In August of 1847 Captain Webber laid out what would be the town of Stockton. From him Dr. Isbell purchased a large plot of land 8 miles above the new city where he built a log house. In October they moved in. While practicing his profession at this place, he also took up raising cattle. Soon gold was discovered in the area and "gold fever" created a complete diversion from everyday activity.

The cry of "gold" rang from everywhere and Mrs. Isbell was left with only a nine year old ranch hand to help tend six hundred head of stock. The ranch stood on the main road between Stockton and Sutters Fort. There was no hotel in the area so Mrs. Isbell's ranch was the only logical stopping place for the masses of gold seekers on their way to the mines. She sold meals for one dollar each, eggs for three dollars a dozen, butter for three dollars a pound and chickens for five dollars each. On Christmas day of 1849 she sent a man to Stockton with two bottles of cream, three bottles of milk, some eggs, four dozen chickens and a few pounds of butter for which he returned with a profit of five hundred dollars. In March, Dr. Isbell and Captain Webber along with Joseph Bussell and the Murphy brothers set off on their own search for gold. Their excursion proved unsuccessful and in April they formed a trading post. They hired Jose-Jesus, an Indian Chief along with some of his Indians to dig for gold for which the company would trade them merchandise. The Indians were thrilled with all of the finery. They took all of the ribbons and lace in Mrs. Isbell's wardrobe and the wardrobes of others as well. They bought everything from calico to raisins to beads. They traded pound for pound. A pound of gold for a pound of beads. Eventually, the stock was gone. However, the gold was not. When this happened, they began to sell the clothes that they wore in exchange for the gold while they waited for more goods to come in from Yerba Buena. All the while, Mrs. Isbell kept busy making gowns and petticoats for the squaws at the cost of two ounces of gold per article.

Late one night in August, Chief Jose-Jesus and his band brought word that they had found gold on the headwaters of the Stanislaus River. As a result, Mrs. Isbell along with one of her ranch hands left on horseback at four o'clock in the morning to take news to the diggings about the new find. 0n the day following, the company got word from the Indians about another strike at a place called Hangtown. This place would later become known as Placerville. With gold being found so abundantly, security quickly became an issue. There were no banks in the area, so gold was taken in bags to the Isbell ranch. With any luck, the gold would go undetected by men who were rushing to the mines. Mrs. Isbell hid the gold under the puncheon floor and slept on top of it hidden under her bed. As more gold came, it was hidden beneath piles of rags and put in nests under the hens for safe keeping. Meanwhile, the rush of gold seekers stopping for meals increased. The burden would only grow heavier when "Sidney Ducks" from Australia began to filter in. It was one of these men that committed the first murder in the area. The victims were a German man and a twelve year old boy who had made two thousand dollars and was on his way to send the money to his Grandmother in New Jersey. It turned out that the murderer, named Lynch, had stayed at the Isbell's ranch only days earlier. Lynch would strike again committing another murder and stealing three thousand dollars. With the soldiers chasing him, he tried to escape by throwing the gold in the sea above the Ventura and jumping in after it. Lynch was shot. It is said that for many years, people in the area could be found searching the beaches after storms looking for the lost gold. As for the Isbell's, little is found about their activity between 1849 and 1856. However, pieces of research tell that in the year 1856, they moved to a ranch in Texas on the Frio River. In this place they invested in ten thousand acres of land and seven thousand head of cattle. They stayed until the war broke out, at which point they left everything and went to Mexico, settling in Santa Clara Valley.

While carrying out his duties Dr. Isbell was thrown over a cliff (presumably by a horse) breaking both legs. One of his legs was broken in several places. Dr. Isbell never did recover, remaining a cripple for nineteen years He died in 1886. Mrs. Isbell stayed in Santa Paula, Ventura County, California until her death on March 26, 1889.

This story is retold based on a December SS. 1897 issue of the Los Angeles Herald. The original article was hand copied by one of Mrs. Isbell's decendants.

Submitted by Julie Grandbouche

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March 23, 1915, Jefferson Gazette.
JEFFERSON RESIDENT DIED RECENTLY IN ILLINOIS - 94 YEARS.
Was Instrumental in Freeing Kansas of Slavery
Pasadena, Cal., March. 16, 1915
Jefferson Gazette, Jefferson, Ohio

In a late San Diego, Calif., paper I found the enclosed clipping.

Rockford, Ill. Dr. George W. Brown, who was a prominent figure in the clash of slavery and anti-slavery forces in Kansas, is dead here aged 95 years.

He founded in 1854 the Herald of Freedom, the first free state newspaper published in Kansas. Border ruffians destroyed his printing plant. The grand jury indicted him for treason and he was a prisoner for four months. He established the Conneautville, Pa., Courier in 1846.

This c lipping brings to me the recollection, that George Washington Brown was from 1840 to 1845 a resident of Jefferson. He was connected with my father, Andrew Bailey, in his factory, then located on Satin Street. Just east of Chestnut, our home being on the corner. I well remember him while a small lad.

Afterwards he was a law student with N.L.Chaffee, then for a time had a sash and door factory in Denmark, then he went to Conneautville, Pa. and established the Conneautville Courier.

My father was a subscriber to the paper for several years, and besides the Sentinel was the first paper that I became interested in. In the Courier, were continued stories, that greatly interested me, and I remember one story that gripped my interest very much, and made such a lasting impression upon my mind that I could now give quite a clear synopsis of it. It was a Persian story. I am led to believe that reading the contained stories in the courier begat so much interest in continued stories that to this day a good continued story fascinates me. Several in the Gazette have interested me very much, such as My Lady of Doubt, The Prodigal Judge, and Stanton Wins.

About eight or nine years ago I had quite an interesting correspondence with Mr. Brown, largely on his part reminiscent of the days that he lived in Jefferson, and on my part reminiscent of later days while I was a young man. One letter he wrote gave an account of a young man. and woman who got lost in the woods between Denmark and then Barbour's Corners. (now Leon). I sent that letter to friend Howells of` the Sentinel and it was published in the Sentinel.

When the great struggle to make Kansas a free state by the friends of freedom in the north, and a slave state by the friends of slavery in the south. Brown started the first Free State paper in Kansas. His printing plant was destroyed twice by the border ruffians from Missouri. There can be no doubt, but that G.W. Brown did more than any other man to make Kansas a free state, that is in Kansas.

In our correspondence I outlined the history that had fascinated me in the Courier, and he wrote that my outline was a very clear statement of it. I had written him that I could not recall the name of the story, and he wrote me, giving the name which I have again forgotten. At 87 years old, living at RockFord, I11, he was still in the harness, writing for a Chicago paper.

It is remarkable how many men, who have at one time lived in Jefferson, have made reputations nation wide. I doubt that there is another village in the U.S. that can name so many men of nation wide reputation as Jefferson.

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J.R. Giddings for 21 years a national figure in the house of representatives.
R.F. Wade for 18 years a great leader in the U.S. Senate
W.D. Howells, long recognized as the Nestor of Letters in the U.S.
Platt R. Spencer, author of the Spencerian system of writing, that changed the handwriting of a nation.
S.A. Northway, for years recognized as one of the leading congressmen.
Theo Burton, also recognized as one of the very ablest senators Ohio ever had and I can not but express regret that he has left the senate where he was such a valuable member.
Benjamin Loomis, who gained a wide reputation as a correspondent.
Maj. Gen. James Wade, who ought, by right, to have been at the head of the army if regular promotion had been the rule.
W.C. Howells, long the editor of the Sentinel and a man of state wide well earned reputation, and his son, Joseph who for 57 years managed the destinies of the Sentinel
Freeman and Clinton Udell, who became prominent men of affairs in St. Louis, Mo.
E.L. Lampson, for 16 years one of the best readers, that the House of Representatives ever had.
Jos. Ensign, a prominent jurist of Duluth, Minn.
Judge Ranney, chief justice of Ohio Supreme Court, acknowledged as one of the ablest lawyers Ohio ever had.
Darius Cadwell, long a prominent judge in Cleveland.
N.L.Chaffee,Judge.
H.B. Woodbury, Judge.
W.P. Howland, Judge.
Edward Wade, long a representative at Washington, was a resident of Jefferson.

And at a very early day there were two brothers named Humphry. One became Chief Justice of Ohio and the other, a very brainy young man, lost his brain balance and became obsessed with the idea that he could get back to nature, so that his body and mind should become a natural one, that he could commune with God, and impressed with the belief that our nature had become so depraved, that we were cut off from communion with God. And in trying to get back to nature and nature's God he starved himself to death.

And not the least of the men who have made Jefferson their home, I must not forget my old longtime friend, N.L. French, with whom I have for many yeats held interesting communion through the courtesy of Uncle Sam, and who for nearly sixty years has been very prominent in the financial affairs of Jefferson, and has held the perfect confidence of the people of Ashtabula County. He is still with you and we hope may stand as a lone cedar of Lebaon, and be with you for years.

And while dwelling upon the men who have given a reputation to the village of Jefferson, I will go romping on memories camping grounds, and call up in review the many men, and women, who while not gaining national fame, still were men and women of character, and made the home lifo of Jefferson one of the best in the land. They performed the duties before them and faithfully discharged the duties of a good and true life. D.B. Bailey Submitted by Norma Waters

The preceding article maintained the punctuation, spellng, etc., of the original.