In 1852 Noah Chittenden Fassett, his sister Ann Fassett Germain, her husband Parker Germain and their three children aged 6 to 2 left Johnstown, Ohio, for California to participate in the Gold Rush. Between 1852 and 1862 they (and another sibling, Harris Harding Fassett who joined them in 1854) wrote 103 letters to their parents and other siblings who remained in Ohio. The letters were kept by the parents and descendants in Ohio and were transcribed in the 1970s. The letters have now been scanned, edited and their texts have been placed on the internet. You can see them by going to
http://physics.clarku.edu/~rkohin/subjects.htm
There are also discussions about family genealogy, etc. See
http://physics.clarku.edu/~rkohin/Background.htm