Research Page Chapter 5: California Gold

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This Research page contains material which may not be included in my manuscript The Falkenburgs
An American Colonial Family: Chapter 5 California Gold. In There are two reasons this material does not appear in the manuscript. First, in an effort to manage the size of the book or the flow of the story, I decided that some details should be relegated to research notes. In other cases, I simply don't know all of the facts needed to make a coherent presentation. Those notes are found here. In many cases they are notes to myself and may not represent fully explored and documented fact. If you have navigated to this page from a Google search, and you have not seen my manuscript, you may wish to follow the link below for a more complete story of the colonial roots of the Falkenburg/Falkinburg family.

Link to manuscript: The Falkenburgs:An American Colonial Family

Link to Chapter 5: California Gold

(5.1.1) Who built the General Morgan?

Records show that the General Morgan was built in 1848 in Washington, NJ

Shipbuilding Along the Great Egg Harbor River Excellent detail with references

"Captain John Clark and James Clark built some 30 ships in the reaches of the Great Egg Harbor River at Clarktown. There were over the years some 35 men who were building ships. In this time some 200 were built. (2)"

"George Wheaton was one of Mays Landing's earliest shipbuilders turning out ships where Babcock's Creek emptied into the river. Small schooners for river and coastal trade were built by Ephraim Dare. Upriver from Wheaton's was perhaps the most famous of all Mays Landing shipwrights - Captain Samuel Gaskill. The 21 Friends which Gaskill built for Captain John Jefferies of English Creek was so sturdy, (4) despite a collision and abandonment by her crew, she remained afloat for two years as a "ghost ship". She reportedly was seen on both sides of the Atlantic. Later she was salvaged and put to use by fishermen. The John Shay was also from Captain Gaskill's yard. She received local fame as a result of an encounter with Confederate privateers on her maiden voyage. Samuel Gaskill's reputation, however, was not only local but, it is said, he was known among and consulted by shipbuilders in Delaware and Pennsylvania as well as New Jersey."

(5.1.2) Transcription of Lyman's Voyage to California

The key reference in Chapter 5 is Lyman, Albert, A Journal of a voyage to California, and life in the gold diggings. And also of a voyage from California to the Sandwich Islands, Hartford, Conn., E.T. Pease; New York, Dexter & Bro. 1852. citation on worldcat.org.

I had access to this at the California Historical Society in San Francisco. Here is my transcription of the text. The bracketed numbers refer to page numbers in the text.

Description of the Lyman Journal 'A Voyage to California' The journey to Hawaii.

(5.1.3) Rootsweb post re General Morgan

Contains passenger list from two NY newspapers and additional information

(5.1.4) Reference to General Morgan in 1855: after the dissolution of the CTMC

Fort Guijarros Quarterly, Fall 1987. (See page 10) "Entries were made at the U.S. Custom House in Monterey on March 24, 1855, John Pope Davenport, Danielo E. Waty, George L. Dublois, and Eliju Avery were recorded as investors in the bond for the Certificate of Registry for the schooner General Morgan..." This was after Charles Falkinburg was Master in the trans-Pacific trade on other vessels.