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Nancy Kelsey Biography & Facts

Nancy Kelsey (August 1, 1823, in Barren County, Kentucky – August 10, 1896, in Cuyama, California) was a member of the Bartleson–Bidwell Party. She was the first white woman to travel overland from Missouri, seeing Utah and Nevada before crossing the Sierra Nevada mountains into California on November 25, 1841. Wife of Benjamin Kelsey, and the mother of eight surviving children, she is sometimes referred to as the "Betsy Ross of California" for her role in creation of the original Bear Flag from which Bear Flag Rebellion got its name. Personal life Born in Barren County, Kentucky, her family moved to Jackson County, Missouri, when she was three years old. Nancy married Benjamin "Ben" Kelsey on October 25, 1838, in Henry County, Missouri. Her husband and his brothers, David, Samuel and Andrew had settled a section in the Hoffman Bend area of what would become St. Clair County, Missouri, and had already been in some trouble with the authorities. There were some shady dealings in real estate; Samuel was indicted for murder, and a lawsuit was filed against Andrew in 1841. After his brothers left for the west, David remained behind as David Kelso in Missouri, taking care of their elderly father, Samuel Kelsey Sr. Overland to California Nancy Kelsey was 17 years old in 1841 when Ben decided to travel west after reading doctor John Marsh's letter extolling the California climate and crop-growing advantages. As early as 1837, Marsh realized that owning a great rancho was problematic if he could not hold it. The corrupt and unpredictable rulings by courts in California (then part of Mexico) made this questionable. With evidence that the Russians, French and English were preparing to seize the province, he determined to make it a part of the United States. He felt that the best way to go about this was to encourage emigration by Americans to California, and in this way the history of Texas would be repeated. Marsh conducted a letter-writing campaign espousing the California climate, soil and other reasons to settle there, as well as the best route to follow, which became known as "Marsh's route." His letters were read, reread, passed around, and printed in newspapers throughout the country, and started the first significant immigration to California. He invited immigrants to stay on his ranch until they could get settled, and assisted in their obtaining passports. Before they left Missouri, Nancy Kelsey's second child, named after his uncle Samuel, died after only eight days. Shortly thereafter on May 18, 1841, Ben and Nancy with their one-year-old daughter, Martha Ann, and Kelsey's brothers joined John Bidwell as members of the first wagon train to California. The group had at least one wedding on the trail. Father Pierre-Jean De Smet performed the ceremony for Nancy Kelsey's sister "Betsey Grey" and her new husband Richard Phelan before the two emigrant groups and the priest's parties split up in August 1841.: 101  One emigrant group, including some of the Kelsey family as well as Nancy's sister and new husband, went directly to Oregon. The other group—including Nancy, Martha Ann and Ben Kelsey—took the route detailed in Marsh's letter, which Marsh had never seen, through Utah and Nevada. Many years later, an interview with Nancy Kelsey was published in the San Francisco Examiner where she recollected the trip across the continent; she said the group had no guide and no compass.: 16  Nancy Kelsey was the first white woman to see the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The emigrants had been told to not go too far south or north of the lake, but to strike westward from it. On September 16, the wagons and most of their contents were left on the west face of Nevada's Ruby Mountains, near Owens Lake and the present day Oasis, Nevada.: 108  After abandoning the wagons, the party proceeded on foot with pack horses. The party was attacked several times, witnessed the fatal remains of other ambushes, and had their provisions and horses stolen. Nancy was quoted: We left our wagons and finished our journey on horse-back and drove our cattle. I carried my baby in front of me on the horse. At one place the Indians surrounded us, armed with their bows and arrows, but my husband leveled his gun at the chief and made him order his Indians out of arrow range.: 17  On September 24, they found the Mary's River that was in Marsh's description; now called the Humboldt River, it ends in the Humboldt Sink, an intermittent dry lake bed and by October 15, they were at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The 34 members of the party arrived in California via the Sonora Pass and followed the Stanislaus River down hill. They reached the confluence with the San Joaquin River on November 3, and several members of the group, including the Kelsey's, stopped at Doctor Marsh's ranch at the foot of Mount Diablo on November 4, 1841. The Kelseys stayed a month with Marsh before proceeding to Sutter's Fort. Subsequently, several of the group wrote of Nancy's patience, heroism and kindness on the journey.: 18  She is credited with being the first white woman to see Utah, Nevada, the first to cross the Sierra Nevada and the first to travel overland from Missouri to California. Life in the west During 1842, Nancy and Ben Kelsey worked for John Sutter collecting elk hides at Clear Lake, California. In 1843, while she was pregnant, they left Sutter's employ and drove cattle north along the California–Oregon Trail east of Mount Shasta, past Klamath Lake, and on to Oregon City. Along the way, they were attacked nearly constantly by Native Americans, one of whom was shot dead very close to Nancy.: 16  While in Oregon, Nancy delivered Sarah Jane Kelsey, who died after eight days. Nancy became pregnant almost immediately and delivered daughter Margaret September 14, 1843, in Oregon. After selling their cattle, the family loaded up with goods and returned to California where they settled on 2,000 acres (810 ha) at Calistoga, neighboring General Vallejo's property to the south. Ben's brothers Isaac and Samuel with their families arrived in northern California at the end of 1843; they had started with the Bidwell party but branched off for Oregon. David Kelsey arrived separately, but died in 1845 of smallpox. In 1844 the Kelsey home about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Calistoga was attacked by Native Americans. Nancy Kelsey rolled her daughter into a blanket; both survived. While tensions were growing in the spring of 1846, Nancy delivered son Andrew Kelsey on April 7, bringing the total of living children to three. Bear Flag Rebellion During the Bear Flag Rebellion in 1846, while the Kelsey brothers joined John C. Fremont in declaring California's independence from Mexico, Nancy Kelsey, Mrs. John Sears, and Mrs. Benjamin Dewell sewed the original "Bear Flag" from a pattern drawn by William L. Todd, a nephew of Mary Todd Lincoln. Nancy Kelsey has been referred to as the "Betsy Ross of California" for her contributio.... Discover the Nancy Kelsey popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Nancy Kelsey books.