The Journey to California

The following narrative is based on conversations I once had with Frances and William Earl Beers. I was unsure on how much credence to give their tales, but I’ve found surprising substantiation in official documents available online.

Whether widowed or deserted, Sarah Beers had two children to raise. She married John P. Noel in 1866. He may have been a local man, but family legend claims he was from Ireland. Around 1867 she gave birth to their son, Patrick Henry Noel.

When the family transplanted itself to California is a mystery. Online records show that a John Noel died in 1885. Their son Patrick, a miner, evidently annoyed powerful union officials in Pennsylvania and was blacklisted. Sarah and her son changed their last names to “Murphy” so he could work as a “scab”: a man who went into the mines while union members were striking for better pay and conditions. Eventually mother and son journeyed to Sutter Creek, CA where no one knew them.

Sutter Creek United Methodist Church, built in 1862.

Sarah's son, George Beers headed westward too after hearing there was gold in Them Thar Hills, or at least a promise of employment. He used an old-fashioned covered wagon to transport his wife and daughter Lena; today descendants proudly display dishes and other artifacts that miraculously survived the odyssey. In 1890 his wife Annie gave birth in a place referred to as “No Man’s Land, Oklahoma”.  Her next child was born in Inyo County, CA in 1892; another son followed in Flintridge in 1895 as they traveled around California looking for opportunities. George was visiting his half-brother Patrick when his son William Earl was born in Sutter Creek on the Fourth of July 1897. Their last child was born in Pasadena in 1901, and there they finally settled.

Annie gave an interview to a 1900 census taker, and one of her statements haunts me. She gave her number of living children as five, while her total number of children was eight. Her peripatetic lifestyle had taken a heavy toll.
Sarah Taylor Beers Noel died in Sutter Creek on 17 April 1896. She’s buried in the Sutter Creek City Cemetery under the name “Sarah C. Murphy.” It was her last act of subterfuge.

The inscription says Sarah C. Murphy, Born Blair Co. Penn, June 3, 1833, Died Sutter Creek, April 17, 1896

Her son, the scab miner “Pat Murphy”, was still subterfuging his overalls off. On 16 October 1899 the 32-year-old married Mary King, who may have been a widow. Published notices of this union, a 1900 census record, and a photo of him with his brother George are the only proofs I’ve found that Patrick actually existed. On the census form, he claimed that both his Da and his Darlin’ Mither had been born in the Auld Sod.

A strong strain of blarney runs in this family, and it didn’t originate in the Auld Sod.

By the 1910 census, there was no trace of our elusive “Irish” miner. Did Patrick once again anger the wrong people? Family lore claims he was killed by dynamite in a mining “accident.” As William “Earl” Beers often gleefully explained to me, there wasn’t enough left of his Uncle Pat to fill a cigar box. Which is why Patrick isn’t buried in Sutter Creek next to his mother: his obliterated remains didn’t require a grave.