July 11: Three Pioneers

Three Pioneers: Carrillo-Fitch, Heald, Matheson

Speakers: Claire O’Neill, Nita Miller, Don Anderson

Learn about three Healdsburg pioneers, all of whom shaped Healdsburg’s history in the aftermath of the Gold Rush. Claire O’Neill will introduce you to Josefa Carrillo Fitch, from a San Diego Spanish family, who arrived after her husband’s death and discovered that squatters were inhabiting much of the land her family owned as the Rancho Sotoyome land grant. Nita Miller will talk about Harmon Heald, one of those squatters and a failed gold seeker from Ohio. He eventually created a subdivision on land he purchased from the Fitch family and that became the center of the town named for him. And Don Anderson will present the life of Roderick Matheson, a Scotsman, who found his way to Healdsburg where he was a civic leader, and then met his death during the Civil War after accepting a commission from Lincoln.