Category: Places
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Whiskey Run FAN Club: Frank and Alex Poirier
The Port Orford Post named “Frank Purrier” as an 1853 companion of Joe and Peter Groslouis. Reinhart also named “Frank and Allix Purier” as companions of the Groslouis brothers in May 1854. Could Frank and Allix be members of the Whiskey Run FAN Club? Who were “Frank and Allix”? Catholic Church records reveal that “Frank…
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Whiskey Run FAN Club: Andrew Hubert
Genealogists often create a FAN club to learn more about their ancestors: that is, they learn about the Friends, Associates, and Neighbors who interacted with their ancestors.1 In my research on Randolph, I am creating a FAN club of men named in stories about Randolph at Whiskey Run. Membership in this club requires a direct…
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Groslouis Whereabouts
Most historical accounts of Randolph name two Groslouis brothers in the party that discovered gold at Whiskey Run. Different accounts, though, name different brothers. Inspired by how earlier researchers were able to incorporate the Groslouis surname into Randolph history, I wanted to try to clarify which of the brothers were in the discovery party. Since…
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The Groslouis Orphans
Local historians noted that the Groslouis brothers were born into a French Canadian fur trade family, headed by Charles Groslouis (described earlier). To learn what happened to the children after Charles died in 1833, I began to research the family in more depth, intent on tracing the whereabouts of family members over time. All six…
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Joe? Peter? John? Charles?
I previously described how the Groslouis brothers were eventually credited as the discoverers of gold at Whiskey Run. However, which of the brothers were actually in the discovery party? The possibilities: Since 1884, each of the brothers have been linked to the discovery at least once. To try to understand why recent historians have credited…
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Development of Discovery Story, Part 3
After a century of omission, how were the Groslouis brothers finally identified as the discoverers of gold at Whiskey Run? Although hints existed in the historical record (Part 2), the identity of the brothers remained enigmatic. That changed, though, with the publication of two stories that mentioned the brothers. One described the brothers but surprisingly…
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Development of Discovery Story, Part 2
Between 1879 and 1919, two sets of clues hinted at the identity of the men who discovered gold on the beach at Whiskey Run: The Groslouis brothers. First Set of Clues: Ethnic Identity Please note that I cite the term “half-breed” below only because it appeared in the early histories, reflecting the thinking of early…
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Development of Discovery Story, Part 1
First person accounts served as primary sources for writing the history of Randolph at Whiskey Run. These accounts arose from a chaotic social setting where men focused on obtaining wealth and surviving harsh working and living conditions instead of creating a written record of events. Although it took 120 years, historians finally credited the Groslouis…
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Whiskey Run Geology
Is it possible that gold wasn’t found at Whiskey Run until the early 1850s because it wasn’t there? While writing Whiskey Run Gold Nearly Missed!, I wondered how early travelers could have missed the gold on the beach. I imagined a variety of possibilities: While unrecorded human thoughts and behavior are lost to time, the…
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Whiskey Run Gold Nearly Missed!
What if there had been no gold rush to the beach at Whiskey Run in 1853? Would a mining camp town have been established there? Would Randolph have become a local place name? As described previously (It Began at Whiskey Run), eighteen months after the news spread that gold had been found near the mouth…