California 1852

[Susan Kline]

Dear Anne,

I remember from years ago, when I lived in Stockton, CA, reading about a
Chickering grand that came around the horn and arrived at Christmas ca.
1850. It was sent to a pastor for his daughters.  There was a little
vignette about the miners gathering outside on the porch as the girls played
carols on it for Christmas ... they said it wasn't even out of tune. (Well,
I wonder what we would have thought.) I always wondered if I would bump into
this piano in Stockton some day, but didn't. My impression was that the
pastor lived in Stockton, though it might have been somewhere in Calaveras
County.

A customer showed me the book ... wish I could remember which customer. It
was a book about women, I believe, but whether it was about women in the
California Gold Rush or 19th century women in general I can't remember. 

Regards,

Susan

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At 09:35 AM 1/22/98 -0500, Anne Beetem wrote:
>Greetings all!
>
>     I have a historical question for us.  I've already given the inquirer,
>Laurette Goldberg from MusicSources in Berkeley,  what I have from my
>sources, which I'm do not feel is sufficient.   They are organizing a Gold
>Rush musical event to celebrate the sequiscentennial.
>
>      Here's the question:
>
>       What evidence do we have of what type of pianos in California in
>1852?   I have direct knowledge of an 1859 cast iron frame Steinway square
>which was shipped around South America by boat and still resides in the San
>Francisco Bay area.   I know what types of pianos were being produced in
>the U.S. then.   A lot happened in those 7 years though in California and
>it was still quite rough in 1852.   Information anybody?
>
>       Best,   Anne
>
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Susan Kline
P.O. Box 1651
Philomath, OR 97370
skline@proaxis.com