NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID
RG3824.AM: Charles Gould, 1824-1913
Diary: 1849
Size: 1 item and 1 reel of microfilm
BACKGROUND NOTE
Charles Gould left Boston, Massachusetts, on April 16, 1849, enroute for the gold fields of California. He was a member of the Boston and Newton Joint Stock Association, formed in order to undertake the overland journey across the plains.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The collection consists of a typescript and microfilm copy of the 1849 diary of Charles Gould. This diary relates to Charles Gould’s journey from Massachusetts to the gold fields of California in 1849. It provides a rather graphic account of travel across the plains and contains references to topography, wildlife, and weather. Of interest is Gould’s account of the death of George Winslow, a member of the company, who died on June 8, 1849, in what is now Jefferson County, Nebraska. The grave was marked and has survived as one of the few identified burials of the many who died during the overland migrations of the mid-nineteenth century.
The typescript copy of the diary was received from Charles Gould, courtesy of G.W. Hansen of Fairbury, Nebraska, in 1911. The microfilm copy was acquired from the Minnesota Historical Society in 1958.
ADDED ENTRIES:
Boston and Newton Joint Stock Association
Diaries
Gould, Charles, 1824-1913
Overland journeys
Winslow, George, 1823-1849
JEP/ht 12-18-1972
11-13-2009 Revised TMM
