Chinese from southeast China flocked to towns and encampments in the Sierra Nevada foothills during the Gold Rush to search for gold. In the communities they established in Fiddletown and Amador County, Chinese immigrants found support and strength despite prevailing anti-Chinese prejudice. This book gives an insight into their experience as they faced pressures from the greater society, while maintaining their customs and connections with each other and with China. The story of the Fiddletown Chinese community is told through the lives of the people who lived in its still existing Chinese herb store (the Chew Kee Store), especially Jimmie Chow, the last Chinese person in Fiddletown.

Banished & Embraced

Zorbas, Elaine

Religion & Spirituality

Mythos Press

<p>Letters written between 1852 and 1868, vividly describe the overland journey and excitement of settling in the evolving California mining towns of Fiddletown and Volcano in the Sierra Nevada foothills. A native of Vermont, Dennis Townsend marveled at the wonders of California, writing about changes in Fiddletown as it transitioned from its rough and violent beginnings to a more stable community. A man of many talents, Dennis Townsend contributed to the educational and musical development of the region. Letters link him to his large and closely-knit family of fourteen siblings as they migrated from Vermont to the Midwest and South during a frenetic time of national growth, change and the Civil War. Family remaining in New England helped him realize his dream of inventing Townsend’s Folding Globe for the classroom. The book spans a tumultuous and fertile period in the U.S., conveying local, state, and national tensions and developments.</p>

Townsend’s Folding Globe: A world in letters from Gold Rush California by Dennis Townsend, educator and inventor

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Zorbas, Elaine. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Zorbas, Elaine

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Zorbas, Elaine. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Banished & Embraced

Townsend’s Folding Globe: A world in letters from Gold Rush California by Dennis Townsend, educator and inventor