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Your Story: St Ives to California in 1871: Sarah Glasson's story |
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Sarah's narrative is cut short with the words "Not completed". If Sarah had continued she would almost certainly have mentioned a relative, John Glasson, who left St. Ives for America in 1864 when he was 13. From being a moulder in a Nevada City foundry John Glasson went on to become a prominent citizen with interests in local businesses in Nevada City and Grass Valley. He became Treasurer, Superintendent and a Director of the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railway, which operated a branch line between Colfax on the Southern Pacific Railway main line and Grass Valley and Nevada City. He had his own food stores and in 1885 bought the Grass Valley Gas Co. Three years later he bought the Electric Light Co. and merged the two to form the Grass Valley Gas & Electric Co. of which he was President for several years before he sold out to a major organisation. He and his daughter Bernice made several visits to their relatives in St. Ives and he died in 1925 at the age of 73.
Cornishmen who went to America took their musical talents with them and band and choral competitions were annual events in Grass Valley. A group known as John Farrell's Choir had its origins in the Grass Valley Methodist Church at about the time Josiah Glasson and his family went there, subsequently taking the name of The Grass Valley Carol Choir. They were noted for their expertise in rendering Cornish carols and sang in hospitals, on the streets and in the State capital Sacramento. They frequently performed over the radio and on one occasion sang from the 2,000 foot level of a mine in Grass Valley. So many men wanted to sing that another group formed the Merritt Carol Choir, joining forces with the Grass Valley singers on appropriate occasions.
My research discovered Glasson descendants in Grass Valley and Sacramento, and a happy outcome of our research has been that they and my St. Ives friend are now in touch, restoring family links between Cornwall and California. A bonus is that I also have found connections with the Glasson family in Sacramento. They have subsequently visited in St Ives and we have established a happy relationship.
Acknowledgements to Tom Richards (St Ives) and Jo Glasson Smith (Sacramento)
Words: Tom Richards
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