Person:Francis Lamar (1)

Overland to California by Frances H. LaMar Sawyer

Frances Horr and Thomas Henry Sawyer lived for a short time in Louisville, KY. They were living in Louisville on March 5, 1849 when Frances sold her one-sixth interest in 150 acres of land in her father's estate to Jonathan and Nancy Ann Sawyer. She sold her ininterest in the land for $175.23. Nancy Ann Sawyer was the former wife of Benjamin S. Lamar and mother of Frances Horr (Lamar) Sawyer. Nancy Ann's husband, Johnthan Sawyer was the father of Thomas Henry Sawyer who married Nancy Ann's daughter, Frances Horr Lamar.

Thomas Henry Sawyer made three trips to California. H3E TOOK HIS WIFE, fRANCES, WITH HIM ON THE THIRD TRIP. tHEY LIVED IN cALIFORNIA FOR SEVERAL YEARS. tHE FAMILY DIARY THAT WAS KEPT BY fRANCES DESCRIBES THE TRIP AS FOLLOWS:

Frances Horr Lamar kept a journal as she crossed the Plains in covered wagon to California.

"Thomas Henry Sawyer made three trips in all to California. He went overland during the 'Gold Rush' in 1849 and returned to Kentucky in the fall of 1850. He could not content himself to stay in Kentucky and decided to go back to California. In the Spring of 1851 he, in the company of my brother, Benjamin B. Lamar, and George Bruner, all of Hancock County, went out by water and by way of New Orleans and the Isthmus of Panama. He soon got homesick and came back to Kentucky to move his wife to California. He chose the latter course hence an overland trip to California in 1852.

The overland trip to California in 1852 took us from May 9 to August 17. We made the trip with the intention of settling down on the West Coast. During the trip, Thomas debated between going to California or to Oregon On June 23, 1852, we made our decision. We concluded to go to California instead of Oregon, as was our first intention. I am greatly pleased since my brother, Benjamin B. Lamar, is there and to see him is a greater inducement for me than the whole of Oregon an offer."

Thomas and Frances Horr moved their family back to Kentucky in 1866 an settled in Cloverport where they lived until Thomas' death in 1979.

Those who knew Thomas were often entertained by the description "he gave of his life of adventure and hardship until civilization obtgained sway in California." Thomas tasted all the joys, experiences, all of the vicissitudes and cherished all the reminices of the early history of the Golden Gate.

Francis Horr Lamar http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=1c6aee2a-a2b7-47f2-b88c-5cb3cb6b5681&tid=7870267&pid=-1024172207

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Ancestry.com. Kentucky Death Records, 1852-1953. (Name: Name: The Generations Network, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2007;;)
   Database online.

   Record for Francis H Sawyer