 June 1860 Population schedules, Provo, Utah.
  2. [S234] Karen Davis, "Karen Davis Research."
  3. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000.
  4. [S13] Irene Paden and Margaret E. Schlichtmann, Big Oak Flat Road to Yosemite, pg 170 - "John Gamble was the early day teacher [at the Groveland School], an unusually tall and powerful man with a black spade beard, who did not hesitate to use his fists if necessary to keep order. He was succeeded by his daughter Lucy ..."
  5. [S2425] 1 June 1860 Population schedules, Provo, Utah, Census Place: Township 4, Tuolumne, California; Roll: M653_71; Page: 180; Image: 180; Family History Library Film: 803071.
  6. [S2168] 1 June 1870 Population schedules, Washington, D.C., National Archives and Records Administration, Township 4, Tuolumne, California; Roll: M593_93; Page: 395A; Image: 189; Family History Library Film: 545592.
  7. [S580] Groveland's Justice Courts "The end of an Era."
  8. [S2169] 1 June 1880 Records of the Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C., National Archives and Records Administration, San Francisco, San Francisco, California; Roll: 78; Family History Film: 1254078; Page: 524B; Enumeration District: 186; Image: 0327.
  9. [S2170] 1 June 1900 United States of America, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C., National Archives and Records Administration, : Alameda Precinct 10, Alameda, California; Roll: 81; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 0318; FHL microfilm: 1240081.

Lucy A. (Lord) Gamble1

F, b. circa 1837, d. 14 October 1917
Last Edited29 Aug 2015
     Lucy A. (Lord) Gamble married John Gamble, son of (?) Gamble.1 Lucy A. (Lord) Gamble was born circa 1837 at Maine.2 She died on 14 October 1917 at Alameda Co., California.3
     She was a witness Brief Bio:

HISTORY OF THE State of California AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF Oakland and Environs ALSO Containing Biographies of Well-Known Citizens of the Past and Present. BY J. M. GuiNN, A. M.
Publication date 1907

John Gamble, a pioneer educator of the state of California, and pioneer of 1853, was born in the north of Ireland, in County Antrim, in 1823, of Scotch parentage, and when about eleven years bid was brought to America by his
parents. He received his primary education in the public schools of Maine, after which he became a student in Waterville College. Stu-
dious by nature and intent upon securing a broad fund of information, he applied himself diligently and in young manhood established a reputation for himself as a teacher in an academy at Skowhegan, Me. Mr. Gamble was induced to come to
California by two of his brothers, Alexander and Peter Gamble, the former of whom came to California via the Horn in 1849. After he joined his brothers in the state they were lo-
cated at Big Oak Flat, Tuolumne county, and in Chinese Camp, and there engaged in business for several years. Mr. Gamble then went to
Big Oak Flat and for two years followed mining pursuits independently. He rapidly rose to a position of prominence among the more substantial citizens of Tuolumne county, where he
assisted in the organization of the first schools and later engaged in teaching, being so occupied in that section for about fifteen years. At that time he came to San Francisco because of better educational advantages for his children and for some years following engaged in teaching in San Mateo county. About fifteen years prior to
his death he retired from educational work, and removing to Alameda in 1897, erected a residence on Caroline street and there spent the evening of
his days in quiet and contentment. He was always a home-loving man, preferring the peace of his home to the excitement of club life, never affiliating either with club or secret society. He
was a Republican in politics, but beyond participating as a loyal citizen should in the establishment and maintenance of good government, cared nothing for personal recognition along these lines. He was an indefatigable student,
and wide reader and had the faculty of assimilating the best in whatever he read. He had considerable knowledge of law, which he had taken up at one time, although he never cared to
practice the profession. His death occurred in August, 1905.

In Skowhegan, Me., Mr. Gamble was united in marriage with Miss Lucy A. Lord, a native of that place, and born of this union were the following children : John A., born in the east and now residing in San Mateo county ; Lucy,
the wife of Fred W. Crossett; William P., deceased ; Mary E., a teacher in the Oakland schools ; Thomas A., an attorney of Seattle ; and James M., of San Francisco.

with John Gamble.1 Lucy A. (Lord) Gamble was also known as Lucy A. Unknown.2 As of before 1854, Lucy A. (Lord) Gamble was also known as Mrs. Lucy A. Gamble. She appeared on the census of 1860 in the household of John Gamble at Big Oak Flat, Tuolumne Co., California.4 Lucy A. (Lord) Gamble appeared on the census of 1870 in the household of John Gamble at Big Oak Flat P.O., Twp 4, Tuolumne Co., California.5 Lucy A. (Lord) Gamble appeared on the census of 1880 in the household of John Gamble at San Francisco Co., California.6 Lucy A. (Lord) Gamble appeared on the census of 1900 in the household of John Gamble at Alameda Co., California.7 Lucy A. (Lord) Gamble appeared on the census of 1910 at Alameda Co., California.8

Family

John Gamble b. c 1823, d. 1905
Children

Citations

  1. [S234] Karen Davis, "Karen Davis Research."
  2. [S2425] 1 June 1860 Population schedules, Provo, Utah.
  3. [S335] California Dept of Health & Welfare, 1905-2000.
  4. [S2425] 1 June 1860 Population schedules, Provo, Utah, Census Place: Township 4, Tuolumne, California; Roll: M653_71; Page: 180; Image: 180; Family History Library Film: 803071.
  5. [S2168] 1 June 1870 Population schedules, Washington, D.C., National Archives and Records Administration, Township 4, Tuolumne, California; Roll: M593_93; Page: 395A; Image: 189; Family History Library Film: 545592.
  6. [S2169] 1 June 1880 Records of the Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C., National Archives and Records Administration, San Francisco, San Francisco, California; Roll: 78; Family History Film: 1254078; Page: 524B; Enumeration District: 186; Image: 0327.
  7. [S2170] 1 June 1900 United States of America, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C., National Archives and Records Administration, : Alameda Precinct 10, Alameda, California; Roll: 81; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 0318; FHL microfilm: 1240081.
  8. [S2161] 15 April 1910 Records of the Bureau of the Census, unknown repository address, The 1910 census includes all fifty U.S. states and Washington D.C., as well as Military and Naval Forces, and Puerto Rico., Alameda Ward 6, Alameda, California; Roll: T624_69; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 0014; FHL microfilm: 1374082.