1892 - 1908

At the end of Part 1, Francis (Frank) and Mary welcomed the birth of my grandfather, Earl Pearce, in 1892 in Granite, Montana. Francis, a miner from Cornwall, had emigrated to the US in 1884, traveling first to New Almaden Quicksilver Mine near San Jose, California, then to Montana, which was experiencing a silver mining boom.

Mary Baker was also in Granite, having moved from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Mary and Frank fell in love, and were married in 1891. The following year my grandfather Earl was born, and the year after that the price of silver plummeted, throwing the mining industry into decline.

Frank, Mary, and baby Earl left Montana and we next find them in Telluride, Colorado, home of mines rich in zinc, lead, copper, and silver. They may have arrived by rail, as the Rio Grande Southern Railroad had recently begun service to Telluride. Telluride was a prosperous boom town of 5000 people, but the town was not immune to the same drop in silver prices that caused mining to decline in Montana.

In October, 1893, Earl was about one and a half when a brother, Francis, was born in Telluride. The family moved on, and, sadly, baby Francis was to pass away at the age of 1 month and 22 days in White Oaks, New Mexico. White Oaks is 435 miles from Telluride, and it is hard for me to imagine this young family making that trip, partly by rail, partly by stagecoach. The death rate for children under 5 in the U.S. at this time was 280 per 1000 – a heartbreaking statistic, and the leading cause was infection. Francis was buried in Cedarvale Cemetery in White Oaks.

White Oaks was, of course, a mining town – thriving until the mines ran out. Like Granite, it is now a ghost town.

SIde track - At this time, my Boyce great-grandparents (from my mom’s side of the family) were living in Silverton, Colorado, about 26 miles from Telluride. And my great-aunt Ethel Boyce was born there a month after Francis’s birth. The Pearces’ travels from Telluride to White Oaks may have taken them through Silverton, where they could have encountered the Boyces either in a boarding house they managed, or through their livery service. The Pearces then may have traveled through Durango where my Hammond great-grandparents were living. It is fun to speculate about a possible meeting, but we will never know… And remember all those wedding presents from Part One – I wonder if they packed it all up for their travels! (The above postcard of Telluride is from the Boyce/Hammond collection.)

A year later, in January 1895, the Pearces checked into the Morgan House Hotel in Grass Valley, California. Frank’s cousin Eliza Jane (Paull) Argall lived in Grass Valley with her husband Alfred Argall (also from Cornwall), and their six children. In just over two years Frank and Mary had traveled more than 2600 miles (with a toddler!), but their longest journey was yet to come.

On April 15, 1896, daughter Frances Mary was born to the Pearces in Oakland, California (about 160 miles from Grass Valley). And on April 25, Frank arrived in Auckland, New Zealand from San Francisco on the SS Alameda. Travel times being what they were, he had to have left Oakland before Baby Frances was born. Mary, Earl, and Frances were to stay in California (likely in Grass Valley where Frank’s cousin Eliza Paull Argall was living) for a little over a year while Frank settled into his new career in Reefton, New Zealand.

Consolidated Gold Fields of New Zealand – this company was founded by David Ziman, who acquired a number of existing mines in the Reefton area on the West Coast of New Zealand. He proceeded to hire two American mining experts, Philip L. Foster and Frank Pearce (yes, our Frank Pearce), who arrived on the same ship from San Francisco in 1896.

Frank’s father and grandfather had been mine agents (also called mine captains) back in Cornwall. The responsibilities of the mine agent are described in this excerpt from from TALES OF A CORNISH MINER By John Vivian.

All the practical operations of mining were controlled by a number of under-managers called agents or captains. A large mine might employ as many as three or four underground to supervise the work of tributers and tutmen, whilst others kept watch on the dressing floors at grass. These agents were invariably chosen from among the working miners themselves, being selected for their shrewdness, ability and knowledge of mining. Their duties were manifold and arduous; and the respect in which they were generally held was more than merited.

Their position in the mine was made all the more difficult in that they were intermediaries between management and men, and thus responsible for enforcing sometimes unpopular decisions and policies upon the working people. Indeed a good mine agent needed to be more than a little of a diplomatist. Above all however, if he were to succeed in his profession, he must achieve satisfactory returns of tin and copper ore at the minimum of expense, a requirement which meant constant vigilance in every respect of the mine's working.

I do not know what positions Frank held at the various mines where he worked in the United States. At a farewell event in Reefton in 1908, Frank referred back to a time in Montana when he was presented with a diamond pin by members of the Miners Union, but I haven’t been able to track down this lead (see Miners Union Farewell below). At Consolidated Gold Fields he was the superintendent, eventually overseeing a crew of 600 miners and other staff. In 1898 a “Correspondent” visited the mines and noted:

I regret very much that I did not come across Mr. Pearce, the company’s capable mining superintendent. When I was at one property he was at another, so I, unfortunately, missed seeing him. I can well imagine that his time and attention must be always occupied with the onerous duties he has to perform, not always of a pleasant kind. He may have some little mental and bodily rest of a night, but I am certain none during the day; and how he manages to successfully accomplish such an extensive amount of very responsible and arduous work is a mystery to many here. I hope I may be permitted here to congratulate him on the success his efforts have already achieved. – from Otago Daily Times, 1 Mahuru (September) 1898, on Papers Past of New Zealand .

In July 1897 Mary, Earl (age 5), and Frances (age 1), arrived from California for what would become an 11-year stay in New Zealand. It must have been a very happy time for the family to reunite. Here are a few photos from later in their stay:

Frances, Earl, and dog Teddy — taken in Reefton around 1908

In Reefton, NZ. Colorized on www.myheritage.com

Earl attended two boarding schools while living in New Zealand: Robin Hood Bay school in the Marlborough region (also home of some of my favorite wines!) and Waitaki Boys High School, which is still in operation. My cousin Joanne recently told me that Frances had also wanted to go to boarding school but she couldn’t “because she was a girl”. That is too bad!

Frank also was active at the Pacific Lodge Masonic Temple in Reefton. In 1906, as Worshipful Master (W.M.) of the Pacific Lodge, he presided over the laying of the foundation stone for the new Wesleyan (Methodist) Church. “The W.M. then in an impressive and earnest speech spoke of the necessity for brotherly love and the binding together in one bond of all portions of the community as the concrete bound the stones into one “eternal whole”. The church is no longer standing; the entire event was chronicled in a lengthy article in the Inangahua Times (February 15, 1906, Reefton, NZ).

I have also discovered that Frank had at least one relative in New Zealand. In 1900 the family attended the wedding of his nephew, William Thomas. William had a family and eventually passed away in NZ; There may have been more relatives – the www.myheritage.com website says I have MyHeritage says I currently have 69 DNA cousins in NZ!

In 1908, as it neared the time for the Pearces to return to California, they were recognized at farewell events organized by the Miners’ Union, St. Stephen’s Church, and the Pacific Lodge (masons). These events were documented in no fewer than five newspaper articles between June 9 and June 13. The article from Grey River Argus about the Miners’ Union #1 farewell (see pdf below) mentioned that Francis “was in failing health.”

The Five “Farewell” news articles (pdf’s will download):

Miners Union #1 - link to pdf
Miners Union #2 - link to pdf
Pacific Lodge #1 - link to pdf
Pacific Lodge #2 - link to pdf
St. Stephen’s church - link to pdf

Does anyone in the family know what happened to the 3-ounce gold brick?

The Kaiapoi Woolen Rug presented to the Pearces was probably a plaid car blanket. The pictures I found look like Pendleton blankets.

Finally, as the Pearces prepared to depart, their household items were auctioned as noted in this ad:

*INANGAHUA TIMES*, 6 June 1908, Page 4 (A bone crusher is a machine used to crush ore in mines.)

So after 12 years, the Pearces time in New Zealand came to an end and they headed to California, but first making a stop in Cornwall, England, to visit Frank’s relatives. To be continued in Part 3…

For more about life in New Zealand:

For a very good read set in a 1860’s mining town in New Zealand: The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (2014) or the 6-part Luminaries miniseries currently on Starz, Prime Video, and AppleTV. The 1860’s were a more “wild and savage” time than the 1890’s when the Pearces arrived, but they are still good stories.

Coming up:

Letters from Nettie Labarge Boyce to her cousins (1888-1890)
The Danielsens journey from Norway to Oakland

Francis Pearce and family in New Zealand

Nettie Boyce - letters home from Colorado

The Hammond family move to California in 1922