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Cuddeback 49ers to California

Cuddeback 49ers to California

Posted: 22 Aug 2011 8:06PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: cuddeback blackburn shackeford hackleford mudget mudgett
I'm interested in Cuddebacks who emigrated to California in 1849. My ancestors crossed into California at Yuma in the fall of 1849, and family lore tells that the Cuddeback, Blackburn, and Shackleford (Hackleford?) families did not cross as Yuma with the rest of the wagon train. Instead, these emigrants went north, crossing the Colorado near Needles, and they settled in the Tehachapi Mountains.

I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has information about these people, especially regarding their wagon train journey in 1849, and their cattle ranching enterprise later in the 19th Century in the Tehachapi area

-- Mark Mudget

Re: Cuddeback 49ers to California

Posted: 23 Aug 2011 1:33AM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 23 Aug 2011 1:37AM GMT
Surnames: Cuddeback
Two Cuddeback groups headed to California at about that time. One headed North and settled in Humboldt Co., the other as you say settled around Tehachapi. I have no information on their journey. They also mined around what is today known as Cuddeback Dry Lake. I'd be most interested in the contents of your "family lore."

Here's the Humboldt Co. group out of Michigan via Ohio and Skaneateles, NY. http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op...

And here's the Tehachapi grup, father Peter and son Grant Price. http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op...

Both are from my database.

Re: Cuddeback 49ers to California

Posted: 23 Aug 2011 2:33AM GMT
Classification: Query
Jake, both lines you are referring to came from Skaneateles... Grant Price Cuddeback's family is profiled in El Monte,CA. i cannot recall the name of the book but will enquire. i have a lithograph of Grant's farm from the book.

Judy Gumaer Testa
Gumaer Family Historian
Cuddeback Descendant

Re: Cuddeback 49ers to California

Posted: 23 Aug 2011 11:23PM GMT
Classification: Query
Henry Brown Cuddeback is out of the Ohio and Michigan line, which goes back to Skaneateles as far as I can tell. Gerarardus Cuddeback's two brothers.

Re: Cuddeback 49ers to California

Posted: 27 Aug 2011 8:20PM GMT
Classification: Biography
Edited: 27 Aug 2011 9:00PM GMT
Surnames: Mudgett, Mudget, Cuddeback, Blackburn, Shackleford, Williams
Hi Jakoubek,

Thanks for the link to Grant P. Cuddeback's story. According to that info, he emigrated via Salt Lake, while my own family's lore tells of a route from Yuma. I'm dealing with the same issue myself ... conflicting and sometimes unreliable evidence. It's hard to figure out what route my ancestors took on their westward migrations, so I'm looking for any story that corresponds with what I already have, either confirming or conflicting.

> I'd be most interested in the contents of your "family lore."

Here's all I have about the Cuddeback family:

In 1969, my great-uncle Myrum James "Jim" Mudgett (1898-1980) wrote down his recollections of oral family history. Jim had heard stories of the 1849 wagon train trip, from his grandfather and great-aunt, who were about 17 and 10 years old, respectively, when they made the journey from Texas to California with their parents and two other siblings. Jim recounted what he had heard first-hand from his grandfather and great-aunt, as well as what he learned second-hand through his father and uncle.

"Here at Ft. Yuma there was another incident. There was a fellow who said that he knew a more direct way to the gold fields than by way of Los Angeles and he persuaded a part of the members of the train to hire him to guide them. This group went north along the Colorado, crossin near where Needles now stands. From there they cut across the Mojave Desert to the Mojave River and followed that to near Victorville. From there they headed for the Tehachapi Mts crossing them near what is now Tehachapi. According to my Uncle, there the Shackleford, Cuddeback and possibly the Blackburn families saw what they wanted, cattle country. Members of these families still live there as far as I know."

Myrum J. Mudgett, January, 1969.

Jim's grandfather and uncle also had later knowledge of the Tehachapi area; they worked as cowboys for Hamp Williams and one of the Blackburns in that area, perhaps in the late 1880's, so part of the story may have come from that period.
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