The Downey Daggetts
A Daggett Family History

The name Doggett, sometimes spelled with one "g" and one "t", can be found in many early records associated with the villages of Groton and Boxford, Suffolk, England. There is a brass plate beneath the altar of the church in Boxford containing the following inscription: "Here lyeth Willia Doggett Marchant Adveterer Citizen and Mercer of London and free of the East India Company who tooke to wife Avis Lappage ye daught. of Thomas Lappage of Boxford wth who he lyved 19 yeares & had Issue by her 6 sones & 6 daughters ye said Will depted this life ye 10th of Octob. 1610 being of the age of 53 years". The plate contains four separate shields, including the Arms of the City of London and the Arms of the Merchant Adventurers.

This William Doggett appears to be the grandson of Richard Doggett who was described in 1526 as "a wealthy inhabitant of Groton", and the father of John Doggett. This is the John Doggett who brought the family to America. John was born in Boxford, Suffolk, England in 1602 and was baptized there November 4th of that year. There is some evidence that the maiden name of John's wife was Brotherton.

In the Spring of 1630 seventeen ships of the Massachusetts Bay Company left Southampton on their way to New England. On April 8th, four of these ships, the Arabella, the Jewell, the Ambrose, and the Talbot sailed from the Isle of Wight with Governor John Winthrop as their leader. The Winthrop and Doggett families were related by marriage. Among the passengers was John Doggett, his wife and two sons, John Jr., born in 1626 and Thomas, born in 1630. Thomas is listed among the ship's passengers but could not have been more than a few months old.

We do not know why John Doggett decided to take his wife and young family on this voyage. The popular assumption is that these were all Puritans who wanted to leave England for religious freedom. And, indeed, the section known as East Anglia, comprising the counties of Suffolk, Norfolk, and Essex was a major center for those who were opposed to the established church. But it is likely that there were other factors involved, both economic and social. The majority of those on the voyage were of the yeoman class; either farmers or others skilled in the trades of butcher, baker, blacksmith, carpenter, etc. What we would now call the middle class. For generations they had been tenants of the nobility and landed gentry. Their lives were meager and there was little or no chance for improvement. Others, like John Doggett, were from well-established families but were commonly excluded from major inheritance by the laws of primogeniture.

Whatever the reasons, the decision could not have been made lightly. The voyage was perilous. The ships were cargo vessels and not designed to carry passengers. A few rough, very small cabins had been constructed between decks for the women and children. Most of the men slept in hammocks. In this small fleet there were an estimated 600 to 700 passengers, plus the crews for each ship. Sanitary conditions were primitive, to say the least. Meals consisted of biscuits or coarse porridge with salted beef, pork, or fish. The only vegetable was dried peas.

The passengers landed at Salem, Massachusetts but most of them did not like the area and on June 17th they moved to Charlestown, Massachusetts. A large group, with Sir Richard Saltonstall as their leader, proceeded up the Charles River founding the settlement of Watertown. This was the birthplace of John Doggett's third son, Joseph, born 1634, and two daughters, Elizabeth, born 1638, and Hepzibah, born 1643.

During his residence in Watertown John Doggett increased his acreage and was a successful farmer. Among the townsmen with whom he became associated was Thomas Mayhew. It appears from early records that Mayhew was one of the most important men in the colony but was often plagued with financial problems. At a particularly low period he was granted the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard by the Earl of Sterling.

John Doggett evidently expressed an interest in joining Mayhew on Martha's Vineyard. There is on record a grant, dated December 1, 1642 that reads; "We do hereby grant unto John Dogget of Watertown and to his heirs and assigns forever, twenty acres of land upon the point begining at the great stone next to my lot and twenty acres of meadow and also Five hundred acres of land for a farm he have liberty to take up, wherever he the said John Doggit wishes only provided he take not his farm within three miles of the spring that is by the harbor in my lot aforesaid before I, Thomas Mayhew, the elder, have made choice of twenty acres of meadow and a farm of Five hundred acres for myself, the which first choice not being made within one year, ensuing the date hereof, then said John Dogget have liberty to choose for himself". It is signed by Thomas Mayhew. John Doggett joined him in the move to Martha's Vineyard about 1648, settling in Edgartown. Doggett had a falling out with Mayhew about 1660 over the purchase of some lands from the native Indians. Mayhew felt that Doggett should not have completed this purchase without his approval, but court records prove that Doggett was legally entitled to make the purchase. Doggett's name was mentioned often in early records.

John Doggett lived on Martha's Vineyard until the death of his first wife in the early 1660s, at which time he moved to Plymouth, Massachusetts where he married a widow, Bathsheba Pratt. He died there in May 1673.

John Doggett's second son, Thomas, remained on Martha's Vineyard and in 1657 married Hannah Mayhew, eldest daughter of Thomas Mayhew who was by then Governor of the island. Hannah was about 22 years old. Thomas continued his father's active participation in the island's politics. Thomas was the first to spell his name Daggett, and all of his children, Thomas, Jr., born 1658, Samuel, born 1660, John, born 1662, Joshua, born 1664, Jemima, born 1666, Mary, born 1668, Patience, born 1670, Martha, born 1672, Israel, born 1674, and Ruth, born 1676 continued to use this spelling. Thomas Daggett became Clerk to the Court in 1670 and later Justice of the County Courts. He also held several local offices.

Joshua Daggett, fourth son of Thomas Daggett, resided at the villages of Prudence and Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard and married Hannah Norton in 1685. They had five children: Brotherton, born 1686, Martha, born 1688, Jacob, born 1690, Hepsibah, born 1692 and Deborah, born 1694. Joshua Daggett was a farmer most of his life. He died at Edgartown in the Fall of 1737.

Brotherton Daggett, eldest of Joshua Daggett's five children and also a farmer, married his first cousin*, Thankfull (Daggett) Butler, about 1723. She was a widow. They had seven children: Brotherton, Jr., born 1725, Thankfull, born 1727, Thomas, born 1728, Timothy, born 1731, Elijah, born 1734, Jethro, born 1736, and Ebenezer, born 1739. Records show that Brotherton owned land in Edgartown and on Chappaquiddick Island. One of the stones that still remain in the old cemetery in Edgartown reads: "Brotherton Daggett died March 5th, 1740 aged 53 years".

*  Two of Brotherton's grandchildren also married first cousins; a daughter of Thomas married a son of Elijah. A daughter of Elijah also married a Daggett, but they were not first cousins. Records indicate three other Daggett-Daggett marriages on Martha's Vineyard, but not to first cousins. There were also 8 Daggett-Butler marriages and 8 Daggett-Norton marriages. This may not seem so unusual when we note that there were very few "original" settlers on the island, and many of them had large families. For example, the marriage of Thomas Daggett to Hannah Mayhew produced 10 children.

Brotherton's son, Thomas Daggett, married Rebecca Athearn about 1750 and moved to Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard where their children, Samuel, Thomas, Jr., Hannah, Aaron, Rebecca, and Jonathan were born. Thomas Daggett's occupation was described as "cordwainer". The dictionary defines the term as one who works with fine leather, possibly a shoemaker. In 1798, after the family moved to Union, Maine, he was listed as a "tithingman" in the church, and paid $20.50 for pew number 14. When the Congregational church was organized in Union the articles were signed by him. Thomas Daggett, Sr. died there on May 15th, 1806.

Samuel Daggett, born May 19th, 1753, the oldest of Thomas Daggett's children, married Jedidah Butler on March 13th, 1777 in Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard. They had five children while living in Tisbury, all born at about two year intervals: Brotherton, James, Polly, Jonathan, and William. After moving to Union, Maine they had three more children: Samuel, Jr., Ebenezer, and Daniel.

During the Revolutionary War Samuel Daggett was captured by the British on board a privateer and confined four months in New York Harbor on the "Jersey" prison ship, the most notorious prison ship in the British navy. The prisoners suffered from dysentery and wholly inadequate toilet facilities. One of his fellow prisoners later wrote; "The dysentery, fever, phrenzy, and despair prevailed among (the prisoners) and filled the place with filth, disgust, and horror. The scantiness of the allowance, the bad quality of the provisions, the brutality of the guards, and the sick, pinning for comforts they could not obtain, altogether furnished continually one of the greatest scenes of human distress and misery ever beheld." Another wrote; "This (dysentery) induced an almost constant running over me by the sick, who would besmear myself and others with their bloody and loathesome filth." Dead bodies were heaved over the side, and at low tide they were exposed in the mud banks near the ship. Of the ninety prisoners on board, only Samuel and eight others survived.

After the Revolutionary War some of the Daggetts decided to leave Martha's Vineyard and sent members of the family to find a suitable location. About the move, Brotherton Daggett, Jr. wrote: "The Daggetts being strongly inclined to move from Martha's Vineyard sent Thomas Daggett, Jr. to Albany and the vicinity in New York to look up a farm. He was not a judge of land and returned without finding one to suit him.  

"Thomas Daggett, Sr. came along the coast, went back from Camden into the woods, and with some others was about to purchase the whole of Appleton Ridge, except the proprietor's lots. On going to the rear of the Ridge and seeing the Cedar Swamp, his courage failed him and he went home without concluding a bargain.

"A year or two later, Thomas Daggett, Jr. and Aaron Daggett came to Union (Maine). They purchased the place since owned by Olney Titus, cleared a piece and sowed rye. 

"In the fall they took a specimen of soil from the land now owned by Nahum Thurston, returned to Martha's Vineyard, and spent the winter.

"Their father, Thomas Daggett, Sr., was prevailed on to accompany them to Union the following May."

Union, Maine is located on the St. George River about 12 miles inland of Camden. Sibley's History of Union, Maine says of Thomas Daggett, Sr.: "He was a nervous man, and finding himself here for life he exclaimed, `I am completely undone!' The forests were formidable. It was too woody for him." The move to Union, Maine was made about 1789.

Samuel Daggett was for several years a Selectman of Union, Maine. Selectmen were the elected governing body of most New England towns. He died at Union, Maine on October 2nd, 1835.

James Daggett, second of Samuel's eight children, was born September 9th, 1777 at Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard and was about ten years old when the Daggetts moved to Maine. He married Deborah Upham, sixteen, on August 31st, 1800. They had twelve children, starting with James, Jr., born January 22nd, 1801 and ending with William, born September 29th, 1825. In between were Isaac, Jabez, Deborah, Waterman, Hiram, Robert, Abigail, Ebenezer, Benjamin, and Jane. The family moved to Aroostook County, Maine about 1820. They were pioneers in that area. James Daggett died at Hodgdon, in Aroostook County, June 18th, 1858.

Robert Daggett, seventh child of James Daggett, was born May 15th, 1813. He married Sarah Lyons of New Brunswick about 1840. According to the Maine Census of 1860 he was a farmer and they had eight children: Thomas Jefferson, born May 29th, 1841, James Monroe, born June 12th, 1842, Wilson, born 1844, Abby, born 1845, Jabez, born 1848, Rebecka, born 1851, Angelina, born 1854, and Charles, born 1858. Other sources list additional children. Robert Daggett died at Brookton, Maine September 15th, 1895.

James Monroe Daggett*, second child of Robert Daggett, enlisted in the Maine Volunteers at the outbreak of the Civil War. His enlistment date was September 9th, 1861. He served in Pennsylvania and Virginia. After three years he rose to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant but felt he was being overlooked for additional promotion. He wrote to the Governor of Maine and shortly thereafter he received a commission as Captain and was appointed Assistant Provost Marshall on the staff of General Turner. Following the war he came to California and worked for a time at the Mare Island Navy Yard. He was living in Vallejo when he met Jennie N. Cotterill.

*   James Monroe Daggett often left off the first of his given names. He signed most documents "Monroe Daggett". This appears to be a common trait in several of the Daggetts during this time. James Monroe's older brother, Thomas Jefferson Daggett, was usually referred to as "Uncle Jeff", and his son, Mathew Hale Daggett, was called "Hale" by his parents, his wife, and many of his close friends.

Jennie was the daughter of Edward Cotterill who was born about 1820 in Leamington, Warwickshire, England. At eighteen Edward went to sea and arrived in California about 1846, settling near Napa. There are several records verifying his early years in California, but we have not been able to find a reason for his locating here. 1846 was two years before gold was discovered, so "gold fever" has to be ruled out. It may be that he was tired of sea life and found California agreeable. Edward met and married Julia Ann Hornback on August 21st, 1854. Julia was born on November 28th, 1834. Their daughter Jennie was born August 20th, 1852. Edward lost his right arm in a 4th of July accident in 1852.

Jennie's mother died in 1860 and her father remarried a year later. In 1865 Jennie went with her father and stepmother to Monmouth, Illinois to visit the stepmother's ailing parents. They sailed down the Pacific coast to Panama and crossed the Isthmus by mule and foot. This was a difficult and dangerous journey in 1865. They then sailed up the east coast to New York, and from New York took the train to Monmouth. They left Monmouth on April 18th, 1865, and traveling by covered wagon arrived back in Napa, California on September 11th, 1865. Jennie was barely 13 years old but drove the covered wagon much of the way.

A young man, Jeremiah Zeamer, accompanied them on the trip from Monmouth and years later became editor of a newspaper in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He had kept a diary during the trip and published it in serialized form. He sent copies of the newspaper to Jennie. She wrote to him, "Ever since reading those chapters of your story I seem to be travelling in that awful Bitter Creek country. I remember well the principal events you mention. The camp at the Sulphur Springs, crossing the Platte, the long drive and the shooting of the deaf and dumb man, the station where he was buried, the coach taking the girls to the dance, the death of "Old Sorrel" and reaching the Green River. I am sure the story has not had a more interested reader. Wherever the last chapter leaves off there I seem to stay, travelling on that part of the road until the next chapter takes me on farther. I think the view of the desert from the top of the hills is the most vivid of the pictures. You apparently saw it and remembered it just as I did."

Jennie spent some time at a young ladies' seminary in Napa, California. In 1869 she made several remarkably good watercolor paintings. Her letters and diaries indicate a degree of sophistication not often found in the rural west of the middle 1800s.

James Monroe Daggett and Jennie N. Cotterill were married in Vallejo on November 9th, 1871. After the birth of their only child, Mathew Hale Daggett, on October 12th, 1872, they moved to Cobb Valley, Lake County, California and took up a lumber claim, running a sawmill and small farm. They next moved to an island on the San Joaquin River. A levee broke flooding them out and they moved to San Bernardino County for a year. After that they tried the cattle business in southeastern Idaho for five years. In the Spring of 1882 they returned to California and purchased a fruit orchard near Vacaville, in Solano County. Their son Mathew wrote many years later that his happiest memories of childhood were of their time in Vacaville. About 1886-1887 they returned to Idaho, settling in St. Maries, a town at the junction of the St. Maries and St. Joe rivers near the south end of Couer d'Alene Lake. Logging was the principal industry, with some fine farms on cleared land near the river.* James Monroe Daggett took up the trade of carpenter and taught his son, Mathew Hale Daggett, this trade.

*  A book, "Pioneer Days on the Shadowy St. Joe", by Orland Scott, gives a good feeling for this area in the days that the Daggetts lived there. It does, however, have several inaccuracies.

James Monroe Daggett died March 30, 1899 in Seattle, Washington and is buried in that city. He was attending a convention of the Grand Army of the Republic. He was active in this Civil War veterans' organization, being appointed "aide de camp" in 1895.

On August 22nd, 1895, their son, Mathew Hale Daggett, married Mary Georgiana Brinker. Mary Brinker was born in Kansas on February 17th, 1877. There is no record of her parents, but she was raised by Mr. & Mrs. Eugene Gay. The Gays and the Daggetts were neighbors and references in Jennie Cotterill Daggett's diaries indicate the families were close friends. The Gays, however, were opposed to the marriage because of religious differences. In a letter written by Mary to Mathew it is apparent that the couple made attempts to hide the serious nature of their relationship. Mathew Hale and Mary had seven children; Arthur Benjamin, born November 2nd, 1896, Anna Mary, born March 12th, 1898, Ernest McKinley, born May 28th, 1899, Rodney Roosevelt, born November 22nd, 1901, Evalene Mary, born February 26th, 1905, Lawrence Everett, born June 28th, 1906, and Maurice Hale, born April 23rd, 1910. All were born in St. Maries, and Anna Mary died there on January 4th, 1902 of scarlet fever.

The Daggetts lived in several houses while in St. Maries, the later ones built by Mathew Hale. The older children were born in "the big red house" which was later used as an office by the railroad. Maurice (John) was born in the large house still standing a few blocks from the main street. James Monroe Daggett's older brother, Thomas Jefferson (Uncle Jeff) lived for a short time in a small cottage behind this house. A younger brother, Charles, also lived in St. Maries for a time.

The older children remember the huge forest fire of August 1910 that came close to the town. Many people moved their belongings to the riverbank, fearing the worst. A shift in the wind saved the town but, during the height of the fire, men were conscripted from the larger towns of Couer d'Alene and Spokane to serve as fire fighters. One group of 65 men was caught in the circling flames and perished. There had been no record of their names so the town buried them in the St. Maries cemetery under unmarked gravestones and erected a single large monument to their memory.

On September 10th, 1910 the family moved to a 320 acre farm near Carstairs, Alberta, Canada. A train whistle blew while Mathew was transferring the family's belongings to a wagon at the Carstairs train station. He tried to calm the frightened horses but was thrown under the wheels of the wagon, breaking a leg. Until Mathew's leg mended the family lived in a very small house that was on the farm. When his leg had mended Mathew built a two story house with a large kitchen and parlor.

The farm already had a coal shed and a building that could be used as a shop to repair farm implements. The only barn was made of sod and after the house was completed Mathew started on a new barn. He and a hired hand went west to the foothills of the Canadian Rockies to fell timbers. They built a large barn with a hay loft, a long hog house, and a chicken house.

The three older boys, Arthur, Ernest and Rodney were assigned specific chores. Each morning their father would call out, "Arthur plows, Ernie cows, Rodney sows". Arthur did much of the plowing with four Percheron horses and a 2-gang plow. Ernie brought the cows in from the pasture, milked them and sent them out again. Rodney's job was to feed the hogs. He placed a barrel on a "stone boat", a sled with heavy runners, and filled it with grain. One of the horses pulled it to the well where the grain was mixed with water then pulled it to the hog house where the mixture was placed in troughs. The farm raised large quantities of wheat and Mathew felt it was more profitable to feed the grain to the hogs and sell them than it would be to sell the grain alone. There were also chickens to feed and eggs to gather.

Mary Brinker Daggett kept a diary while the family lived in Canada. Her entries were always positive, even in the minus 52 degree winter days. Subtle changes began to appear, however, early in 1912. She would write that one or another of the family was not feeling well. On March 30th, 1912 she wrote, "We have all been sick. Rheumatism and sore throats", and on June 23rd, "...I have been sick for over a week." She died in Calgary, Alberta on August 17th, 1912, and Mathew's mother Jennie (Jennie was called "Danna" by her grandchildren) came to help the family through the crisis. Mathew felt he could not continue on the farm and took the children to Santa Rosa, California, where Danna then lived. She had been living at 753 Humboldt Street but moved to a house at 499 Sebastapol Avenue. The house had only two bedrooms so Mathew erected a wooden floored tent in the back yard that the boys used as sleeping quarters.

While living in Santa Rosa, Mathew Hale Daggett operated the "Idaho Grocery" and "Daggett's Quick Auto Express". His advertisements read, "Time is money. Why not save both by using Daggett's Quick Auto Express?" Mathew was not successful in the grocery business. He was too willing to extend credit to his customers, and not forceful enough in collecting these debts. The auto express business was not successful either. In 1912-14 the general population was not yet ready for a motorized delivery service.

The Daggett children remember their early years, and always talk about the family being poor. The family must have had some financial resources, however, because the family had a new automobile every few years. They also had enough money to buy the grocery store in Santa Rosa, and make several other real estate investments.

On June 13th, 1914, Mathew Daggett married Margaret Moore, a widow who lived next door to Danna. She had adopted her own orphaned grandchildren, Mary Matilda (Mossy) and Theresa Matilda (Tilly). The enlarged family left Santa Rosa for New Pine Creek, Oregon in 1915, but finding the area not up to their expectations moved one year later to Bend, Oregon. While in Bend Mathew Hale worked as a scaler in a sawmill and as a carpenter during the construction of the "Pilot Butte Inn". In 1917 the family, except for Arthur and Ernest who had both joined the Navy, moved to Tacoma, Washington. Mathew Hale continued to work as a carpenter, part of the time at Camp (now Fort) Lewis.

About 1920 Mathew Hale Daggett heard of an opportunity to purchase some farm land near Anaheim Lake in British Columbia. He and his son Rodney joined two other families on a trip to explore the area. The land was very primitive and the group had to clear their own road and construct a bridge to gain access to the area. The land proved to be unsuitable. Too rocky for farming and not enough grass for raising cattle. Near their destination the patriarch of one of the families, a Mr. Gray, died. A rough coffin was made of local trees and placed across the back of Mathew Hale's Oldsmobile. He drove the body to the railroad at William's Lake for shipment home. The death of Mr. Gray put an end to the expedition.

In 1922 the Daggetts decided to move to Los Angeles, California. Times were slow in Tacoma. There was not much work for a carpenter there and Los Angeles was experiencing a building boom. Most of the family traveled south in the family's Oldsmobile touring car, camping along the way. Rodney, who was working at a sash and door factory, stayed in Tacoma with Lawrence and Mossy until their mid-term school break. These three came south on a coastal steamship. The family lived for a short time in an apartment over a general store near the corner of Florence Avenue and Main Street. After a few months they purchased four lots on 109th Street, between Avalon Blvd. and San Pedro. During the 1920s the family settled into two groupings; the Southern California group and the Pacific Northwest group. Arthur, Rodney, Evalene (she now prefers Evelyn) and Maurice (John) remained in Southern California while Ernest and Lawrence returned to the Pacific Northwest.

Jennie Cotterill Daggett (Danna) died in Los Angeles on May 3rd, 1933, after living most of her later years in Santa Rosa. She rented out the house at 499 Sebastapol Avenue and lived in a small cottage in the back that she called the "play house".

Mathew Hale Daggett was a carpenter in the Los Angeles area and also worked on "Scotty's Castle" in Death Valley. He and Margaret traveled extensively. In 1936 they drove to the East Coast, visiting relatives and friends in Maine and Prince Edward Island, Canada. The trip took 6 months and 13 days, and covered 13,889 miles. They often towed a home-made utility trailer behind their car. It could be outfitted with a canvas top; a sort of 1930s version of the covered wagon. Margaret Moore Daggett died in an automobile accident south of Bakersfield, California on August 27th, 1941 when a truck crossed the center line and struck their car head on. She is buried in Inglewood Park Cemetery. Mathew Hale Daggett died in Los Angeles on February 13th, 1947 of natural causes and is also buried in Inglewood Park Cemetery.

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Diaries of Jennie Cotterill Daggett and Mary Brinker Daggett

Excerpts from a diary kept by Jennie Cotterill Daggett, who was known as Danna by her grandchildren. The entries start in November, 1888, while she was living in St. Maries, Idaho, and end in Santa Rosa, California.

Tuesday, Nov. 6th, 1888 - Election. Snowed and rained all night. J M (Jennie's husband, James Monroe Daggett) one of the judges of election...

Thursday, Feb. 7th, 1889 - The rest of the indians came up the river. J M took Hale (Mathew Hale Daggett, Jennie's son) on the hunt...

Thursday, Mar 14th, 1889 - Mr. Gay started for the Post (Post Falls). Charlie (James Monroe's brother) went to mouth of river hunting... Commenced quilting on the "soldier"...

Monday, Jan. 1st, 1894 - Resolved to turn over a new leaf and write in my diary every day. Hale went to school. I cut out a jumper for JM... Ice enough in river to prevent boating...Worked some on knitted rug...

Thursday, Jan 4th, 1894 - J M went outdoors and his cold worse. He ate roasted onions and took mustard foot bath...

Friday, Jan 5th, 1894 - 13 below this morning. J M put in a bad night and Hale had all the chores to do, did not go to school...

Sunday, Jan 14th, 1894 - Rained all night, and still at it. 2 days and 3 nights. The dance was turned into a "rooster" party owing to the scarcity of ladies...

Wednesday, Jan 17th, 1894 - Camsell & Collier have moved all the school furniture over into the Billings house. Nobody can get across (the river) from this side. What GALL some people have!

Saturday, Feb 3rd, 1894 - Don't feel very skookum today. J M got a crick in his hips while cleaning out the barn this morning...

Sunday, Feb 4th, 1894 - Mary Gay (Mary Brinker) came to stay all night.  Everybody out skating on the river today...

Monday, Feb 5th, 1894 - Mary went to school with Hale today...

Tuesday, Mar 20th, 1894 - Lovely warm spring day. Hale & J M working in the woods making fir posts. Tree frog gritting his teeth under the house...

Monday, May 21st, 1894 - River rising faster than ever, highest yet and still coming...

Wednesday, May 23rd, 1894 - Everything floating off. Jack Reeves came down to help Hale move the organ upstairs. I am getting all the dirty clothes washed up. Water handy!!...

Thursday, May 24th, 1894 - Water coming in all over the floor...

Thursday, Jan 16th, 1896 - My but it is cold! Ice freezing on the window behind the stove. Mary basted Hale's minstrel coat and he tried that and his red pants on. Oh, what a circus we did have...

Tuesday, Jan 21st, 1896 - Hale has gone to minstrel practice. Mary in the kitchen reading the "Housekeeper". J. M. reading the "Tribune" with his feet on the organ stool...

Santa Rosa, California, 753 Humboldt Street. Saturday evening, Nov 13th, 1909 - I have been reading this old diary. It seems like a thousand years since this all happened. What changes, all are scattered, some are dead, and the flock of little Daggetts that have grown since, some are more than half grown. And poor me. How much I have suffered since those old times!! And now I am way off down here thousands of miles from Hale & Mary & the dear little ones. I wonder if I will ever see them again! I think so. Today I worked 12 hours, hard work too, for me. I wonder how long I will last at this rate, and then what? 

Note - The references to suffering in the entry above are probably related to her marriage to a Mr. Howe. Jennie married Howe several years after the death of James Monroe Daggett. Howe appears in one of the photographs we have of the family in St. Maries but little is known about him. We do know, however, that the marriage was not a happy one and ended after a few years. In addition to this, the marriage ended Jennie's Civil War widow's pension that she was receiving after the death of James Monroe Daggett. It took great effort, and the intercession of her Congressman, to get the pension reinstated.

499 Sebastopol Ave., Santa Rosa, Jan 7th, 1912 - Today, in cleaning out my bedroom closet, this old book came to light. So I will add another note. I am in my bedroom in my own little house, "The Wickiup".... Truly my lives have fallen in pleasant places. If things go as well with me this year of 1912 as they did in the year past, I will have no cause for complaint. And some way I think they will. I have learned some tough lessons in the past ten years but, I suppose, yes I know, it has all been for my good. In the past week I have seen the "bird-man" three times. I never expected to see a flying machine...

Wednesday evening, Sept. 26th, 1917 - Here I am alone in my little "playhouse", reading in this old book. My beloved Mary has been in her grave in the woods of old St. Maries since August 22, 1912, beside little Anna, the most perfect little soul that ever came to earth. J M rests in Seattle where he died in 1898 among strangers. Uncle Jeff is lying beside his mother and father way down in Maine.  Hale is living in Tacoma with the noble woman who mothers his children. I am living alone in this tiny house but strangely content.... Arthur is on the ocean somewhere, one of Uncle Sam's sailors. Ernest is also in the Navy, at the San Diego Naval Training Center. The rest (of the children) are with their father. The World War is raging.

October 13th, 1917 - I have been to Vallejo and back in the Kinley's car. A round trip of 110 miles. The first time in 35 years since I have been there, where I lived 46 years ago.... Had the time of my life.

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Excerpts from a diary kept by Mary Brinker Daggett while in Carstairs, Alberta, Canada.

January 20th, 1911 - I arrived in Carstairs just four months ago today at 4 P.M. (Sept. 20th 1910). Hale arrived here the Sunday before with our household goods, having got a car for the purpose.... As we were about to start for our new home, the young horses (a four horse team) became frightened at the scream of the locomotive and broke away, running over Hale's lower limbs and hurting him badly. However, he managed to drive us home with Marshall Stearns' team and "democrat". It was a month before Hale could get around without crutches or a cane. January, up to today, has been very cold, 20-30-40, and on the 12th it was 52 degrees below zero. It has been 10 degrees above today, the warmest so far. There is about 3 inches of snow. The sun shines beautifully nearly all the time and when very cold not a breath of wind stirs. Hale went to the coal mines yesterday (for a wagon load of coal). I sewed all day and finished a dress of plaid woolen for Maurice (John) and made him two petticoats from Evalene's little white ones. Maurice made his first syllable yesterday, it was "Ga-Ga". His first tooth is here this morning. I got part of my washing done and fixed Evalene's big doll...

January 25th, 1911 - Bright sunshine. Just fine outdoors in spite of 30 degrees below zero. Too cold for gasoline engine to run. Hale and the boys have to pump by hand most of the time...

January 30th, 1911 - Lawrence was sick in the night but feeling better this morning.... Arthur and Dud (Rodney) built an addition to the pig pen. Kinney (Ernest) with "Queenie" (one of the horses) went for wild hay. Evalene went with him. A little wind came up and finally a regular blizzard blew the wet snow something awful...

February 9th, 1911 - 4 below this morning and a little cloudy. The Rockies loom up grand and white...

February 18th, 1911 - 28 below this morning. The sun rose beautifully bright and remained so all day.... Hale worked on house. He said it did not seem cold at all. Ernest went to Sterlingville for school books...

March 20th, 1911 - Sunshine bright with little wind. 26 degrees above.... Maurice made his first attempt at "patty cake" and also fell out of the buggy...

March 23rd, 1911 - Sunshine in A.M. but cloudy and windy in P.M.... Hale took 36 dozen eggs to town today. Only 20 cents a dozen.... Finished reading "Little Women"...

June 18th, 1911 - Lovely day. Census taker stayed here all night...

November 10th, 1911 - It was 47 below in the night. Too cold for the boys to go to school this morning.... Hale and Arthur hauled rye for the pigs with the sleigh...

November 15th, 1911 - Warmer. Lovely sunshine. Kids at home raising "Ned"...

November 25th, 1911 - Windy and snow. Hale got 18 lbs of pork and 54 lbs of beef. Tried to grind grain but grinder won't work - grain too wet. Washed for Maurice. Did some darning and put feet in stockings for myself and the babe. Made 3 pair of pants for Lawrence this week...

December 29th, 1911 - I've been about sick so have paid little attention to my diary. Hale & Arthur helped Oscar with his threshing (3 days). The 22nd there was a Xmas tree at school house. I stayed home with the baby. A hard cold wind lasted 48 hrs. Oh dear, it has been so cold...

March 30th, 1912 - We have all been sick. Rheumatism and sore throats have stayed with us for some time. Have had some lovely weather but yesterday and today cold and windy...

June 23rd, 1912 - Very warm for several days. Heavy rain last Sunday. Have been sick for almost a week...

The last entry in this diary was written by Mathew Hale Daggett, Mary's husband.

August 17, 1912 - Mary died in the Holy Cross Hospital at Calgary. May she rest in peace.

Note - We have not been able to determine the cause of Mary Brinker Daggett's death. We know she had seven children in about twelve years, and she probably had little medical care. You can see a gradual weariness in her face. The photograph taken at her wedding to Mathew Hale Daggett shows a very attractive young woman. In later photographs we see deep shadows around her eyes.

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Excerpts from an interesting, and quite lengthy, diary kept by Jeremiah Zeamer, a member of the 1865 Cotterill-Whitman wagon train to California. He later became the editor of the American Volunteer, a Carlisle, Pennsylvania newspaper. He printed the diary in the newspaper about 1897.  He called it "Across The Plains" and sent copies of the newsletter to Jennie Cotterill Daggett. These excerpts are taken from a scrapbook Jennie made to hold the newspaper clippings.

Note: Several of these entries are written in past tense, indicating perhaps that Zeamer did not write every day. He probably recorded events when travels allowed, and possibly rewrote some as he prepared them for his newspaper. In addition, we are missing at least two chapters from this lengthy account. I understand that they are available on microfilm at the library in Carlisle. Unfortunately, I was not aware of this in 1962 when we were in that area of Pennsylvania. The spelling and punctuation are Zeamer's.

Across The Plains

One day while we were engaged at the Phelps' woodpile we noticed two men going into the home, one of whom had but one arm. At dinner we were introduced to these visitors and the one with one arm turned out to be Edward Cotterill (Jennie Cotterill "Danna" Daggett's father) of Napa, California. We had already heard of Mr. Cotterill and considered it a fortunate circumstance to meet him...

On being introduced I pressed a short conversation upon the Californian, telling him that we had heard of his intentions of crossing the plains with teams, and that as we, too, wanted to cross to the Pacific coast we would be glad to have the opportunity to go with his party providing he could, in exchange for our services as drivers, give us passage with bed and board, and guns to fight off Indians...

On Monday, April 10th, I went to the Whitman place and put in a little more than a week helping to get ready for the trip. The Cotterill-Whitman party consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Cotterill and their baby boy, Mr. Cotterill's daughter, Jennie; Mrs. Whitman, who was 56 years of age; Mrs. Whitman's two single daughters, Emma and Lizzie, and a son, Scott, a boy of sixteen. The outfit provided to take them consisted of three four-horse wagons and a two-horse covered spring wagon which the company called the buggy. There were two loose horses, one a blooded stallion and the other a three-year-old colt, belonging to Scott, making sixteen horses in all. To drive these teams and have charge of the sixteen horses, three other men besides myself were hired...

Note: As the Cotterill-Whitman party traveled west they often joined other immigrant wagon parties. Sometimes this was just for a day or two, and at other times they traveled together for several hundred miles. Most wagon parties felt it was safer to travel in numbers.

Mr. Cotterill was a man about forty-five years of age, had seen much of the rough side of life and was probably as practical as the average man who attempted to cross the plains... While assisting in firing a salute with a cannon in the town of Napa on the Fourth of July, 1852, he had his right arm blown off about half ways between the elbow and shoulder. Although maimed he was physically a pretty good man, tall, straight and muscular and without a pound of superfluous flesh on him. Notwithstanding the fact that he had but one hand, and that the left one, he shaved himself, and was a good shot, bringing in more game than any man in the party. He was quick tempered and upon slightest provocation would fly into violent passion and rage. At such time he would use the vigorous California language, expletives included... If nothing happened to aggravate his rage he became amiable almost as suddenly...

In preparing for a journey of over two thousand miles, most of the distance an uninhabited wilderness, it was necessary to exercise great care and judgement... The wagons were of superior make... Covers of bright white canvas were on all of them and over the canvas, directly on top, was sewed a covering of oil cloth... The buckets, cups, tableware and other vessels were of tin and sheet iron so they would not break and be light at the same time. The provisions to be taken along to feed the party on the way consisted of flour, bacon, smoked meats, lard, bean, hominy, coffee and tea, and some delicacies for the women in case of sickness... For cooking purposes a sheet iron stove was provided...

Tuesday morning, April 18th dawned bright and clear and everything being in readiness we started on our memorable trip overland to California. The roads were full of ruts and deep with mud and while the skies were clear the indications were for more rain. All things considered it was not a propitious start... By early evening we reached the village of Biggsville and stopped near it for the night... The crossing of Father of Waters was accomplished on Thursday morning April 20, 1865, and the boat on which it was accomplished was named The Flint Hills. We passed what seemed to be the principal street of Burlington... The larger buildings were all draped in mourning in honor of the memory of President Lincoln who was assassinated several days before we started on our trip...

From New London on there was a different soil. Instead of the tough blue mud which had so severely tried our patience for two days there was now a yellow clay. Large wheat fields stretched to the right and left of our road, the growing wheat looking all the greener because of the snow that lingered in spots...

The next day, May 6th, we reached Glenwood, a thriving little town nestling among the hills that border the Missouri bottom. Glenwood was the most lively and enterprising town we had passed through since leaving Ottumwa... We encamped at the south end of town on the banks of a stream... The next morning ushered in a bright and pleasant day, and it being Sunday the women of our party fixed up and went to the Glenwood church, knowing well that it would be the last time they would get to church for about four months to come...

It was the rule for many male immigrants to carry a revolver strapped to the hip and some had a revolver on one side and a Bowie knife on the other... The larger and the newer the revolver the more conspicuously it was displayed, but no out-of-date gun was kept hidden away in the wagon because of infirmities. If it didn't shoot it might frighten...

As we approached the forks of the Platte there was a very perceptible change in the landscape. The bluffs on both sides were nearer the river. On the north they rose to considerable height but on the side we were travelling they were quite low... On June 7th we got upon the South Fork of the Platte and our course changed from due west to south west. The country was gradually assuming a more barren aspect though the general features remained the same. For nearly a whole week it was difficult to get sufficient fuel to cook our meals, even buffalo chips were scare and hard to find. We were now entering upon that mythical region which upon early maps of our country was designated The Great American Desert...

The sand along the roadside was in many places drifted into piles and waved and shaped as delicately as drifted snow... On these sandy surfaces there was scattered in infinite numbers a tiny little burr which greatly annoyed boys when they attempted to walk barefooted. Plainsmen called this little pest the sand burr... Although a very small object it was the cause of much profanity... Profanity seemed to grow upon the immigrants as they advanced into the wilderness. Men and boys, who, east of the Missouri River, were rarely heard to utter an oath, became proficient swearers before they reached the mountains...

After several days travel up the South Platte we came into the region of the famous cactus plant. At first we met solitary specimens that seemed to be struggling to get through the sand... These groups gradually grew larger until they expanded into areas of hundreds of acres of prickly wonder, fully matured and bearing red, white and yellow flowers in profusion... The prophesy of Isaiah was fulfilled for here, before our very eyes, The Great American Desert did rejoice and blossom as the rose...

On Saturday evening June 10th we pitched our camp on the bottom of the South Platte just below Julesburg, in Colorado territory... A company of Indian soldiers were stationed at Julesburg. They were of the Pawnee tribe and we had hardly got settled when one of them walked boldly in among us. He was a gentlemanly Indian, dressed in full suit of soldier blue, was clean of person and manly in his bearing. He could not speak English but was extremely sociable, anxious to become acquainted with everybody and would go almost inside the tents to shake hands with the women...

As we drove away from Julesburg on Sunday morning June 11th a small object along the way side attracted considerable attention. It was the top of an Indian's head with a lot of long black hair clinging to it, part of it done up in a heavy plait and wrapped with ribbon or strip of cloth. It was kicked around and held up on the end of driving sticks for inspection but was too repulsive to the eye and nose to examine at close range...

On the day we left Julesburg we got our first unmistakable sight of the mountains. Some of our fellow immigrants professed to have seen them at the dawn of the day, several days prior to this, but upon this particular occasion all in the train saw a large section of them and joined in a hearty chorus of admiration over the grand spectacle... They were two hundred miles away but at the sight of them we imagined that the great quantity of eternal snow on their summits and sides already tempered the heated air of the sandy plain on which we were travelling...

There were many women among the immigrants on the plains that season who were help meets in every sense... It was a common thing to see women sitting in the front end of wagons and with a stick or whip urge up the rear yoke of oxen. There were also a surprising number of children with the immigrants and some of the children were of a very tender age. The woman who helped her husband drive the oxen in some instances was the mother of an unweaned babe...

When we crossed the South Platte at Gerry and Holman's ferry we were a train of fourteen wagons. We had no formal organization but had mutually agreed to consider ourselves a train in order to command proper consideration with the ferry authorities. A short distance above the ferry a large swift stream, which came out the mountains to the northwest, joined the South Platte. This was the Cache le Poudre river and our route now lay along its left bank until we reached the mountains. The waters were so clear you could see right done to the bottom at the deepest places and so cold they chilled you when you waded into them...

The country through which we were now passing presented some grand and picturesque scenery for our contemplation. To the south of us stood Long's Peak, it top swathed in a mantle of eternal snow... Away to the west were other high mountains, and off to the north were still others, whose snowy tops glistened in the midday sun... It was evident that we were gradually rising into a higher altitude...

Beyond the Little Laramie our road for some distance was full of loose round stones which made travelling harder and lowered our rate of speed. The good pasture and pure water of these elevated plains, however, had invigorated our stock and we kept steadily on... That afternoon another episode occurred that caused some commotion in camp. Quite a number of our men were out over the hills after game and about four o'clock two of them came into camp, completely out of breath, with the intelligence that they had been chased by eight Indians on ponies...

Calvin Wall, a good natured deaf mute, drove a team of fine mules (following our same route). He also had a cattle team driven by William Coates and David Atkinson, two deaf mutes whom he had employed... Wall was the first to get to camp but William Coates, with the cattle team fell far behind... Wall set out on foot to show Coates the way to camp and help him hurry up the lagging cattle. To save distance he cut up over the hill through sage brush and was coming out on the road just as a man named Jo Watts, with a team of cows, arrived at the same place... Watts wife was the only one with him... The woman saw Wall coming through the sage brush heading directly for them and, imagining them savages, she became alarmed and called to her husband, Jo, here is an Indian coming! Watts went back to the wagon and his wife passed his gun to him... he hailed the supposed Indian and not receiving any response he fired. Wall did not fall nor cry out which alarmed Watts still more and he hastily fired the other barrel of his gun. At that Wall fell... Being deaf he failed to hear the woman's cry of alarm, or the man's call, and this combination of circumstances cost him his life... Wall was a favorite on the train. He had an intelligent, fine looking wife - also a deaf mute - and four children, the oldest a boy of twelve, and the youngest a babe of three-and-a-half...

At an early hour we broke camp and proceeded on our way. This day we were a funeral train in reality for one of our wagons contained a corpse. About mid forenoon we passed over the great continental divide and began our descent to the Pacific coast... A short distance beyond the divide we came to Bridger's Pass Station... A noon we drove off the road and for an hour or so rested in one the bends of a stream... The waters of the stream were very clear and abounded in speckled trout... Cotterill got out his fishing tackle and held the outfit over an extra hour in order to do some angling. His efforts were rewarded with some fine catches...

To us the Fourth of July, 1865, was a day of events. On it we crossed the continental divide, passed through Bridger's Pass and buried by the road side one of our most popular fellow immigrants...

We are now at the borders of the Bitter Creek country, which proved to be one of most trying sections of our entire trip. There was scarcely any grass, and the water was so foul and poisonous that it was dangerous for man or animals to drink of it and in some places fatal... The early morning was now the best time to travel, for when the sun rose to near meridian the earth felt as if it were baked and the still air was almost stifling...

We remained in the camp on Green River from the afternoon of the 13th of July until the evening of the 16th, three full days. By the end of this period our horses were well rested... On Sunday evening, July 16th, we broke camp on the Green River and again set our faces toward the west...

Once out of Immigrant Kanyon we turned to the north and continued in the direction of the city. The road was level and hard and our wagons rolled along rapidly. At long intervals little adobe houses were passed and lights glimmered from their windows and open doors... Gradually our way grew more populous, lights showed more numerous in the dark, finally houses, lots and gardens became continuous and a little after eleven o'clock, on the night of the 25th of July, 1865, we entered Salt Lake City. Only a few people were upon the streets, some of whom were returning from the theater. By inquiring of these we found our way into Immigrant Square, better known as The Plaza, and encamped... As soon as we were fully rested we cleaned up and put on a change of clothes in order to be presentable in a community that observed civilized modes of life... Salt Lake City was to us a delightful place. The streets were one hundred and twenty feet wide from curb to curb and splendidly graded. A row of cottonwood trees was planted just inside the curb on each side of the street...

On the morning of July 29th we entered upon our fourth day in Salt Lake City, but not to complete it. We had about finished our stay... At the upper end of the valley we turned to the left and followed a dusty road that crossed the valley due westward... Irrigating ditches extended far beyond the city limits, but what efforts had been made at farming were not strikingly successful and when we got beyond the Jordan River we were again in a barren sage brush waste... The next day was Sunday but we continued to travel, going by the Skull Valley route, or Hooper Cut-Off... The country was exceedingly sterile and everywhere we looked a dried up and shrivelled aspect met our gaze...

The next morning we worked our way up the mountain on the installment plan. There were steep places in the road and we double-teamed and drew the wagons up one after another. It was slow toilsome process but by persistence and patience we reached the top... From the point at which we came to the top of the mountain we got a view of the Great Salt Lake Desert... It lay below us and looked like a vast yellow lake, bordered on the East and West by dark blue hills, those on the west being so far away as to be barely visible... Our way across it lay in a southwest direction and was merely a faint winding track that faded from sight before it had fairly gotten upon the plain, and in line of it, about halfway across, there arose a great mountain, somewhat in the shape of the Rock of Gibraltar. This mountain was named Black Rock and, on some maps, Granite Mountain... The color of the plain was suggestive of liquid brimstone and the contemplation of it, and the trip we had to make across it, filled us with unpleasant forebodings... The distance from the eastern edge to the Black Rock was 25 miles, and from Black Rock to the nearest point on the far side 30 miles more... About four o'clock, and after the sun had begun to sink towards the horizon, we started, with minds full of doubt and misgivings...

About noon of this day - August 12th - we crossed the first mountain ridge which lay west from Egan... We were now in the State of Nevada, the country was more broken, the road more hilly and travelling went slowly... About noon the next day - August 25th - we reached White Rock... We stopped at this place long enough to water at its excellent well and feed our horses... The country along here was sterile beyond description, in short a desert of the most painful and discouraging aspect...

We are now at the south east of Lake Carson, which on some maps is named the Sink of the Carson River. Our course lay around the southern end of this body of stagnant water, through a country that was a desert almost as dangerous to life as the Great Salt Lake Desert... We soon came to the Carson River bottom where the face of the country wore an entirely different aspect... We continued to push onward and early in the day reached the banks of the river... That afternoon we passed Fort Churchill... The next day was Wednesday, August, 30th. We were now emerging from the wilderness and coming upon the borders of California. Virginia City this morning burst upon our view...

Note: At Dayton, Nevada, near Virginia City, Mr. Zeamer left the Cotterill-Whitman party. Edward Cotterill thanked him for his service and noted that he was the only one of the four men hired to drive the horses who stayed with the party all the way across the plains. At the end of "Across The Plains" Zeamer gives an account of the Cotterill-Whitman party's crossing of the Sierra Nevada, and their return to Napa, California.

I parted with the Cotterill-Whitman party on August 31, 1865. Cotterill expected to hire a hand at Carson City to assist him over the mountains and said so but he either changed his mind or did not succeed in getting anyone. At any rate his daughter Jennie, a girl but thirteen years old, drove a four-horse team most of the way from Dayton to Napa... Driving a four-horse team over the mountains... was a trying experience for Jennie Cotterill and it made a deep and lasting impression on her young mind...

The road was steep and precipitous with many curves. It was frequently necessary to turn out for large freight teams that were heading east. With a long team and a freight wagon as high as a house, on the upper side, and a fearfully deep gorge to the lower, the situation was almost equal to that of being between the devil and the deep sea, and the poor girl would be in a tremor until the freight team had passed by. For a time she was in constant dread of accidently pulling the wrong lines, and to guard against doing so kept repeating to herself Gee to the right - Haw to the left...

Note: To get a real feel for this part of the road over the Sierra you should travel the same route. The road starts at Genoa, Nevada and goes through South Lake Tahoe. At the Sierra Nevada crest is Daggett Summit, named several years later for one of our distant relatives.

At Sacramento they passed through the town without delay, going to the west side of the river before camping... They were not but sixty miles from Napa, their destination. In the evening of the last day out they halted within ten miles of Napa. It was yet early and they might easily have gone farther but they were coming into a section where every resident knew Cotterill and he determined upon getting to his house at night, before any of his friends and neighbors would see his party and their bedraggled outfit... They passed through Napa at daybreak and reached Cotterill's home in Brown's Valley, two miles beyond Napa. That was on the 11th day of September 1865.


This web site is devoted to information about the Daggett family of Downey, California. It contains stories, photographs, genealogies, and general information about our branch of the Daggett family. We hope you find it interesting.
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