Individual Details
Chloe Ann SMITH
(22 Jul 1822 - 14 Jul 1908)
1 Jun 1850, Salisbury, LaSalle Co., IL, stamped pg. 212:
Edward Swanson, 28 (1821-12) born Indiana, farmer; real estate $1500
Chloe A. Swanson, 25 (1824-25) born Ohio
Julius A Swanson, 9 (1840-41) born IL
John W Swanson, 7 (1842-43) born IL
Henry F Swanson, 2 (1847-48) born IL
George W. 1/12 (Apr-May 1850), born IL
Mary Swanson, 69 (1780-81) born Penn.
Andrew J Meyers, 14 (1835-36), born IL
John H. Swanson, 12 (1937-38), born IL.
1870 Tulare Co., CA, page 248b. Chloe, 48 (1822), housekeeper, b.OH
1880 Kaweah & Mineral King, Tulare Co., CA, page 22, dwg. 380. Chloe A., 60 (1820), 60, born OH, father born CT, mother born PA.
1900 Visalia Township, Tulare Co., CA, ED 69, pg. 16, line 56. Chloe A., 77 (1823), born OH, father born CT, mother born PA.
Chloe Ann Tharp
The Story of a Pioneer Woman
By Dallas Pattee
It was the summer of 1822, that Julius Augustus Smith and his wife Eleanor Windle Smith became the proud parents for the first time.Little Chloe Ann entered the world on July 22nd, born strong and healthy, the joy of the Smith household. The family rapidly grew to include nine more children by 1842; unfortunately not all of them survived into adulthood. The twins, Thomas and John, who were born July 4, 1839, only lived three weeks, and little Mary Ellen, born January 10, 1842, lived but a brief four days.
Tragedy struck the Smith household again in August 1850 when illness swept through the family like a wildfire claiming the lives of Eleanor, her mother, nine year old Martha Jane, and Elin Francis. They perished within five days of each other. The 1867 family Bible only records their deaths not the cause, but it was no doubt some dread disease such as scarlet fever, diphtheria or small pox that brought unspeakable grief to the Smith family.
Chloe Ann was not living with the family when tragedy struck. She was now married and a mother of four little boys: Julius Augustus, John William, Henry Francis and newborn, George Wallace. Chloe Ann had been a young bride still in her teens when she became Mrs. Edward J.Swanson, Jr., on August 14, 1839, in Stephenson County, Illinois. Her handsome groom who had captured her tender heart and won her hand in holy matrimony was but seventeen years old and perhaps not quite mature enough for the responsibilities of being married and raising a family.
By the fall of 1851, Edward Swanson, Jr., abandoned his wife and young sons to run off with a neighbor's wife. It must have been a terrible time for Chloe Ann, a young mother left to raise four little boys on her own, put food on the table, plus endure the gossip which surely circulated throughout the county. On the other hand, Chloe Ann was a strong and spirited woman who was probably fed up with Ed's shenanigans and glad to see him go. Whatever the case, Chloe Ann was still willing to give her marriage another try when wayward Edward returned a year later. But no doubt Edward knew his wife had grown stronger and wiser in his absence and he'd better put his family first or lose them for good.
It was now the fall of 1852, and the California Gold Rush was causing a lot of excitement across the country. Edward's brother, John Swanson, and brothers-in-law W. P. Fletcher and William Sherman, had just returned from the gold fields reciting thrilling tales and sparking an interest in the rest of the Swanson clan to pull up stakes and head West, The timing was perfect. It would give Chloe Ann and Edward an opportunity to relocate and start afresh, and maybe strike it rich to boot! About twenty members of the Swanson family joined a wagon train destined for El Dorado County, California, right in the heart of gold country. The scout for the wagon train was a rather brash, but well qualified young man who went by the name Hale Tharp.That he was also a keen shot proved handy for providing meat for the frying pan and protection from wild animal or Indian attack.
One day while watching the wagons prepare to cross a river, Hale spied an Indian beneath the overhang of the bank and up to his neck in the water. As the first team of oxen reached the bank the Indian raised his tomahawk to kill the lead animal, but Tharp quickly dropped the attacker with a single shot from his six shooter. The Indian was dead, and the wagon train continued on unharmed.
As they journeyed farther and farther west, with high hopes and a twinge of gold fever, Edward Swanson, Jr. fell ill. Fear gripped the other members of the wagon train, fear that the scarlet fever would spread among them. Edward would never see California; instead he crossed over to the "summerland" and was buried near the trail. He was only thirty years old. Chloe Ann was now a widow. Many of her dreams were buried in the grave with her husband, but she continued on; there was no looking back. She focused on her children, so thankful they had been spared from the killer disease that had taken their father.
One evening when the wagons had circled and made camp for the night, Chloe Ann set up a board in her wagon, heated her sad iron and commenced ironing her sons' shirts. She was not about to let her little boys run around in wrinkled clothes or otherwise unkempt appearance. It was important to be clean and neat with matching manners, especially in the wilderness. She, like so many other pioneer women, seemed to take it upon themselves to bring civilization to the frontier by demonstrating it in the daily lives of their families first.
However, the Widow Swanson hadn't an inkling that her patience and fine manners were about to be tried by the ever brazen wagon scout,Hale Tharp. As he was passing by her wagon, as she slaved over the hot iron, he made a wisecrack, a bit "fresh" on her delicate ears. Like a true lady she held her tongue but sailed the iron right at his head.He jumped sideways and told everybody "that's the woman for me!"
He had staked his claim, but the Widow Swanson wasn't impressed, or at least not impressed enough to write home about him once she got to California. Chloe Ann's brother Julius Augustus Smith, Jr., had settled at Mud Springs in El Dorado County, California, sometime after 1850, but most likely before his sister's arrival in 1852-53. The following is an excerpt from a undated letter Julius wrote his sister, Elizabeth Smith Pattee (my great great grandmother), from Mud Springs:
"Dear Sister, ... Chloe Ann and children is all well at present and sends thare love to you... Tell William and father to write to Chloe Ann for she has not had a letter from William since she come to this country. She is going to move to Mud Springs to live and send the children to school. She says she never expects to go home again."
Chloe Ann was surely a mite lonely and homesick, missing the family she left behind in Illinois. There was no mention of the brash wagon scout, Hale Tharp, although he was no doubt still quite smitten with the Widow Swanson, until one day it came to pass that she consented to be his wife. They were married on Christmas Day 1853 in Hangtown, California, It is not known if they were wed in the only church in this Gold Rush community, which got its name because it was the first town in the area to use lynching as a form of justice. In 1854 the name Hangtown was changed to something more respectable: Placerville.
For several years the Tharps made their home in El Dorado County where Hale worked in the mines. A mining accident, which badly injured him,caused Hale to relocate his family to the Sierra foothills of Tulare County on Horse Creek, near Three Rivers, where he went into the stock business. They were the first white people to venture into the area that was the home of the Kaweah Indians. The Indians dubbed Chloe Ann's husband their "White Chief,!' because he was friendly with them and shot game for them to eat.
Chief Chappo and other members of his tribe told Hale of the big trees that grew higher up in the mountains, In the summer of 1858, Hale kissed his wife good-bye, made the trip to see these trees and is credited with discovering Giant Forest, the magnificent redwoods the Indians had described to him. He later turned a hollow log of a great Sequoia gigantean into a sturdy cabin, complete with a stone fireplace, window and front door, where he could spend the summers while his stock grazed in the nearby meadow.
It was in the summer of 1879, that John Muir became a guest of Hale Tharp's at the unique log cabin which Muir later called a "noble den" in one of his writings.
Meanwhile back on the Tharp homestead near Three Rivers, Chloe Ann tended to the daily chores and raised a growing family. Her four sons now had a half-brother, Norton Hale, and a half-sister, Fannie. Unfortunately two other children did not survive.
Chloe Ann was a true pioneer woman graced with untold strength, a dauntless spirit and a heart of gold. She lived a long, full adventurous life and died at her home after a brief illness a week before her 86th birthday. She was laid to rest in the little Hamilton Cemetery near Woodlake, California, where her husband, Hale Dixon Tharp, was laid beside her in 1912.
Chloe Ann Smith Swanson Tharp was my great great great aunt, and a great woman in Tulare County pioneer history. Although I have no photographs of Chloe Ann, I am fortunate to possess one of her personal cards from the Victorian era, circa 1880's. This article was pieced together by information from old family letters, the family Bible, genealogy research and newspaper articles. The author welcomes any corrections and more information on this terrific lady. [Dallas Pattee, (559) 591-3878.]
Edward Swanson, 28 (1821-12) born Indiana, farmer; real estate $1500
Chloe A. Swanson, 25 (1824-25) born Ohio
Julius A Swanson, 9 (1840-41) born IL
John W Swanson, 7 (1842-43) born IL
Henry F Swanson, 2 (1847-48) born IL
George W. 1/12 (Apr-May 1850), born IL
Mary Swanson, 69 (1780-81) born Penn.
Andrew J Meyers, 14 (1835-36), born IL
John H. Swanson, 12 (1937-38), born IL.
1870 Tulare Co., CA, page 248b. Chloe, 48 (1822), housekeeper, b.OH
1880 Kaweah & Mineral King, Tulare Co., CA, page 22, dwg. 380. Chloe A., 60 (1820), 60, born OH, father born CT, mother born PA.
1900 Visalia Township, Tulare Co., CA, ED 69, pg. 16, line 56. Chloe A., 77 (1823), born OH, father born CT, mother born PA.
Chloe Ann Tharp
The Story of a Pioneer Woman
By Dallas Pattee
It was the summer of 1822, that Julius Augustus Smith and his wife Eleanor Windle Smith became the proud parents for the first time.Little Chloe Ann entered the world on July 22nd, born strong and healthy, the joy of the Smith household. The family rapidly grew to include nine more children by 1842; unfortunately not all of them survived into adulthood. The twins, Thomas and John, who were born July 4, 1839, only lived three weeks, and little Mary Ellen, born January 10, 1842, lived but a brief four days.
Tragedy struck the Smith household again in August 1850 when illness swept through the family like a wildfire claiming the lives of Eleanor, her mother, nine year old Martha Jane, and Elin Francis. They perished within five days of each other. The 1867 family Bible only records their deaths not the cause, but it was no doubt some dread disease such as scarlet fever, diphtheria or small pox that brought unspeakable grief to the Smith family.
Chloe Ann was not living with the family when tragedy struck. She was now married and a mother of four little boys: Julius Augustus, John William, Henry Francis and newborn, George Wallace. Chloe Ann had been a young bride still in her teens when she became Mrs. Edward J.Swanson, Jr., on August 14, 1839, in Stephenson County, Illinois. Her handsome groom who had captured her tender heart and won her hand in holy matrimony was but seventeen years old and perhaps not quite mature enough for the responsibilities of being married and raising a family.
By the fall of 1851, Edward Swanson, Jr., abandoned his wife and young sons to run off with a neighbor's wife. It must have been a terrible time for Chloe Ann, a young mother left to raise four little boys on her own, put food on the table, plus endure the gossip which surely circulated throughout the county. On the other hand, Chloe Ann was a strong and spirited woman who was probably fed up with Ed's shenanigans and glad to see him go. Whatever the case, Chloe Ann was still willing to give her marriage another try when wayward Edward returned a year later. But no doubt Edward knew his wife had grown stronger and wiser in his absence and he'd better put his family first or lose them for good.
It was now the fall of 1852, and the California Gold Rush was causing a lot of excitement across the country. Edward's brother, John Swanson, and brothers-in-law W. P. Fletcher and William Sherman, had just returned from the gold fields reciting thrilling tales and sparking an interest in the rest of the Swanson clan to pull up stakes and head West, The timing was perfect. It would give Chloe Ann and Edward an opportunity to relocate and start afresh, and maybe strike it rich to boot! About twenty members of the Swanson family joined a wagon train destined for El Dorado County, California, right in the heart of gold country. The scout for the wagon train was a rather brash, but well qualified young man who went by the name Hale Tharp.That he was also a keen shot proved handy for providing meat for the frying pan and protection from wild animal or Indian attack.
One day while watching the wagons prepare to cross a river, Hale spied an Indian beneath the overhang of the bank and up to his neck in the water. As the first team of oxen reached the bank the Indian raised his tomahawk to kill the lead animal, but Tharp quickly dropped the attacker with a single shot from his six shooter. The Indian was dead, and the wagon train continued on unharmed.
As they journeyed farther and farther west, with high hopes and a twinge of gold fever, Edward Swanson, Jr. fell ill. Fear gripped the other members of the wagon train, fear that the scarlet fever would spread among them. Edward would never see California; instead he crossed over to the "summerland" and was buried near the trail. He was only thirty years old. Chloe Ann was now a widow. Many of her dreams were buried in the grave with her husband, but she continued on; there was no looking back. She focused on her children, so thankful they had been spared from the killer disease that had taken their father.
One evening when the wagons had circled and made camp for the night, Chloe Ann set up a board in her wagon, heated her sad iron and commenced ironing her sons' shirts. She was not about to let her little boys run around in wrinkled clothes or otherwise unkempt appearance. It was important to be clean and neat with matching manners, especially in the wilderness. She, like so many other pioneer women, seemed to take it upon themselves to bring civilization to the frontier by demonstrating it in the daily lives of their families first.
However, the Widow Swanson hadn't an inkling that her patience and fine manners were about to be tried by the ever brazen wagon scout,Hale Tharp. As he was passing by her wagon, as she slaved over the hot iron, he made a wisecrack, a bit "fresh" on her delicate ears. Like a true lady she held her tongue but sailed the iron right at his head.He jumped sideways and told everybody "that's the woman for me!"
He had staked his claim, but the Widow Swanson wasn't impressed, or at least not impressed enough to write home about him once she got to California. Chloe Ann's brother Julius Augustus Smith, Jr., had settled at Mud Springs in El Dorado County, California, sometime after 1850, but most likely before his sister's arrival in 1852-53. The following is an excerpt from a undated letter Julius wrote his sister, Elizabeth Smith Pattee (my great great grandmother), from Mud Springs:
"Dear Sister, ... Chloe Ann and children is all well at present and sends thare love to you... Tell William and father to write to Chloe Ann for she has not had a letter from William since she come to this country. She is going to move to Mud Springs to live and send the children to school. She says she never expects to go home again."
Chloe Ann was surely a mite lonely and homesick, missing the family she left behind in Illinois. There was no mention of the brash wagon scout, Hale Tharp, although he was no doubt still quite smitten with the Widow Swanson, until one day it came to pass that she consented to be his wife. They were married on Christmas Day 1853 in Hangtown, California, It is not known if they were wed in the only church in this Gold Rush community, which got its name because it was the first town in the area to use lynching as a form of justice. In 1854 the name Hangtown was changed to something more respectable: Placerville.
For several years the Tharps made their home in El Dorado County where Hale worked in the mines. A mining accident, which badly injured him,caused Hale to relocate his family to the Sierra foothills of Tulare County on Horse Creek, near Three Rivers, where he went into the stock business. They were the first white people to venture into the area that was the home of the Kaweah Indians. The Indians dubbed Chloe Ann's husband their "White Chief,!' because he was friendly with them and shot game for them to eat.
Chief Chappo and other members of his tribe told Hale of the big trees that grew higher up in the mountains, In the summer of 1858, Hale kissed his wife good-bye, made the trip to see these trees and is credited with discovering Giant Forest, the magnificent redwoods the Indians had described to him. He later turned a hollow log of a great Sequoia gigantean into a sturdy cabin, complete with a stone fireplace, window and front door, where he could spend the summers while his stock grazed in the nearby meadow.
It was in the summer of 1879, that John Muir became a guest of Hale Tharp's at the unique log cabin which Muir later called a "noble den" in one of his writings.
Meanwhile back on the Tharp homestead near Three Rivers, Chloe Ann tended to the daily chores and raised a growing family. Her four sons now had a half-brother, Norton Hale, and a half-sister, Fannie. Unfortunately two other children did not survive.
Chloe Ann was a true pioneer woman graced with untold strength, a dauntless spirit and a heart of gold. She lived a long, full adventurous life and died at her home after a brief illness a week before her 86th birthday. She was laid to rest in the little Hamilton Cemetery near Woodlake, California, where her husband, Hale Dixon Tharp, was laid beside her in 1912.
Chloe Ann Smith Swanson Tharp was my great great great aunt, and a great woman in Tulare County pioneer history. Although I have no photographs of Chloe Ann, I am fortunate to possess one of her personal cards from the Victorian era, circa 1880's. This article was pieced together by information from old family letters, the family Bible, genealogy research and newspaper articles. The author welcomes any corrections and more information on this terrific lady. [Dallas Pattee, (559) 591-3878.]
Events
| Birth | 22 Jul 1822 | Ohio | |||
| Marriage | 29 Aug 1839 | Stephenson Co., Illinois - Edward J. SWANSON |  | ||
| Census | 1 Jun 1850 | Salisbury, LaSalle Co., Illinois | |||
| Marriage | 24 Dec 1854 | Mud Springs, El Dorado Co., CA - Hale Dixon THARP | | ||
| Census | 29 Jun 1880 | Kaweah & Mineral King, Tulare Co., CA | |||
| Census | 1900 | Visalia Township, Tulare Co., CA, ED 69, pg. 16, line 56. Chloe A., can't read age or year of birth, born July. Married 46 yr. Mother of 8, 6 living. Born OH, father born CT, mother born PA. | |||
| Death | 14 Jul 1908 | Tulare Co., California | |||
| Burial | Aft 14 Jul 1908 | Hamilton Cemetery, bet Exeter & Woodlake, Tulare Co., California | | ||
| Reference No | 1587 |
Families
| Spouse | Edward J. SWANSON (1820 - 1852) |
| Child | Julius Augustus SWANSON (1840 - 1919) |
| Child | John William SWANSON (1841 - 1910) |
| Child | Henry Francis SWANSON (1847 - 1920) |
| Child | George Wallace SWANSON (1850 - 1924) |
| Spouse | Hale Dixon THARP (1830 - 1912) |
| Child | Norton Hale THARP (1858 - 1937) |
| Child | Fannie Ann THARP (1861 - 1937) |
| Father | Julius Augustus SMITH (1799 - 1850) |
| Mother | Eleanor WINDLE (1804 - 1850) |
| Sibling | William SMITH (1826 - ) |
| Sibling | Elizabeth Ann SMITH (1831 - ) |
| Sibling | Augustus SMITH (1834 - 1850) |
| Sibling | John SMITH (1839 - 1839) |
| Sibling | Thomas SMITH (1839 - 1839) |
| Sibling | Martha SMITH (1841 - 1850) |
| Sibling | Mary Ellen SMITH (1842 - 1842) |
| Sibling | Eleanor Frances SMITH (1845 - 1850) |
| Sibling | Ann SMITH ( - ) |
| Sibling | Living |
| Sibling | Living |
| Sibling | Rebecca SMITH ( - ) |
Endnotes
1. Illinois Marriages to 1850 - search at Ancestry.com.
2. "Northern California Marriages 1850 thru 1860", Nancy Justus Morebeck, Page 179, typed 11 Oct 1993.
3. Tulare County USGENWEB.