"The Story of Margaret M. Hecox", by Marie Valhasky (Catherine Hecox), condensed from an article in "The Overland Monthly" 1892, v19, p535-547 & v20, p98-102.

I must tell you of the early days of my life, of the beautiful country from which I came, and of the dear home I was obliged to leave forever. I used to play with my brothers and sisters in the woods of Pennsylvania. My mother was fair and pretty, and I am dark like my father. My mother's family were German, and my father's English. Grandfather Sibert's house was built partly of stone and partly of logs. Back of the house was a spring; from the spring a little brook wandered Over the brook was built the spring house. Grandfather Sibert had been hurt, and had never been able to walk since. He sat and made baskets. My grandmother superintended the farm herself. Her two sons were away from home, in business. One lived in Milton, Pennsylvania, and made threshing machines, and the other had a weaving establishment. My mother's family belonged to the Lutheran Church. They came to the United States in 1702, and settled in Redding, Pennsylvania. Mother was very fair, with blue eyes, and her hair was pretty about her face. She always wore a cap, I think. I cannot remember her without one. Father was very different from mother. He was very large, dark, and proud looking. He had been a soldier in the War of 1812, and his father, my grandfather Hamer, had been an officer in the Revolutionary War. My grandfather went through the war from beginning to end, and part of the time my uncle, my father's oldest brother, had been with him. My father was a stern man. His frequent absences from home nearly broke my heart. My sister, Nellie took the baby, but mother noticed that she could use only one arm. On examination the other arm was found to be broken, and so swollen that the bone coud not be properly set, and it is crooked to this day. Father bought some sheep and we were told to watch them. Mother and Father went to a reception in honor of Lafayette. I cannot remember where the reception was, but I can very well remember how fine they looked. After I had been in California over twenty years I went back to visit my people, but it was not to the old home. They had emigrated to Illinois, and everything but my mother and father had changed. I married at nineteen, and ten years later, after many wanderings, we had settled down in a comfortable little home in Illinois. We had about thirty acres of land under cultivation, an orchard set out. I had four children living (my oldest one had died). My husband was of a restless disposition. The talk about California began before Adna was born. When my little boy was about three months old I had a dream that renewed all my fears. A man stood ready to buy our place and in less than three weeks we had sold everything. We went into the lead mines, about three miles from what had been our home, and moved into a miner's shanty. We made our first start from Apple River the twenty-third of March, 1846, the birthday of my second living child. Catherine, the little girl who was five years old the day we started, was a lively, excitable child, and she and her older sister, Sarah, were as happy as could be when their father put them into the wagon, and I gave them the large dolls I had made for them and reserved for this moment. Ellen had a doll, too, which she quietly hugged in her arms. My baby was sick, and he and I tried to see which could cry the hardest. Those who started with us were names, Joseph Aram, wife and three children, Edwin Shaw, Charles Imus, Charles A. Imus, and John and James Taggart. We went as far as Belmont, where we stayed three weeks to wait for other emigrants who were to join our company. After we crosssed the Mississippi River it commenced raining, and for days we splashed through mud and slush. It was while making our way to St. Joseph that we met hundreds of Mormons, who had recently been driven out of Nauvoo. On the third day of May we arrived in St. Joseph, Missouri. At St. Joseph we laid in what provisions we could carry, and I bought necessaries for myself and the children. On the eighth of May we were ferried across the Missouri River. On the tenth of May we actually entered upon our long journey, and left all traces of civilization. On the seventeenth of May my baby, then our only son, was one year old. I have him yet after all these years. Sarah and Catharine were very fond of Jane Aram, who was about their own age, and she often rode in the wagon with them. Mr. Aram had been elected captain. Edwin Shaw was a nice young fellow about twenty years of age. We reached the place that was afterwards called Fort Kearny. Here we saw a company of Pawnee Indians. After they had gone we found they had stolen a thousand things ... the bolts from our wagons. There was nothing to do but follow the Indians and recover our property. This the men did. At Fort Laramie we found the Sioux who had fought the Pawnees. We traveled for many miles along the south side of the Platte River. Adna traded a gun to an Indian for a pony for Sarah; she was a dear little black-eyed thing. Catherine was fair with blue eyes, and hair that looked golden in the light. The Fourth of July we spent at Independence Rock. All along the valley of the Sweetwater we traveled as peacefully and quietly as possible. At Soda Springs we stopped for a day or two. It was a beautiful place. From Fort Hall we traveled down the Columbia River. Thousand Spring Valley was a pleasant place, but the thing I remember best about it was the large washing Mrs. Aram and I did there. At Big Meadows an Indian joined our company who offered to guide us to the top of the Rocky Mountains. He was faithful and kindhearted. He visited us many times after we came to California. The last time I ever saw him was when Ellen died. He was a Shoshone Indian. From Big Meadows we entered the desert. This was the most miserable part of the journey. After getting through that terrible country, we followed up a stream to Donner Lake. We called it Truckee Lake then. The first day of October we encamped in the Sacramento Valley. We were ferried across the Sacramento River. We found a man from Adna's old home in Centreville, Michigan. His name was Helms Downing and he had been in California a year. After leaving the Sacramento Valley we went to the Puebla, or San Jose. Wearily we took up our march to Santa Clara. Colonel Fremont had taken possession of the old Mission buildings in Santa Clara and we were assured that we should find food and shelter there. We had a great deal of sickness in that dark, damp, bad-smelling prison. We buried fourteen out of that place in nine days. Doctor Isbel, one of our number, did what he could, but he was sick himself. The worst was when Adna had typhoid fever. My baby, poor little Adna, used to lie there with his father. We started a little school. Mrs. Olive Isbel, the wife of Doctor Isbel, taught the school. When she was sick Mr. West took her place. We made preparations to find some other place. Some went to San Jose; some to Monterey; Adna decided to go to Santa Cruz, though afterwards concluded to settle in Soquel. We started from Santa Clara the 20th day of February, 1847. We were eight days in reaching Soquel. Adna began to build a sawmill on the Soquel Creek for an Irishman named Michael Lodge. Mr. Lodge had married a rich Spanish woman and owned a great deal of land. During the spring and summer of 1847 Adna and several other men worked upon this mill and by the next spring it was in good running order. It is said that Adna held the first Protestant services in Santa Cruz County. My sixth child was born in Soquel. Matilda was a delicate little girl and I always felt that she hadn't a fair chance while a baby. The mill was in good running order when the discovery of gold drove everybody raving crazy. Adna made arrangements to move his family to Santa Cruz and was gone to the mines about four months, and was among the men who discovered the rich diggings of Hangtown, now Placerville. He returned with gold enough for every comfort that money could buy. That was not much in those days. From that time on we felt that Santa Cruz was our home.

January 19, 1908 - Obituary

Beloved Pioneer Goes to Her Reward

Mrs. Margaret M. Hecox Passes On

At a few minutes after three o'clock Saturday afternoon Mrs. M.M. Hecox breathed her last at her home at the Santa Cruz lighthouse where she resided with her son and daughter, Laura, for many years, her husband, Adna A. Hecox, being the lighthouse keeper at the time of his demise, his daughter, Miss Laura, acceptably filling that responsible postiton ever since. This noble woman, formerly, Miss Margaret Hamer, married Adna A. Hecox in 1836. Soon after, they arrived in California. Mr. Hecox preached the first Protestant sermon within the present limits of this State. They arrived in Santa Cruz in 1847, forming the first lodge of Good Templars on this coast in February, 1855. Had the deceased lived till the 20th of next February she would have been 93 years of age. She leaves the following children to mourn her loss: Mrs. S.E. Stampley, Oakland; Mrs. C.M. Brown, Berkeley; Mrs. M.A. Longley, Santa Cruz; Mrs. A.R. Organ; Santa Cruz; Orville N. Hecox, Oceanside; Adna H. Hecox, Santa Cruz; and Miss Laura J.F. Hecox, Santa Cruz; besides eleven grandchildren and ten great grandchildren, and a circle of prominent friends. For a number of years her great age prevented her from participating in the activities of life beyond her own immediate home circle. Mrs. Hecox was the last charter member of the local Methodist Church to depart from this earth.

[Brøderbund Family Archive #317, Ed. 1, Census Index: U.S. Selected Counties, 1850, Date of Import: Sep 22, 1999, Internal Ref. #1.317.1.14595.53]

Individual: Hedcocks, A. A.

County/State: Santa Cruz Co., CA

Location: Santa Cruz

Page #: 264

Year: 1850

Page Sht.Line DwellFam Name Age Sex Birth

264 A 15 20 20 Heacock, A. A. 44 M MI

264 A 16 20 20 Heacock, M. M. 34 F PA

264 A 17 20 20 Heacock, Sarah 10 F IL

264 A 18 20 20 Heacock, Maria 8 F IL

264 A 19 20 20 Heacock, Hellen 6 F IL

264 A 20 20 20 Heacock, A. H. 5 M IL

264 A 21 20 20 Heacock, M. A. 3 F CA

264 A 24 20 20 Heacock, Jas 42 M MI

CALIFORNIA PIONEER REGISTER AND INDEX 1542 - 1848

page 183. . Hecox (Adna A.), 1846, nat. of Mich., b. 1806, and overland immig. with wife, Margaret M. Hamer, and 3 children. v. 529. Remaining at Sta Clara during the winter-that is, 'taking an active part in the war with Mexicans'-he went to the Sta Cruz region, where he built a saw-mill, and worked as carpenter and builder; went to the mines for a short time in '48; alcalde at Sta Cruz '48-9. v. 642; later justice of the peace; county treasurer '61-3; from '70 in charge of the Sta Cruz light-house till his death, in '83. He was a methodist, and one of the first who preached protestant sermons in Cal. v. 641. His narr. of his early life, overl. trip, and experience in Cal., was published in the S. Jos‚ Pioneer of '77, and was embodied by Willey in the Sta Cruz Co. Hist. His testimony on events connected with the 'war' in '46-7, like that of so many other immigrants, has little value. His widow survived him, with the following child.: Mrs M. E. Stampley of Carson, Nev., Mrs C. M. Brown of S.F., and Adna H. Hecox of S. Luis Ob., all pioneers of '46, and of those born in Cal. Mrs M. Longley of Sta Cruz, Mrs A. Rigg, Laura J., and Orville S. Portrait of Adna A. in Sta Cruz Hist., 44. He was an active and respectable man of business.

From a short unpublished autobiographical note of Catherine Hecox: "His first wife was a French "lady"? Her name was "Katherine Manausaw." Of course the last name is spelled wrong. My mother taught my father how to spell. My father was born January 26, 1806, and K.M. was born September 11, 1806. My father joined the Catholic Church in order to marry K.M. but was never a Catholic. There were no children. After her death my father met my mother who was with a friend in Michigan. My mother was very lonely and wished to return to her family in Pennsylvania. My father promised to take her back if she would marry him.They were married and my father did not keep his promise and that caused lasting unhappiness."

Adna Hecox Bible Records

William P. Tilden and Catherine M. Hecox was married February 3rd, 1858.

Albert Brown

Birth: ca 1833, Lancaster Co, PA?

Death: 12 Apr 1919

Portrait, Soldiers of the Overland. Grabhorn Press. Fred B. Rogers. p. 176

letter from CMTB to DT 1/24/88 says Capt Brown is growng more and more

unwilling to support those who have no claim upon him.

Was a farmer and attending school in 1850. Eldest son.

Spouse: Catherine Maria Hecox

Birth: 23 Mar 1841, Apple Valley, Jo Daviess County, Illinois

Death: 4 May 1934, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Co., CA

Father: Adna Andress Hecox (1806-1883)

Mother: Margaret Marie Hamer (1815-1908)

Marr: 12 Apr 1874, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Co., CA?

Children: Aaron Hamer (1877-)

Albert Webster "Bert" (1875-)

"Tot"

Adna A. Hecox Family Bible Records