Javascript must be enabled in order to use several pages found on Footnote. You will need to enable JavaScript by changing your browser options. Learn how to enable it.

You can create your own Story Page like ldrew did.

Watch

Bookmark

Helen Farrar Drew

Helen Farrar Drew's life was anything but boring. She migrated from South Carolina to the gold fields of California in wagon trains while still in her youth. She was a successful mother of eight children and supportive wife to her husband in the wild and crazy environment of placer mining.

Created 10 Apr 2008

Helen Mary Farrar Drew

1890

Where: Copperopolis, Calaveras, California

Previous Next 1 of 1:

Drew Helen Farrar.jpg

Helen was born in Lexington County, South Carolina on 6 May 1851 and lived there for about four years. Her parents then moved north to New Hampshire searching for new employment opportunities. Shortly thereafter, they again moved in search of employment. The quest took them westward to Wisconsin. Five years later, Helen's mother, brother and grandmother died within a few months of each other.

After burying most of his family, Helen's father, Thomas, took his two surviving young daughters west to California by wagon train. When they arrived in Fort Bridger, Wyoming, he gave each of them 10 cents to buy candy. Instead of buying candy, they both bought green onions. They had only eaten dried beef and other trail rations for weeks and dearly wanted 'fresh' vegetables. Helen said that nothing had ever tasted as good as 'those green onions'.

Helen married David Lewis Drew in Calaveras County, California. David had moved to 'the Calaveras' from Plymouth, Massachusetts during the famous California Gold Rush era.

David and Helen spent the remainder of their lives in Calaveras County, never returning east to see any surviving family members. They raised a family of 8 children in Copperopolis struggling through the hard economic times that afflicted the area when the copper mines closed after the end of the Civil War. Helen died in Copperopolis, Calaveras County, California on 12 Sep 1912 and is buried by her husband in the cemetery in Copperopolis.California.

Updated 10 Apr 2008 (Created 10 Apr 2008)

1 comment You must sign in to add your comment