African- American Pioneers: The Jim Churchill Story

From the Churchill-Burns family website:

"We are the descendents of James Churchill (1820-1908) and Mary Ann Burns (1846-1904). They married in 1861. The roots of the William Burns (father of Mary) family, in America, extended from Virginia through Missouri to Marysville, California, by way of ship around Cape Horn, arriving in Marysville in 1853. The roots of the Churchill family extend from Louisiana through Kentucky to Marysville, California, blazing the new trail which became known as 'Churchill Trail'.

1800's Pioneers

"We are part of the early pioneers of Northern California and Yuba County, especially through Gold Rush days. African Americans played significant roles in the growth and development of the old Yuba County of the era. From the development of some of the oldest churches, to becoming an elected official. We accepted the challenge of crossing this nation ( by wagon train headed by James Beckwourth) in the effort to resettle and overcome tyranny of slavery and all its vestiges".

* excerpts from Lester C. Pogue's book, 'The African American Heritage of Yuba County, 1849-1870'"

The following entry is from February 2017 News Letter Vol. 17 No. 2 from, FRIENDS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF YUBA COUNTY HISTORY

FFTPYCH is a group of people dedicated to preserve, protect, study and share the history of Yuba County

"In Honor of Black History Month, we are presenting a story compiled by a grandson of one of the prominent African American Pioneers of Marysville. 

Rev. Frank E Churchill was the grandson of Jim and Mary Burns Churchill; this story was presented by Lester Pogue, a distant descendant of Jim Churchill, to Henry Delamere Historian and FPYCH Member and is presented here as the condensed version of a big story. 

THE JIM CHURCHILL STORY 

In the 1840's the Churchill family freed most of their slaves, but many of those freed remained on the Churchill acres, as they had no other place to go. 

In the spring of 1849 news had reached Kentucky about the gold discovery upon the headwaters of the American River in California. The GOLD FEVER hit both black and white, and the younger people prepared to go to California search-of riches. 

Twenty-one men, of whom 12 were white and 9 were black, from the Louisville and Elizabethtown areas left the former city in wagons headed for St. Louis. All of them were named Churchill. Nine other whites joined the Churchill party in Ohio and Missouri. 30 were in the group when it left the banks of the Mississippi with high hopes and dreams. Jim drove one of the teams and was the man in charge of all the horses. 

Photograph of D Street in Marysville (Calif.) in ca. 1800's

With no experienced guide, they blazed a new trail which was later to be called the Churchill Trail. Not knowing of the location of water, their journey was a hard one. Suffering greatly from the lack of water and food, about half of the party perished on the plains and in the Rockies. Jim and one of his brothers were among the survivors that crossed the Sierras into Sacramento Valley, California in October 1849. 

The party followed the Feather River down to Marysville, which was then nothing more than a trading post, mostly on the Yuba City side of the River, where they purchased supplies from the government supply camp. 

The next day some of the party attempted to go down the river to Sacramento on a raft, but at the confluence of the Feather and Yuba Rivers, where the waters were often treacherous, they nearly lost their lives. When they finally made it to the river bank safely, they decided to continue their journey to Sacramento by land. A few days later they established a temporary camp outside of Sacramento, where Jim was to have the memorable encounter with the grizzly. 

Grizzly Bear

The hobbled horses had been turned loose for grazing, and when they wandered away from the camp area, Jim was sent to find them and bring them back. He had gone a long distance from the camp when he saw a large Elk enter the brush near the river, and hungry for fresh meat, followed the Elk into the thick underbrush along the river. Soon thereafter, as he forced his way through the brush something hit him a terrific blow on the side of this head, knocking him down upon his knees. He recovered immediately, and arising to his feet. found himself face to face with a large grizzly bear, head and shoulders above him. His rifle had fallen in the dense brush, and the only weapon he had available was a bowie knife, upon which he had spent his last dollar before the party left St. Louis. This knife he drew in great haste just as the grizzly moved to the attack. He pointed the knife toward it's left breast as the grizzly enveloped him in its mighty arms. 

As the bear pressed Jim closer, the point of the knife went deeper into its breast until it reached the grizzly's heart and brought death to it. Jim lay almost lifeless for a long time before recovering some of his strength. Half crawling and limping. he set out for camp. On his way to the camp he met a party of prospectors and told them the story. They assisted him within a short distance of the camp and left him to go the remainder of the way. Upon reaching the camp he related the story to the other members of the party, but they didn't believe him until they examined his bruised body and noticed the animal's blood upon his torn clothes. They were then convinced his story was true. The next morning the group went to the spot where the fight between man and beast had taken place, but the Bear was gone. Only its dried blood marked the spot. 

That afternoon, after finding the hobbled horses, they went into Sacramento where they heard much talk about an enormous grizzly which had been purchased by a butcher. When they reached the meat market and Jim saw the hide and the hole in it where his bowie knife blade had entered, he realized the prospectors who had helped him the previous evening, had gone back, and finding the dead Bear, carried it into Sacramento and sold it to the Butcher. 

The Churchill Party dissolved at Fort Sutter that day, and Jim being without money to purchase mining equipment, took a job with Capt. John Sutter to be a camp cook for him at Coloma, where gold had been discovered the preceding year. 

Poor business methods of Sutter soon terminated the firm of Sutter, Hastings and Company as developers of mining supplies, and Jim became a teamster for various freight companies, working in and out of Sacramento, Coloma, Placerville, Downieville, Nevada City, Marysville, Smartsville and various mining towns, carrying wagon loads of provisions of every kind and, mining and agricultural equipment. 

During the Gold Rush years, gambling was one of the most exciting forms of recreation, and Jim became known as “that lucky black", being extremely lucky at cards and from which he saved several thousand dollars. Once he tired of sleeping with his rifle, handgun and bowie knife to protect his money, he spent those winnings on farm land near Nevada City, and continued as a teamster with his own horses and wagons. 

In the 1850's the Burns family of Missouri, moved to Marysville and vicinity, and Jim, a lonely black man noticed Mary Ann with her pretty Indian braids, for she was three-fourths Cherokee. Mary Ann had "eyes" for the handsome business man and farmer, too. When she was 15 he asked for her hand. The teenager and her parents were willing, and they married in 1861. In August, 1862, William "Bill" was born. The other children were Ellen (1863), Mary (1867), Ann Amelia (1870), Phillip and Daniel (twins-1872), Maggie (1874), Laura (1875), James Albert “Happy" (1877), Ida and George “Pick". 

Everything went well in the Churchill household until the early 1870's, when Jim was swindled and lost most of his money and property. By this time the family was living in Smartsville, where William, Ellen, Mary and Amelia were born. 

When the Churchill family moved to Marysville, Jim's fortunes changed again, as his early training in Kentucky enabled him to become an outstanding horse and dog trainer in the Sacramento Valley. The small horse racing tracks soon knew Jim Churchill and the winning horses he trained for various horse owners. He also bought, trained and sold trained riding horses to many people owning buggies and surreys. 

Meanwhile, he bought a large lot between 14th Street and the levee on G Street and built a twostory house and barn there. His milk cows furnished milk for many residents of the northern part of the town. Grain and corn were raised beyond the levee to feed his livestock, and that which he trained. 

One day, while eating some dates, he tossed the seeds into the family vegetable garden and several germinated. starting the growing of date palms. His son, Bill, who had erected his own home at 11th and G Streets, transplanted one to his yard in 1893. There it flourished and when it had its first blooms, Bill with inborn horticultural skill, obtained a branch of blooms from the palm trees at the Mary and Frank Aaron property at 7th and D Streets, for cross pollination. 

From the blog Holy Bee of Ephesus- "The 1856 house of Francis Aaron, founder of Marysville Water Co. and Northern California Savings & Loan, also went for the “medieval castle” look that was all the rage in the mid-1850’s."

Dates soon appeared and ripened, and when the Marysville Appeal printed the story about the dates, the government plant introduction garden officials near Chico, sent a request for a box of the fruit for inspection. They wanted to see the fruit before they believed it was possible to produce dates in the Sacramento Valley. Several Southern California farmers and horticulturists came to see for themselves. 

In February, 1908, Jim Churchill died at the family home at the age of 88. His widow, with the help of her youngest son, George, and her grandson, Chester Reaves, continued with a small dairy business, and raised chickens, turkeys, and pigs. Nearly every day people came to buy her well-fed poultry and pigs. George and Chester also maintained the farming area beyond the levee. Food from her kitchen was bought by many of the business and professional people of Marysville and Yuba City. She lived five and one-half years after her Jim, dying in 1913."

More on this family-
Family reunion remembers historian of Marysville settlement

James Churchill's page on Find a Grave

The Negro trail blazers of California presented by Genealogy Trails