ca. 1854-5.]. Engraved Pictorial letter sheet 282 x 227mm with further single leaf of letter paper, effectively pp. [4], (presumed originally a single folded sheet now detached); printed on tinted (gray/blue?) paper, with thirteen engraved vignettes surrounding a central text panel in two columns with two songs, the blank verso and accompany leaf filled in manuscript with a letter home to England from a young miner, Thomas Cockburn and dated ‘San Francisco, Janry 31st 1855’; imprint at tail cropped close with some slight loss, the whole sheet condition is poor, heavily browned with a number of nicks and small tears, several small holes along folds, with further spotting and soiling, evidence of previous horizontal and vertical folds; despite wear, a scarce and poignant survivor. A somewhat dog-eared, but scarce surviving example of a gold rush inspired pictorial letter sheet, filled with a lengthy and evocative letter home to England from a young prospector, Thomas Cockburn, we believe from Tweedsmouth near Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland.
The sheet is illustrated with 13 wood-engraved vignettes: a large image dominates the top and which shows ‘The Miner’s Home’, with the following series of images depicting the life of a gold prospector, including daily chores, the joys and pains of mining, the interiors of living quarters, and how miners entertain themselves. The central panel contains two songs: ‘The One he Sung at Home’ expressing a miner’s happiness and optimism before setting out to California, followed by ‘The One he Sings Here’, a sadder and more pessimistic ode on the harsh realities of gold mining. Similar examples found at the Bancroft suggest that the sheets were first issued in around December 1854, which aligns with the date of the present letter.
Dated January 31st 1855 and penned in San Francisco, Cockburn is replying to a letter received from home on December 31st (though written on November 16th). Very much echoing the pictorial images (and which no doubt must have struck a chord), it provides a fascinating insight into the highs and lows for an early prospector, and how far from home they must have felt, although it becomes clear from his letter that he seems to have travelled with other men from Tweedsmouth to seek their fortune.
'Dear Mother, I take the Pleasure of riting a few lines to inform you that I am well at present hopping this will find you the same I recvied your letter on December 31 1854 Dated Nov. 16 1854 and was sorry to here of you and Robert being sick and Margrat misforton I think she wil be as old as Mother / Dear Mother I wil send you 4 pounds for your New Years Gift Pleas to give My ant Sara 10 Shillings for her new years gift you must give nice Jane a New Dres and Nephew George a New coat if he is a good boy to his Grandmother and delivers the tobacco / Pleas to send my nice Rebicca a New Dres and let her no that I am coming home next year to Marry her / I was sorry to here of Janes Misforton I should like to see her now I wounder if she is as spunkey as ever... ‘.
Of his working life, Cockburn notes: ‘I am working at present but work is very dul for this is winter it rains very much her in winter but this winter hase been a very good winter for work in the Citys and a very bad winter in the mines for want of rain to wash the dirt for the gold it is raining very hard at present the have been but very few days rain this winter I will be finished with my work in a day or two and I wil go up to the mines for to try my luck if I have good luck I wil come home to see My Mother and all my frinds’.
Though longing for home, Thomas was clearly amongst some colleagues from back home: ‘Alexander Young is here and he sends his Kind love to his father and Mother he is doueing very wel he sase he has ben here since 1849 I have met in with a nother young man from Tweedsmouth Hennry Adam Sidey he is in a flour mil working he hase ben very kind to me... Willam and the Children sends there kind love to his mother and all his Brothers and sisters and enquiring frinds he saes he wil rite to you in corse of a few weeks’.
The reliability of post appears have been something of an issue, and Thomas complains that he has not received ‘anney papers you sent me’ and suggests to his mother not to send any more. They do receive some news however: ‘wee git all the English papers here when the Mail comes in and wee are very anchis to here a bout the war let me no if Alexander hase gone to the war or where he is’. He concludes by appealing for more local news and his sense of longing is perceptible: ‘Please to rite as soon as you recive the money and let me no all the news I must conclude with wishing you all a happy New Yaer Brothers Sisters uncals and Ants and Cusines my to Ant Sara uncle George Cusine Joseph and wife recpts to David Bell John Roberson and all my enquiring frinds. Let me no where James Mathison is Your son truly Thomas Cockburn San Francisco California.'
George Holbrook Baker (1827-1906), of Barber & Baker, was a Massachusetts born artist, who was studying in New York when the gold rush broke out. He "dropped his brushes" and went west, arriving in San Francisco in late May 1849. He briefly tried his luck at prospecting, but soon found that it was easier to make a living using his artistic skills, and within three months, his first views of the town were being published in New York. He moved to the new state capital at Sacramento in 1852, where he started several businesses and two periodicals while also creating sought after views of northern California. He partnered with Edmond Barber (1834-1909) between 1854-56, where they had a wood engraving studio in the Union building in Sacramento. Barber soon returned to Minnesota before eventually settling in Manitoba. After a devastating flood ruined him, Baker moved back to San Francisco in 1862, were he started a noted lithography and publishing firm. He is regarded as one of the most noted artists and lithographers of the Gold Rush era, and his archives are held at California State Library. Barber and Baker are best known for their ‘Sacramento Illustrated’, an early history of the town based upon information supplied by some early pioneers, and their other popular pictorial letter sheets ‘The Miner’s Ten commandments’, ‘The miner’s creed’ and ‘Crossing the Plains’.
A full transcript of the letter is available upon request.