Albeeville, California
Albeeville (also, Albee) is a former settlement in Klamath County, now located in Humboldt County, California.[1] Albeeville was located on Redwood Creek, within an easy day's travel from Fort Gaston.[2] The post office was named for Joseph Porter Albee, its first postmaster,[1] who was murdered by Indians, and the Albeeville post office burned in November 1863.[3]
Location
The location of Albeeville is described in an 1862 letter "Descending the river toward the ocean from Minor's to Fort Anderson... it is 1 mile (1.6 km); thence to Whitney's ranch 4 miles (6.4 km); thence to Albee's 4 miles (6.4 km), and thence to Elk Camp, 7 miles (11 km). Neil's and William's are between Albee's and Elk Camp."[4]:61 Another description of the location is, "... in Humboldt County at the old Albee ranch at the junction of North Fork and Redwood Creek."[5] Albee's ranch was historically, "located about six miles downstream from Tom Bair's Ranch and about eight miles downstream from Fort Anderson".
History
Joseph Porter Albee (May 28, 1815 Sandusky, Ohio - November 5, 1863 Albee, California) was raised by his parents Joseph and Electa (Crippen) Albee on a farm in New York State before moving to Michigan and marrying Caltha ("Calthea") Putnam of Ohio.[3] They moved to DeKalb County, Illinois until he joined the California Gold Rush and left his wife and children in Illinois.[3] After mining for a short time, he became an ox freighter and a miner on the Trinity River, where he did well.[3] He established a dairy at Weaverville, California, where his family rejoined him in 1852[3] via the Isthmus of Panama.[5] Next, he drove horses and cattle to Humboldt,[3] then brought his family from Weaverville and settled at Table Bluff in 1852, where they lived until 1856 when the family moved to Redwood Creek[5] and started a cattle ranch and orchard.[3]
Albee ran a hotel on the trail between Arcata and the Klamath Mines,[3] and operated the post office from March 5, 1862 to April 2, 1863.[1][6]
As a result of the Bald Hills War, some soldiers were quartered at Albee in 1862.[5] When they left, he and his family left the ranch and went to Arcata.[5] Albee returned to look after his ranch, believing his good dealings with Indians in the past would protect him, but was ambushed and killed[5] on November 5, 1863; the house and barn were burned and the stock taken or run off.[3] His family was left in difficult circumstances, but Mrs. Albee moved from Arcata to Clark & A Streets in Eureka, raised their eight surviving children, and accumulated property in the region[3] until her own death in 1905 at age 90.[5]
Albee Creek, a tributary of the Eel River,[7] is named for their son Joseph Crippen Albee (b. February 19, 1858, Albee Ranch[5] - August 8, 1944, Scotia, California).[8]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "From Northern California", Alta California, November 29, 1862
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Irvine, Leigh Hadley, History of Humboldt County, California, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1915, pages 1129-1131
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Albee Creek, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, 2013
- ↑ Joseph Crippen Albee, Family Search Community Trees, 2013
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
