|
|
Artifact of the Month – October 2004
This
Kentucky rifle was donated to the Healdsburg Museum in 1980 by Leon
Hendricks. It belonged to his great-grandfather, William T. Allen, a
Healdsburg pioneer. According to Hendricks, Allen carried the rifle
while he fought in the war with Mexico during 1846-1847.
|
|
|
|
|
W.T. Allen, was born in Illinois in 1818, crossed the plains
with a mule team, and arrived in California in 1849. He then
mined in Nevada County a short time and came to Healdsburg in
1850. He lived and farmed with his uncle, Joseph Gordon, six
miles south of town, for a year. Then he farmed for Moses Carson
(Kit’s brother) and built a kiln for 50, 000 bricks, probably
the first bricks made in Sonoma County. In 1853 he bought a
ranch in Dry Creek, and married Jane Capell and had four
children, one of whom was Elizabeth Allen Hendricks, born in
1855. W.T. Allen died in 1891 at the age of 73, and is buried in
Oak Mound cemetery. |
 |
|
William T. Allen, circa 1889 |
|
|
In 1891, just months before
his death, Allen described his memories of early Healdsburg to a
reporter at the Healdsburg Enterprise. The following is what he
said:
I came to the Russian River Valley
over forty years ago, and am inclined to think I should be classed
as a pioneer. When I came here this section of country was but
sparsely settled, in fact it was actually a rare sight to see a
white man…
There was
no pretty city of Healdsburg in those days I can tell you! The site
of our town was then a perfect wilderness, and large oak and madrone
trees covered its broad acres. The deer, bears, and panthers roamed
in peace and without fear through our forests, but they, too, have
long since gone.
In 1853 I
settled in the Dry Creek Valley, on the farm on which I have since
resided. And there I have toiled ever since, enjoying good health,
and many a happy day. When I first settled in that valley, the only
residents…were the Lamberts, Miles, Millers, and Henry Laymance.
Indians
were numerous then, too, but were of quiet disposition, and we had
no trouble with them. Wild animals, however, proved a constant
source of annoyance to us, bears and panthers especially doing an
immense amount of damage. I have known a bear to attack a steer
belonging to [the] Lamberts, and after biting it by the nose, beat
it to death with its paws…
We
pioneers raised grain, too. The land was not worn out then, and
yielded fine crops. Our flour was made at the old flour mill on Mill
Creek, owned by Miller.
The
nearest town to us then was Petaluma, and a very poor road it was
that led there, being almost impassable in the winter time. Yes,
indeed, we had good times in those days, and if I was young and
strong I should enjoy living them all over again. |
