It's been a long dry spell here on Ancestry Search since I have been working on other projects, namely sewing a quilt top. I have set it aside for the moment as I received an email from Sue about our common ancestor, Royal Hazelton. The affidavit signed by Royal's son, Thomas, states that Royal died aboard ship at Baton Rouge, LA. Nancy Browning descendant of Mary Ann Hazelton states that her grandfather William LeRoy Browning, who lived 1879-1981, wrote that Royal died in Panama. Traveling with him at the time was a family name Britain. G E Briton is found on ship manifests that I found on www.familysearch.org. An R H Hazelton did travel to San Francisco in 1879. I don't know who he is or how he fits. Royal is reported to have died in 1851. His widow received a land patent in Polk County, Iowa after his death.
I love a mystery! The best resource I know of for online newspapers is Chronicling America. I searched for the terms "California Gold Panama" in Louisiana Newspapers from 1850-1851. I received a lot of hits and the nice thing about these articles is they list the name of the ship, the passengers aboard and where they were headed and if someone died along the way, it tells that too! Chagres is the port in Panama where the ships sailing from New Orleans were headed and then they had to cross over to the other ocean and board a ship to San Francisco. It will take some time to read all the newspapers I can find. Stay tuned!
If you know of other non-subscription sites, please comment below.
