More Books

I've added to our little research library in the museum workroom:

Journeys: The International Journal of Travel and Travel Writing; Vol. 12

Collecting Native America 1870-1960, Krech III and Hail

Routes: Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century

Museums, Anthropology and Imperial Exchange, Henare

Passionate Hobby: Rudolf Frederick Haffenreffer and the King Philip Museum, Krech III

Genealogical Rabbit Holes

I am struggling to fill out George's family tree. In the last week we have found a great deal concerning his father (Amos Foster Beardsley) and a fair but concerning his Grandfather (Amos Beardsley).

I have fallen down the rabbit hole of trying to put together Amos Beardsley's life. It started with the seemingly simple objective of finding out his wife's name. My assumption is her maiden name is Foster, but I cannot find anything about her. Maybe Foster is her mother's name??

The search is complicated by the proliferation of Amos Beardsley's in Derbyshire in the 1800s. Not only are their numerous unrelated Amos's, it seems that it was quite a common name within the family (Amos Foster Beardsley had at least one cousin with a similar name). 

Here is a quick snapshot of what I have thus far: 

I found this resource that indicates that an English surgeon by the name of Amos Beardsley died in 1901. It seems reasonable to assume, for now, that this is our Grandfather. 

Sigh...back to the googling...

Books Available in the Museum

The following books are available for your pursuing in the museum workroom. Many are checked out from the library for my thesis research, some are my personal books. I don't want anyone to borrow them over night. You can take them during office hours for photocopying but they must be back before the end of the day.

Cannibal Tours and Glass Boxes, Ames.

Native Cultures of the Pacific Islands, Oliver.

Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation, Pratt.

Ladies of the Grand Tour, Dolan

The Grand Tour, Hibbert.

Ethnic and Tourist Arts: Cultural Expressions from the Fourth World, Graburn.

They Heyday of Natural History, Barber

The Blessings of a Good Thick Skirt: Women Travelers and Their World, Russell.

New Research for Team Parallel lives

OK, Dr. C and I have found a ton of new information regarding GFB. Neither of us has had any  time to process this info or really interpret it. I'm passing it along in it's raw form to you guys so you can get started sifting through it:

EDIT: AFB = Amos Foster Beardsley, GFB's father.

Could this be a reference to GFB's father?

AFB owned shares in the Penole Gold, Silver, and Copper Company

More evidence that AFB was a botanist of some regard. 

 Convention of Fruit Growers. Pretty sure this is Amos, even though it says "Mr. FA Beardsley"

Passenger List from Panama.

Another Passenger list. This one says FA Beardsley, so may not be our guy but I'm feeling pretty confident that he is.

Hoyt, Pidwell and Co. Wool and Hide advertisement. Not sure what to make of this. 

Pidwell and Co. The name changes.

J Street Flour Store. 

Cases of Smut (as in wheat)

Big Beardsley Mine. No clue if this is our family

Beardsley Mine history. Google Book.

New Research for Team Full Circle/Sojourn(?)

OK, Dr. C and I have found a ton of new information regarding GFB. Neither of us has had any  time to process this info or really interpret it. I'm passing it along in it's raw form to you guys so you can get started sifting through it:

Beardsley, G. F., Cammel,[sic] California, of about 30 volumes on mining and metallurgy for the library of the College of Mining. (given to UC 1918-19)  I don't have a link for this yet. 

Address "Care of Wellman and Peck" (Mining Magazine December 1905)

GF Donated Fungi Specimens to Stanford  

Could this British Columbia trip account for the walrus ivory pendant, paddles, puffin beak rattle, snowshoes??

Another article (I haven't had time to read this one) 

Tasmanian Sojourn Group Resources (Maybe a little Full Circle too)

OK, Dr. C and I have found a ton of new information regarding GFB, his work, and his Tasmanian sojourn. Neither of us has had any  time to process this info or really interpret it. I'm passing it along in it's raw form to you guys so you can get started sifting through it:

I emailed Brett Martin--the Tasmanian researcher/writer that I have been corresponding with to ask about GFB's education. Here's a copy of our exchange:

Me: I am deviling deeper into the history of George Beardsley and I was wondering if you could shed light on a question I've been pondering. I've been reading the book you recommending, The Peaks of Lyell, and I've been wondering if George had any formal training as a chemist. Do you have any idea how the men received their training in that day? Was it through schooling, or more "on the job"? 

Mr Martin:  I've not come across any reference to George having formal qualifications, however the circumstantial evidence is strong. He was instrumental in setting up the smelter at Zeehan before coming to Mt Lyell Company as  Metallurgist, then working under Sticht as Head Assayer. I doubt that sort of expertise can be learned on the job, though it's not impossible. He was also instrumental in setting up the School of Mining in Zeehan and a similar school in Queenstown, all of which points to a respect for education and qualifications. He may have gained his education in a similar school in the US or after he came to Australia. I'll see if I can find some reference in the archives.

1905 working in Montana

and same  year at Copper Cliff in Ontario, Canada

Pyrite smelting

Mr. Martin sent me this article this morning: Captain's Flat he also sent along this one: The Zeehan and Dundas Smelter

Check out this Google Book on Mount Lyell

You should run Beardsley's name through that Australian newspaper archive, http://trove.nla.gov.au/ to see if we can get any more hits.  

This group has the difficult task of putting together the history of GFB's work as we find the resources, but I'm sure all of us together can figure it out.

Be sure to add some of this to your storyboard, we can mount any of these newspapers on the wall. 

George's Early Years Reveled

I fell down a bit of a rabbit hole yesterday playing around on the California Digital Newspaper Collection - which is a phenomenal resource for California history research. I've used it before, but for some reason the research gods were shining and I got a ton of great NEW information on George and his father:

GFB's Birth Announcement

Sacramento Daily Union, Sep 25, 1857

George's father, Amos Foster Beardsley was a botanist! This really helps to explain George's scientific interests and life-long love of learning.

Daily Alta California Jan 30, 1860 (check link for full article)

George's grandfather, Amos Beardsley was a physician from the UK. This also shows  Amos Foster Beardsley (GF's father). The tree that was named after him pinus beardsleyi--I think that is a ponderosa pine. I have a query sent out to an ecologist friend of mine to confirm. 

Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturalists...

Death announcement for George's mother, Catherine Fisher Beardsley (George was three years old)

Sacramento Daily Union, April 25, 1861

There is even more great stuff that Dr. C and I found, but I haven't fully processed it. More posts to come soon.

Passenger Lists - Work in Progress

Here is what I have gathered so far concerning the Beardsley travels. I am certain there is more information, and I'll post it as a find it.

Each of these has a passenger list attached that we can use for the exhibit if any group wants to. For now I'm just posting the "hard data."

Person	Date	Departure	Arrival
GFB	3/11/1926	Auckland, New Zealand	Honolulu Hawaii
GFB	3/26/1926		Honolulu Hawaii
GFB	6/12/1928		New York, NY
GFB	2/14/1931		Los Angeles, CA
GFB	2/10/1931	Mazatlan, Mexico	Los Angeles, CA
Alice	2/10/1931	Mazatlan, Mexico	Los Angeles, CA
Emma W.	2/10/1931	Mazatlan, Mexico	Los Angeles, CA
GFB	7/16/1906	Hong Kong, China	San Francisco
GFB	6/21/1928	Marseille, France	New York, NY
Alice	6/22/1928	Marseille, France	New York, NY
Alice	4/28/1926	Honolulu, Hawaii	San Francisco
GFB	4/29/1926	Honolulu, Hawaii	San Francisco