On this episode of Our American Stories, when the lure of a new life on the farthest edge of the frontier beckoned to Ben Kelsey, Nancy was determined to be at her husband’s side. Together they braved hunger, disaster, illness, betrayal, and death. Nancy Kelsey and her family would play a crucial role in California and American history, becoming the first wave of a great tide that would transform a nation.
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
And we continue here with our American Stories, and our
next story is about a remarkable woman who played a
crucial role in the settlement of the American West, Nancy Kelcey.
Roger McGrath is the author of Gunfighters, Highwaymen and Vigilantes,
Violence on the Frontier. A US marine and former history
professor at UCLA, doctor McGrath has appeared on numerous History
(00:34):
Channel documentaries and he's a regular contributor here for US
at our American Stories. Here's Roger McGrath with the story
of Nancy Kelcey.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Nancy Kelsey was the first woman to cross overland to California.
She did so carrying her baby daughter and an otherwise
all male party.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Are pioneers that crossed the.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Great Basin and the Sierra Nevadam Mountains with no maps
or guys and walked barefoot into California in eighteen forty one,
the first of a tide of immigrants that would sweep
California into the United States. She also became known as
the Betsy Ross of California for making the flag raised
(01:16):
by the American rebels at Sonoma in eighteen forty six.
She would give birth to ten children and survive unimaginable hardships.
She was a pioneer woman who was emblematic of the spirit,
drive and strength that animated Americans on the frontiers of
the Old West. William and Sarah Roberts welcome the birth
(01:41):
of their daughter, Nancy, on August oneh eighteen twenty three.
Sarah is only seventeen years old, but that is not
unusual in the Scotch Irish frontier settlements.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
In Barron County, Kentucky. Nancy is born only.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Thirty years after the first white settled in Barron County,
but her parents pick up in eighteen twenty six and
move west to Jackson County, Missouri. In the far western
part of that state, they settle among fellow pioneers from Kentucky.
Nancy is reared on the family farm in Jackson County,
(02:16):
and in eighteen thirty eight, fifteen year old Nancy Mary's
twenty five year old Ben Kelsey, also a native of
Barron County, Kentucky. Here's Cecilia Holland sharing anecdotes from her
scrupulously researched book about Nancy Kelsey, An Ordinary Woman, The
remarkable story of the first American woman in California.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
On October twenty fifth, eighteen thirty eight, a girl of
fifteen rode eagerly through the blazing Missouri autumn to her wedding.
She was a tall, pretty girl with long, dark hair
and dark eyes and a wide humorous mouth, her face
shaped with the high cheekbones and strong jaw of her
Scotch Irish heritage. Her hands on the reins were strong
(03:03):
and capable, and she rode astride, no pampered, sheltered city flower.
She had been working since her childhood. She could milk
a cow, skin, a deer, plant a field, drive a
team of oxen, load, and shoot a rifle. She had
made the dress she was wearing, the child of pioneers,
spread to courage and risk. She had grown up in
(03:25):
the wilderness, only a few miles from the Great Missouri
River that, in eighteen thirty eight was the border of
the settled United States. Her name was Nancy Roberts, and
westering was in her blood. In marrying so young, and
marrying whom she did, she was choosing a westering life,
one that would take her across the unmapped continent and
(03:48):
change American history.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Then did Nancy have a daughter, Martha Ann in eighteen
thirty nine, and in eighteen forty one, a son who
dies eight ds fter birth. During May eighteen forty one,
the Kelsey's joined some sixty other members of the Western
Immigration Society to attempt the first pioneer crossing to California.
(04:13):
The group will go down in history as the Bartleson
Bidwell Party. Here's Nancy Leake. Nancy's a librarian who writes
biographies of California pioneers for children. She's the author of
Nancy Kelsey Comes Over the Mountain, The True Story of
the first American Woman in California.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
This is eighteen forty one. People in Missouri, where they
were living, were just beginning to hear about California. For
a very few years, the Oregon Trail had been open,
and some people were going to Oregon, but nobody had
yet gone to California. That was part of Mexico. But
there was an American there, doctor John Marsh. He wrote
(04:57):
some letters that were published in the newspapers stoling the
wonders of California. And also they heard from fur trappers
who had been to California and they said, you know,
it's empty, there's hardly anybody there. Of course they weren't
counting the Native Americans. It was just empty land free
(05:20):
for the taking, fertile soil, plenty of game, the hunting
and fishing would be good, good weather, and above all,
it had a healthy climate, and that was one of
the problems people in Missouri had. Ben Kelce had gotten
ill a lot, probably malaria, a lot of chills and fevers,
and people were always looking for a healthier climate. And
(05:44):
Ben Kelsey had what his wife said was an adventurous disposition.
In other words, he couldn't sit still, and he always
wanted to be trying a new place.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Although they are tough party at Unry, the members of
the party know nothing about the far West.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Our ignorance of the route was complete, said John Bidwell.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
We knew that California lay west, and that was the
extent of our knowledge.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Another member of.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
The party produces a map which shows two large rivers
running westward from the Great Salt Lake to California. He
suggests they take long tools for constructing boats so they
can float downstream to California on the second half of
their journey. When Nancy Kelsey is asked why she is
(06:35):
willing to undertake a journey across half the continent to California.
She replies, where my husband goes, I go. I can
better endure the hardships of the journey than the anxieties
for an absent husband. The party are willing, but woefully
ignorant pioneers has the good fortune to fall in with
(06:58):
a group of Jesuit missionary led by the six foot
eight ince Belgian born but American educated father Pierre Jean
de Smet. The Black Robes are being guided and schooled
in frontier survival by one of the greatest of all
American mountain men, Irish born Tom Fitzpatrick, and several of
his beaver trapping partners.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Here again is Cecilia Holland.
Speaker 5 (07:23):
East.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
In the subtled United States, opinion was divided. Some people
believed that hardy men could cross the continent, but mere
women and children would never survive.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
It was tant amount to murder.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
To take a woman on such a trip that some
missionary women made. It was God's providence. In any case,
The West was worth nothing, a desert littered with rocks,
infested with Indians. Other people claimed that the trip was
a lark, a mere matter of following the sun no matter.
They were leaving the United States and somewhere out there California,
(08:00):
LA and a new life.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
On May eighteen, eighteen forty one, the combined party leaves
Sapling Grove, just south of present day Kansas City. On
June one, the Pioneers, mountain Men, and Missionaries across the
Platte River in central Nebraska, and three weeks later they
reach Fort Laramie in Wyoming. By now a twenty year
(08:23):
veteran of the High Plains and the Rockies, Fitzpatrick smooths
the way for them and the party is making excellent time.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Here again is Nancy Leak.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
At first, I imagine this trip was kind of like
a nice summer camping trip, going along the Platte River.
It's not crowded yet. Then he had grass for their
oxen and other animals. There is one incident where there's
a young man in the group named Nicholas Dawson, and
he goes out hunting and he meets up with a
band of Schien Indians who take everything he has, his rifle,
(08:55):
his pistol, his knife, his clothing. They take everything and
he comes running back into camp. And Nancy thought this
was hilarious because She says, how you would have laughed
if you had seen him come running back into camp.
He was entirely naked. They had taken everything.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
Well.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
Tom Fitzpatrick goes out and talks to the Indians, and
he gets almost everything back. But ever after that, Nicholas
Dawson was known as Cheyenne Dawson.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Fitzpatrick guides them through south past during the middle of July,
and by August tenth they reached Soda Springs in southeastern Idaho.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
And when we come back, we'll continue with the story
of Nancy Kelsey, a remarkable woman who played a key
role in the settlement of the West. Where my husband goes,
I go, she said. And by the way, so many
people thought it was tantamount to murder to take a woman,
let alone her children. More at Nancy Kelsey's story here
(09:53):
on our American stories. And we continue here with our
American stories and the story of Nancy Kelsey. Let's pick
(10:15):
up with Roger McGrath.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
They've been on the trail less than three months, made
relatively rapid progress, and have not suffered great hardship except
for the hailstorms, frosty night temperatures, a tornado, and a
run in with a herd of buffalo. Here again as
Cecilia Holland, author of An Ordinary Woman, the remarkable story
of the first American woman in California.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
One evening, as the settlers were camping by the water,
Fitzpaptrick came in among them in great excitement. A drove
of buffalo was headed straight toward them. He got all
the men out with their guns to build fires between
the camp and the oncoming tide, and wrapped tight in
her arms, Nancy and the other women bundled together, sleepless
through the dim while all night long the men fed
(11:04):
the fires and shut off their guns, splitting the on
rushing buffalo into two streams that thundered by on either
side of the camp in a continuous, hours long stampede.
One cannot nowadays describe the rush and wildness of the thing.
Bidwell said much later in the morning, the camp was
an island and a great sea of wooly brown bodies.
(11:26):
The sky was a milky shroud of dust. The buffalo
trampling down into the river to drink, had fouled the
water so that the people could not stomach it.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Now a decision has to be made Fitzpatrick is taking
the missionaries to the Pacific Northwest. Here again is Nancy Leek,
author of Nancy Kelsey Comes Over the Mountain, The True
story of the first American woman in California.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
Tom Fitzpatrick, the trail guide, tells them you do not
want to attempt this. That territory has barely been explored.
Its deserts, its mountains, it's desolate. And so they say,
all right, we'll go to Oregon. It's too dangerous to
go to California. But Ben Kelsey is not the kind
(12:13):
of man to change his mind. He's going to California,
and wherever he goes, his wife is going to go
with him. That's the way she was. Wherever my husband goes,
I go with him.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Thirty four, the Bartisan Buildwell Party are determined to push
on to California. Among them is an eighteen year old
Nancy Kelsey and her now two babies. Martha Anne is
in front of her and another one inside of her.
Fitzpatrick draws the pioneers a map in the dirt, warning
(12:45):
that if they miss Mary's River known as the Humboldt
River today, they will die long before reaching California.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
In mid August.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Without guide or compass, they turn their horses and wagons
south and follow the Bear River into Utah. They reached
the Great Salt Lake on August thirty. They skirt the
northern shore of the lake, and in the blazing desert
to the west, were forced to a bend in their
wagons and pack everything on horses and mules.
Speaker 4 (13:16):
Desperate now, they turned east and cut as straight across
country as they could to find the Bare River again
before they all died of thirst. The weaker animals straggled behind,
and they had to let them lag. The Oxen drawing
The two Kelsey wagons were trudging along so slow even
Anne could outwalk them.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
The ground was white with.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Salt, and the wagon wheels crunched out trails as if
in snow. Salts spangled the blades of grass that straggled
up from the crusted ground and cried for water, and
Nancy gave her the last in the canteen. She looked
at Ben driving the Oxen, wondering when he had drunk last.
Her own mouth was so dry it hurt, and her
(13:59):
lips cracked, and she tasted wisps of blood.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Carrying her baby in front of her, Nancy Kelsey rides horseback.
California is hundreds of miles away. The party stumbles upon
the headwaters the Humboldt River and follows its course southwestward
across Nevada.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Bioutes occasionally block their.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Path, and when they do, Nancy holds her baby tightly
in her arms. Everyone knew how Indians stole children. At
one place, the Indians surrounded us, armed with bows and arrows,
said Nancy, But my husband leveled his gun at the
chief and made him order his Indians out of raw range.
(14:44):
The pioneers reached the sink of the Humboldt near present
day Lovelock early in October, and then begin a grueling
trek across forty mile desert to the Carson River.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Along the way, they have to abandon their wagons. Their
oxen are exhausted, and they're starting to eat their oxen.
They've eaten most of the food they'd packed in the wagons,
so there's not much point in pulling these wagons through
the sand anymore, so they abandon the wagons, pack everything
on their animals continue along the Humboldt River, and then
eventually the river sinks into the sand and they are
(15:20):
facing the Sierra Nevada Mountains and that is just a
wall of rock, and they're exhausted.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
They're starving.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
The whole party had considered turning around and going back
to Fort Hall in Idaho, but that wasn't really an option.
They knew they didn't have the food, they didn't have
the supplies to make the trip back. They were going
to have to go over the Sierra Nevada.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
As it begin their climb, John Bidwell looks up the
eastern face of the Sierra Nevada and describes what he
sees as naked mountains whose summits still retain the snows,
perhaps a thousand years. The climb is slow and arduous,
and breathing becomes difficult. There's no established trail to follow.
(16:06):
Boulders and fallen trees block their path. Streams must be
crossed and recrossed. On October eighteenth, they reached Sonora Pass
and an elevation of nearly ten thousand feet. Peaks on
either side of the pass are another two thousand feet higher. Fortunately,
a heavy snowfall has not yet blanketed the sierras. Now
(16:30):
they have to buy an arrow route down the steep
and deep canyons on the western side of the Sierras
into the San Joaquin Valley. They have little or no food.
Their clothes, blankets, and diapers are in tatters, and their
shoes have long worn away.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
She says.
Speaker 5 (16:47):
Of course, we did not know where we were. The
party scattered here to find the best way to descend
the mountains. I was left with my babe alone, and
as I sat there on my horse and listened to
the side and moaning of the winds through the pines,
it seemed the loneliest spot in the world. The descent
(17:07):
was so abrupt that an Indian who had come to
us on the mountain was allowed to lead my horse
for part of the way. At one place, an old
man at the party, his name was George Henshaw, became
so exhausted that they had to threaten to shoot him
before he would proceed. At another place, four pack animals
fell over a bluff, and we never tried to recover them.
(17:28):
They had gone so far it was no use to
think of it. We were then out of provisions, as
we had eaten all our cattle at this point, Nicholas
Dawson says, once I remember when I was struggling along
trying to keep Monty, that's the name of his mule,
trying to keep Monty from going over. I looked back
(17:48):
and saw missus Kelsey a little way behind me, with
her child in her arms, barefooted and leading her horse,
a sight I shall never forget. And he thought, well,
if she can do it, I guess I can do it.
And they kept going.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Nancy recalled. We lived on roasted acorns for two days.
My husband came very near dying with cramps, and I
was suggested to leave him, but I said I would
never do that. At one place, I was so weak
I could hardly stand. Oh, Nancy Kelsey had a right
to be exhausted. She was not only carrying her daughter,
(18:24):
but she was also five months pregnant.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
And you've been listening to the story of Nancy Kelsey,
and you've been listening to Roger McGrath tell it. And again,
there's no finer storyteller in the country when it comes
to stories about the American West and the American Frontier.
And there's no more important story to tell than Nancy
Kelsey's the first woman to move to California. And this
(18:48):
is back before an interstate, back before anything.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
This is just well.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Not long after the Lewis and Clark expedition, one of
the great great stories in American history. Steve Ambrose, of course,
chronicled it in undaunted courage, and I believe it was
Ambrose's finest work. When we come back, this remarkable story
of a woman pioneer, a woman adventurer, her name Nancy Kelsey.
(19:13):
Her story continues here on our American stories. And we
(19:38):
continue here on our American stories with the story of
Nancy Kelsey. And once again here's McGrath.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
After treacherous descents, they reached the middle fork of the
Stanislaus River and follow it down into the San Joaquin Valley.
Seeing the coast ranges off to the west, they at
first reckon Californi, is still hundreds of miles farther away.
They soon realized their mistaken notion, and on November fourth,
(20:08):
eighteen forty one, after a half year on the trail,
the pioneers arrived at the Mount Diablo ranch of an
American settler, doctor John Marsh. He regularly sent letters to
the East urging Americans to settle in California, hoping a
growing number of Americans would cause California to go the
(20:31):
way of Texas. A six month journey to Marsh's Ranch
makes Nancy Kelsey the first woman to cross overland to
California from the United States. Throughout the journey, she was
an inspiration to the men. Her cheerful nature and kind
heart brought many a ray of sunshine through the clouds
(20:53):
that gathered around the company of so many weary travelers,
said Philip pioneer Joseph Chiles.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Her again is Nancy Leak.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
In many ways, she was just an ordinary pioneer woman.
But those pioneer women were remarkable women. They could handle
any situation and do it with good humor and a
lot of grit. Joseph Chiles, who was also a member
of the Bidwell Bartleson Party, said she bore the fatigues
(21:24):
of the journey with so much heroism, patience, and kindness
that there still exists a warmth in every heart for
the mother and her child. They were always forming silver
linings with every dark cloud that assailed them.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
The Kelsey's built a log cabin in the Napa Valley,
a mile south of today's Calistuga. In February eighteen forty two,
Nancy gives birth to Sarah Jane, who lives only one
week before dying. Nancy has two little graves now bookmarking
each end of the journey. But as he has done before,
(22:01):
Nancy Kelsey stoically endures. Meanwhile, Ben is making money hunting
and trapping, and with the proceeds buying cattle. During the
spring of eighteen forty three, Ben decides to drive one
hundred hit a cattle north to American settlements in Oregon's
willam At Valley. Is joined by his brother Andy and
(22:24):
three other men. Although pregnant Nancy goes along, five year
old Martha Ann goes as well. At a crossing of
the Sacramento River, while the men were busy driving the cattle,
Indians raid the Kelsey's camp. Nancy yells for help, and
Nicholas Dawson is the first to arrive. Because of his
(22:48):
enormous size, Dawson is known as Bear. Bear came and
shot one of the Indians within a few feet of me,
said Nancy. Then he compelled the rest of them to
help with the cattle crossing. Several weeks later, while camp
near Mount Shasta, the Kelseys have Indian trouble again.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
During the night, Indians.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Shoot several of the party's horses, and the next day,
after a mile on the trail, there is a pitch battle.
Nancy is in the midst of it, sitting on her
horse and holding her daughter. There are several more Indian
attacks before they reach the safety of the American settlements
in the northern portion of the Willamette Valley. After selling
(23:32):
their cattle and purchasing supplies at Fort Vancouver, they begin
their return trip. En route, Nancy gives birth to another daughter, Margaret.
Near Mount Shasta, they have another pitch battle with a
large group of Indian warriors. While the arrows were flying
into cample, said Nancy, I took one baby and hit
(23:55):
my child in the brush. I returned and took the
other child and hit that child also. The moon was
shining brightly. Each time the men fired their guns. I
heard an Indian fall into the river as I hit
the little ones. I wondered if I'd ever see daylight again.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Think of it.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
We had only five men and there were possibly one
hundred Indians. What's back in the Napa Valley, the Kelas
prosper again, hunting, trapping, and grazing cattle and horses. In
April eighteen forty six, Nancy gives birth to a son, Andrew.
Two months later, on June fourteenth, American settlers at northern
(24:36):
California revolt against Mexican rule by taking control of Sonoma
and declaring establishment of the Bear Flag Republic in Sonoma.
On that fateful day is Nancy Kelcey holding Andrew in
her arms. She watches as the American rebels raise the
bear flag with its humped back, grizzly and loan star.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Reason to be.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Proud of the new flag. She made it using a
three x five piece of cloth and a strip of
red flannel from her petticoat. She will soon be called
the Betsy Ross of California. Her husband Ben is a
prominent bear flagger. He later gets into a dispute with
John C. Fremont and gives him a tongue lashing when
(25:22):
Freemont assumes command of the rebels. That Kelseys were known
for their use of wicked and blasphemous language, said, Nancy
made a mule skinner.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Blush here again, it's Cecilia Holland.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
On July eighth, the US Navy seized Monterey without firing
or shot the Mexican dons fled. A day later, the
bear flag came down that flagpole in Sonoma, and the
stars and stripes went up on the whole. The bear
showed more skill and foresight than one might expect, After all,
the Bears were ordinary people, not government sanctioned. Thanks to
(26:01):
Ben and Nancy Kelsey, they founded California and it became American.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
When Ben later falls sick with malaria, Nancy rides helped
Bent for Sonoma in medicine. En root In, an Indian
known locally as Chief Augustine, tries to last so her
and drag her off the horse. Although Nancy was without
her pistol, she manages to escape and continue her wild
(26:29):
ride to town. She returns with the medicine and tells
Ben of the attempted horse theft. In her nero escape,
Ben explodes with rage and bolts out.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Of a sick bed.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Now he is the one on the back of a
galloping horse. He tracks down Chief Augustine and kills him
with a pistol shot.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
Nancy continues to have children, Mary Ellen in eighteen forty eight,
Nancy Rose in eighteen fifty one, William in eighteen fifty four,
Georgia Anne in eighteen fifty nine and Samuel in eighteen
sixty one. When Samuel was born, she was thirty eight.
She had been pregnant or nursing for more than twenty years,
(27:11):
and for a good deal of it she had been
on the trail.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
There Samuel was born. The family travels across the southwest.
We drifted into Texas, said Nancy, and were attacked by
the Comanche. The men went hunting turkey, and a neighbor
woman and myself were alone with our children. When I
discovered the Indians approaching her camp. I loaded the guns
and suggested we hide. The only two girls ran and
(27:36):
hid in the brush, and the sixteen year old looked
out for himself by hiding alone. We and the smaller
children hid in the cave. I heard the Indians above,
but they did not discover us.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
After they pillaged the camp, they found the.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Girls and succeeded in catching mary Ellen.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Poor girl.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
She was only thirteen, and even now I can hear
her screams when they scalped her. The Canancys leave mary
Ellen for dead, but Nancy finds her still clean to life.
Nancy staunches the bleeding and stitches mary Ellen's head wounds.
The girl survives, but said Nancy, she was demented after
(28:18):
that and died in Fresno five years later from the
injuries she had received. In eighteen seventy nine, Nancy's son
Samuel dies in an accident during the harvest, and in
eighteen eighty nine her husband Ben dies, but his legacy
survives to this very day.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
His name is everywhere in California Kelseyville, on Klearlick, the
forgotten hamlet of Kelsey and Eldorado County, the Kelsey Trail,
the River, Kelsey Canyon, Kelsey Creek.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
After Ben's death, Nancy settles on a ranch in the
Quama Valley northeast of Santa Barbara. She raises cattle chickens,
administers herbal remedies to sick neighbors, delivers babies, and once
rides one hundred miles in one twenty four hour period
on a mission of mercy. Nancy dies of skin cancer
(29:15):
at the age of seventy three in eighteen ninety six
and is buried on a ranch in oaks studded Cottonwood Canyon.
The Native Daughters of the Golden West marked her grave
with a plaque.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Each year.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
An equestrian group conducts a three day, one hundred and
fifty mile ride through the Quiama Valley, perhaps not up
to Nancy Kelsey's one day effort, but a feet of
endurance nonetheless. On the third day, the riders stop at
the Pioneer's grave site and pay tribute to the Betsy
ross Off California and the first woman to cross the
(29:53):
continent to what would become the Golden State.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Thanks to Roger McGrath as always and he's the author
of Gunfighters, Higwimen and Vigilantes, Violence on the Frontier, Nancy
Kelsey's story a fundamental part of American history. Here on
our American Stories
And we continue here with our American Stories, and our
next story is about a remarkable woman who played a
crucial role in the settlement of the American West, Nancy Kelcey.
Roger McGrath is the author of Gunfighters, Highwaymen and Vigilantes,
Violence on the Frontier. A US marine and former history
professor at UCLA, doctor McGrath has appeared on numerous History
(00:34):
Channel documentaries and he's a regular contributor here for US
at our American Stories. Here's Roger McGrath with the story
of Nancy Kelcey.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Nancy Kelsey was the first woman to cross overland to California.
She did so carrying her baby daughter and an otherwise
all male party.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Are pioneers that crossed the.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Great Basin and the Sierra Nevadam Mountains with no maps
or guys and walked barefoot into California in eighteen forty one,
the first of a tide of immigrants that would sweep
California into the United States. She also became known as
the Betsy Ross of California for making the flag raised
(01:16):
by the American rebels at Sonoma in eighteen forty six.
She would give birth to ten children and survive unimaginable hardships.
She was a pioneer woman who was emblematic of the spirit,
drive and strength that animated Americans on the frontiers of
the Old West. William and Sarah Roberts welcome the birth
(01:41):
of their daughter, Nancy, on August oneh eighteen twenty three.
Sarah is only seventeen years old, but that is not
unusual in the Scotch Irish frontier settlements.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
In Barron County, Kentucky. Nancy is born only.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Thirty years after the first white settled in Barron County,
but her parents pick up in eighteen twenty six and
move west to Jackson County, Missouri. In the far western
part of that state, they settle among fellow pioneers from Kentucky.
Nancy is reared on the family farm in Jackson County,
(02:16):
and in eighteen thirty eight, fifteen year old Nancy Mary's
twenty five year old Ben Kelsey, also a native of
Barron County, Kentucky. Here's Cecilia Holland sharing anecdotes from her
scrupulously researched book about Nancy Kelsey, An Ordinary Woman, The
remarkable story of the first American woman in California.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
On October twenty fifth, eighteen thirty eight, a girl of
fifteen rode eagerly through the blazing Missouri autumn to her wedding.
She was a tall, pretty girl with long, dark hair
and dark eyes and a wide humorous mouth, her face
shaped with the high cheekbones and strong jaw of her
Scotch Irish heritage. Her hands on the reins were strong
(03:03):
and capable, and she rode astride, no pampered, sheltered city flower.
She had been working since her childhood. She could milk
a cow, skin, a deer, plant a field, drive a
team of oxen, load, and shoot a rifle. She had
made the dress she was wearing, the child of pioneers,
spread to courage and risk. She had grown up in
(03:25):
the wilderness, only a few miles from the Great Missouri
River that, in eighteen thirty eight was the border of
the settled United States. Her name was Nancy Roberts, and
westering was in her blood. In marrying so young, and
marrying whom she did, she was choosing a westering life,
one that would take her across the unmapped continent and
(03:48):
change American history.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Then did Nancy have a daughter, Martha Ann in eighteen
thirty nine, and in eighteen forty one, a son who
dies eight ds fter birth. During May eighteen forty one,
the Kelsey's joined some sixty other members of the Western
Immigration Society to attempt the first pioneer crossing to California.
(04:13):
The group will go down in history as the Bartleson
Bidwell Party. Here's Nancy Leake. Nancy's a librarian who writes
biographies of California pioneers for children. She's the author of
Nancy Kelsey Comes Over the Mountain, The True Story of
the first American Woman in California.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
This is eighteen forty one. People in Missouri, where they
were living, were just beginning to hear about California. For
a very few years, the Oregon Trail had been open,
and some people were going to Oregon, but nobody had
yet gone to California. That was part of Mexico. But
there was an American there, doctor John Marsh. He wrote
(04:57):
some letters that were published in the newspapers stoling the
wonders of California. And also they heard from fur trappers
who had been to California and they said, you know,
it's empty, there's hardly anybody there. Of course they weren't
counting the Native Americans. It was just empty land free
(05:20):
for the taking, fertile soil, plenty of game, the hunting
and fishing would be good, good weather, and above all,
it had a healthy climate, and that was one of
the problems people in Missouri had. Ben Kelce had gotten
ill a lot, probably malaria, a lot of chills and fevers,
and people were always looking for a healthier climate. And
(05:44):
Ben Kelsey had what his wife said was an adventurous disposition.
In other words, he couldn't sit still, and he always
wanted to be trying a new place.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Although they are tough party at Unry, the members of
the party know nothing about the far West.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Our ignorance of the route was complete, said John Bidwell.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
We knew that California lay west, and that was the
extent of our knowledge.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Another member of.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
The party produces a map which shows two large rivers
running westward from the Great Salt Lake to California. He
suggests they take long tools for constructing boats so they
can float downstream to California on the second half of
their journey. When Nancy Kelsey is asked why she is
(06:35):
willing to undertake a journey across half the continent to California.
She replies, where my husband goes, I go. I can
better endure the hardships of the journey than the anxieties
for an absent husband. The party are willing, but woefully
ignorant pioneers has the good fortune to fall in with
(06:58):
a group of Jesuit missionary led by the six foot
eight ince Belgian born but American educated father Pierre Jean
de Smet. The Black Robes are being guided and schooled
in frontier survival by one of the greatest of all
American mountain men, Irish born Tom Fitzpatrick, and several of
his beaver trapping partners.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Here again is Cecilia Holland.
Speaker 5 (07:23):
East.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
In the subtled United States, opinion was divided. Some people
believed that hardy men could cross the continent, but mere
women and children would never survive.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
It was tant amount to murder.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
To take a woman on such a trip that some
missionary women made. It was God's providence. In any case,
The West was worth nothing, a desert littered with rocks,
infested with Indians. Other people claimed that the trip was
a lark, a mere matter of following the sun no matter.
They were leaving the United States and somewhere out there California,
(08:00):
LA and a new life.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
On May eighteen, eighteen forty one, the combined party leaves
Sapling Grove, just south of present day Kansas City. On
June one, the Pioneers, mountain Men, and Missionaries across the
Platte River in central Nebraska, and three weeks later they
reach Fort Laramie in Wyoming. By now a twenty year
(08:23):
veteran of the High Plains and the Rockies, Fitzpatrick smooths
the way for them and the party is making excellent time.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Here again is Nancy Leak.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
At first, I imagine this trip was kind of like
a nice summer camping trip, going along the Platte River.
It's not crowded yet. Then he had grass for their
oxen and other animals. There is one incident where there's
a young man in the group named Nicholas Dawson, and
he goes out hunting and he meets up with a
band of Schien Indians who take everything he has, his rifle,
(08:55):
his pistol, his knife, his clothing. They take everything and
he comes running back into camp. And Nancy thought this
was hilarious because She says, how you would have laughed
if you had seen him come running back into camp.
He was entirely naked. They had taken everything.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
Well.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
Tom Fitzpatrick goes out and talks to the Indians, and
he gets almost everything back. But ever after that, Nicholas
Dawson was known as Cheyenne Dawson.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Fitzpatrick guides them through south past during the middle of July,
and by August tenth they reached Soda Springs in southeastern Idaho.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
And when we come back, we'll continue with the story
of Nancy Kelsey, a remarkable woman who played a key
role in the settlement of the West. Where my husband goes,
I go, she said. And by the way, so many
people thought it was tantamount to murder to take a woman,
let alone her children. More at Nancy Kelsey's story here
(09:53):
on our American stories. And we continue here with our
American stories and the story of Nancy Kelsey. Let's pick
(10:15):
up with Roger McGrath.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
They've been on the trail less than three months, made
relatively rapid progress, and have not suffered great hardship except
for the hailstorms, frosty night temperatures, a tornado, and a
run in with a herd of buffalo. Here again as
Cecilia Holland, author of An Ordinary Woman, the remarkable story
of the first American woman in California.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
One evening, as the settlers were camping by the water,
Fitzpaptrick came in among them in great excitement. A drove
of buffalo was headed straight toward them. He got all
the men out with their guns to build fires between
the camp and the oncoming tide, and wrapped tight in
her arms, Nancy and the other women bundled together, sleepless
through the dim while all night long the men fed
(11:04):
the fires and shut off their guns, splitting the on
rushing buffalo into two streams that thundered by on either
side of the camp in a continuous, hours long stampede.
One cannot nowadays describe the rush and wildness of the thing.
Bidwell said much later in the morning, the camp was
an island and a great sea of wooly brown bodies.
(11:26):
The sky was a milky shroud of dust. The buffalo
trampling down into the river to drink, had fouled the
water so that the people could not stomach it.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Now a decision has to be made Fitzpatrick is taking
the missionaries to the Pacific Northwest. Here again is Nancy Leek,
author of Nancy Kelsey Comes Over the Mountain, The True
story of the first American woman in California.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
Tom Fitzpatrick, the trail guide, tells them you do not
want to attempt this. That territory has barely been explored.
Its deserts, its mountains, it's desolate. And so they say,
all right, we'll go to Oregon. It's too dangerous to
go to California. But Ben Kelsey is not the kind
(12:13):
of man to change his mind. He's going to California,
and wherever he goes, his wife is going to go
with him. That's the way she was. Wherever my husband goes,
I go with him.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Thirty four, the Bartisan Buildwell Party are determined to push
on to California. Among them is an eighteen year old
Nancy Kelsey and her now two babies. Martha Anne is
in front of her and another one inside of her.
Fitzpatrick draws the pioneers a map in the dirt, warning
(12:45):
that if they miss Mary's River known as the Humboldt
River today, they will die long before reaching California.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
In mid August.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Without guide or compass, they turn their horses and wagons
south and follow the Bear River into Utah. They reached
the Great Salt Lake on August thirty. They skirt the
northern shore of the lake, and in the blazing desert
to the west, were forced to a bend in their
wagons and pack everything on horses and mules.
Speaker 4 (13:16):
Desperate now, they turned east and cut as straight across
country as they could to find the Bare River again
before they all died of thirst. The weaker animals straggled behind,
and they had to let them lag. The Oxen drawing
The two Kelsey wagons were trudging along so slow even
Anne could outwalk them.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
The ground was white with.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Salt, and the wagon wheels crunched out trails as if
in snow. Salts spangled the blades of grass that straggled
up from the crusted ground and cried for water, and
Nancy gave her the last in the canteen. She looked
at Ben driving the Oxen, wondering when he had drunk last.
Her own mouth was so dry it hurt, and her
(13:59):
lips cracked, and she tasted wisps of blood.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Carrying her baby in front of her, Nancy Kelsey rides horseback.
California is hundreds of miles away. The party stumbles upon
the headwaters the Humboldt River and follows its course southwestward
across Nevada.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Bioutes occasionally block their.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Path, and when they do, Nancy holds her baby tightly
in her arms. Everyone knew how Indians stole children. At
one place, the Indians surrounded us, armed with bows and arrows,
said Nancy, But my husband leveled his gun at the
chief and made him order his Indians out of raw range.
(14:44):
The pioneers reached the sink of the Humboldt near present
day Lovelock early in October, and then begin a grueling
trek across forty mile desert to the Carson River.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Along the way, they have to abandon their wagons. Their
oxen are exhausted, and they're starting to eat their oxen.
They've eaten most of the food they'd packed in the wagons,
so there's not much point in pulling these wagons through
the sand anymore, so they abandon the wagons, pack everything
on their animals continue along the Humboldt River, and then
eventually the river sinks into the sand and they are
(15:20):
facing the Sierra Nevada Mountains and that is just a
wall of rock, and they're exhausted.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
They're starving.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
The whole party had considered turning around and going back
to Fort Hall in Idaho, but that wasn't really an option.
They knew they didn't have the food, they didn't have
the supplies to make the trip back. They were going
to have to go over the Sierra Nevada.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
As it begin their climb, John Bidwell looks up the
eastern face of the Sierra Nevada and describes what he
sees as naked mountains whose summits still retain the snows,
perhaps a thousand years. The climb is slow and arduous,
and breathing becomes difficult. There's no established trail to follow.
(16:06):
Boulders and fallen trees block their path. Streams must be
crossed and recrossed. On October eighteenth, they reached Sonora Pass
and an elevation of nearly ten thousand feet. Peaks on
either side of the pass are another two thousand feet higher. Fortunately,
a heavy snowfall has not yet blanketed the sierras. Now
(16:30):
they have to buy an arrow route down the steep
and deep canyons on the western side of the Sierras
into the San Joaquin Valley. They have little or no food.
Their clothes, blankets, and diapers are in tatters, and their
shoes have long worn away.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
She says.
Speaker 5 (16:47):
Of course, we did not know where we were. The
party scattered here to find the best way to descend
the mountains. I was left with my babe alone, and
as I sat there on my horse and listened to
the side and moaning of the winds through the pines,
it seemed the loneliest spot in the world. The descent
(17:07):
was so abrupt that an Indian who had come to
us on the mountain was allowed to lead my horse
for part of the way. At one place, an old
man at the party, his name was George Henshaw, became
so exhausted that they had to threaten to shoot him
before he would proceed. At another place, four pack animals
fell over a bluff, and we never tried to recover them.
(17:28):
They had gone so far it was no use to
think of it. We were then out of provisions, as
we had eaten all our cattle at this point, Nicholas
Dawson says, once I remember when I was struggling along
trying to keep Monty, that's the name of his mule,
trying to keep Monty from going over. I looked back
(17:48):
and saw missus Kelsey a little way behind me, with
her child in her arms, barefooted and leading her horse,
a sight I shall never forget. And he thought, well,
if she can do it, I guess I can do it.
And they kept going.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Nancy recalled. We lived on roasted acorns for two days.
My husband came very near dying with cramps, and I
was suggested to leave him, but I said I would
never do that. At one place, I was so weak
I could hardly stand. Oh, Nancy Kelsey had a right
to be exhausted. She was not only carrying her daughter,
(18:24):
but she was also five months pregnant.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
And you've been listening to the story of Nancy Kelsey,
and you've been listening to Roger McGrath tell it. And again,
there's no finer storyteller in the country when it comes
to stories about the American West and the American Frontier.
And there's no more important story to tell than Nancy
Kelsey's the first woman to move to California. And this
(18:48):
is back before an interstate, back before anything.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
This is just well.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Not long after the Lewis and Clark expedition, one of
the great great stories in American history. Steve Ambrose, of course,
chronicled it in undaunted courage, and I believe it was
Ambrose's finest work. When we come back, this remarkable story
of a woman pioneer, a woman adventurer, her name Nancy Kelsey.
(19:13):
Her story continues here on our American stories. And we
(19:38):
continue here on our American stories with the story of
Nancy Kelsey. And once again here's McGrath.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
After treacherous descents, they reached the middle fork of the
Stanislaus River and follow it down into the San Joaquin Valley.
Seeing the coast ranges off to the west, they at
first reckon Californi, is still hundreds of miles farther away.
They soon realized their mistaken notion, and on November fourth,
(20:08):
eighteen forty one, after a half year on the trail,
the pioneers arrived at the Mount Diablo ranch of an
American settler, doctor John Marsh. He regularly sent letters to
the East urging Americans to settle in California, hoping a
growing number of Americans would cause California to go the
(20:31):
way of Texas. A six month journey to Marsh's Ranch
makes Nancy Kelsey the first woman to cross overland to
California from the United States. Throughout the journey, she was
an inspiration to the men. Her cheerful nature and kind
heart brought many a ray of sunshine through the clouds
(20:53):
that gathered around the company of so many weary travelers,
said Philip pioneer Joseph Chiles.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Her again is Nancy Leak.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
In many ways, she was just an ordinary pioneer woman.
But those pioneer women were remarkable women. They could handle
any situation and do it with good humor and a
lot of grit. Joseph Chiles, who was also a member
of the Bidwell Bartleson Party, said she bore the fatigues
(21:24):
of the journey with so much heroism, patience, and kindness
that there still exists a warmth in every heart for
the mother and her child. They were always forming silver
linings with every dark cloud that assailed them.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
The Kelsey's built a log cabin in the Napa Valley,
a mile south of today's Calistuga. In February eighteen forty two,
Nancy gives birth to Sarah Jane, who lives only one
week before dying. Nancy has two little graves now bookmarking
each end of the journey. But as he has done before,
(22:01):
Nancy Kelsey stoically endures. Meanwhile, Ben is making money hunting
and trapping, and with the proceeds buying cattle. During the
spring of eighteen forty three, Ben decides to drive one
hundred hit a cattle north to American settlements in Oregon's
willam At Valley. Is joined by his brother Andy and
(22:24):
three other men. Although pregnant Nancy goes along, five year
old Martha Ann goes as well. At a crossing of
the Sacramento River, while the men were busy driving the cattle,
Indians raid the Kelsey's camp. Nancy yells for help, and
Nicholas Dawson is the first to arrive. Because of his
(22:48):
enormous size, Dawson is known as Bear. Bear came and
shot one of the Indians within a few feet of me,
said Nancy. Then he compelled the rest of them to
help with the cattle crossing. Several weeks later, while camp
near Mount Shasta, the Kelseys have Indian trouble again.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
During the night, Indians.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Shoot several of the party's horses, and the next day,
after a mile on the trail, there is a pitch battle.
Nancy is in the midst of it, sitting on her
horse and holding her daughter. There are several more Indian
attacks before they reach the safety of the American settlements
in the northern portion of the Willamette Valley. After selling
(23:32):
their cattle and purchasing supplies at Fort Vancouver, they begin
their return trip. En route, Nancy gives birth to another daughter, Margaret.
Near Mount Shasta, they have another pitch battle with a
large group of Indian warriors. While the arrows were flying
into cample, said Nancy, I took one baby and hit
(23:55):
my child in the brush. I returned and took the
other child and hit that child also. The moon was
shining brightly. Each time the men fired their guns. I
heard an Indian fall into the river as I hit
the little ones. I wondered if I'd ever see daylight again.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Think of it.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
We had only five men and there were possibly one
hundred Indians. What's back in the Napa Valley, the Kelas
prosper again, hunting, trapping, and grazing cattle and horses. In
April eighteen forty six, Nancy gives birth to a son, Andrew.
Two months later, on June fourteenth, American settlers at northern
(24:36):
California revolt against Mexican rule by taking control of Sonoma
and declaring establishment of the Bear Flag Republic in Sonoma.
On that fateful day is Nancy Kelcey holding Andrew in
her arms. She watches as the American rebels raise the
bear flag with its humped back, grizzly and loan star.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Reason to be.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Proud of the new flag. She made it using a
three x five piece of cloth and a strip of
red flannel from her petticoat. She will soon be called
the Betsy Ross of California. Her husband Ben is a
prominent bear flagger. He later gets into a dispute with
John C. Fremont and gives him a tongue lashing when
(25:22):
Freemont assumes command of the rebels. That Kelseys were known
for their use of wicked and blasphemous language, said, Nancy
made a mule skinner.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Blush here again, it's Cecilia Holland.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
On July eighth, the US Navy seized Monterey without firing
or shot the Mexican dons fled. A day later, the
bear flag came down that flagpole in Sonoma, and the
stars and stripes went up on the whole. The bear
showed more skill and foresight than one might expect, After all,
the Bears were ordinary people, not government sanctioned. Thanks to
(26:01):
Ben and Nancy Kelsey, they founded California and it became American.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
When Ben later falls sick with malaria, Nancy rides helped
Bent for Sonoma in medicine. En root In, an Indian
known locally as Chief Augustine, tries to last so her
and drag her off the horse. Although Nancy was without
her pistol, she manages to escape and continue her wild
(26:29):
ride to town. She returns with the medicine and tells
Ben of the attempted horse theft. In her nero escape,
Ben explodes with rage and bolts out.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Of a sick bed.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Now he is the one on the back of a
galloping horse. He tracks down Chief Augustine and kills him
with a pistol shot.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
Nancy continues to have children, Mary Ellen in eighteen forty eight,
Nancy Rose in eighteen fifty one, William in eighteen fifty four,
Georgia Anne in eighteen fifty nine and Samuel in eighteen
sixty one. When Samuel was born, she was thirty eight.
She had been pregnant or nursing for more than twenty years,
(27:11):
and for a good deal of it she had been
on the trail.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
There Samuel was born. The family travels across the southwest.
We drifted into Texas, said Nancy, and were attacked by
the Comanche. The men went hunting turkey, and a neighbor
woman and myself were alone with our children. When I
discovered the Indians approaching her camp. I loaded the guns
and suggested we hide. The only two girls ran and
(27:36):
hid in the brush, and the sixteen year old looked
out for himself by hiding alone. We and the smaller
children hid in the cave. I heard the Indians above,
but they did not discover us.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
After they pillaged the camp, they found the.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Girls and succeeded in catching mary Ellen.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Poor girl.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
She was only thirteen, and even now I can hear
her screams when they scalped her. The Canancys leave mary
Ellen for dead, but Nancy finds her still clean to life.
Nancy staunches the bleeding and stitches mary Ellen's head wounds.
The girl survives, but said Nancy, she was demented after
(28:18):
that and died in Fresno five years later from the
injuries she had received. In eighteen seventy nine, Nancy's son
Samuel dies in an accident during the harvest, and in
eighteen eighty nine her husband Ben dies, but his legacy
survives to this very day.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
His name is everywhere in California Kelseyville, on Klearlick, the
forgotten hamlet of Kelsey and Eldorado County, the Kelsey Trail,
the River, Kelsey Canyon, Kelsey Creek.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
After Ben's death, Nancy settles on a ranch in the
Quama Valley northeast of Santa Barbara. She raises cattle chickens,
administers herbal remedies to sick neighbors, delivers babies, and once
rides one hundred miles in one twenty four hour period
on a mission of mercy. Nancy dies of skin cancer
(29:15):
at the age of seventy three in eighteen ninety six
and is buried on a ranch in oaks studded Cottonwood Canyon.
The Native Daughters of the Golden West marked her grave
with a plaque.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Each year.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
An equestrian group conducts a three day, one hundred and
fifty mile ride through the Quiama Valley, perhaps not up
to Nancy Kelsey's one day effort, but a feet of
endurance nonetheless. On the third day, the riders stop at
the Pioneer's grave site and pay tribute to the Betsy
ross Off California and the first woman to cross the
(29:53):
continent to what would become the Golden State.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Thanks to Roger McGrath as always and he's the author
of Gunfighters, Higwimen and Vigilantes, Violence on the Frontier, Nancy
Kelsey's story a fundamental part of American history. Here on
our American Stories
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