CAZENOVIA — On Friday, Aug. 25, the Cazenovia Public Library & Museum (CPL) will host a book reading and signing event with Elmer “Stub” Estey, author of “Oxcart Gold Rush: From Pompey Center, N.Y. to Sacramento – and Back.”
Estey grew up in the Town of Pompey and graduated from Cazenovia High School (CHS) in 1960. He attended Clarkson University and earned a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering in 1964 and a master of science degree in industrial management in ’66.
His book is based on the diary of Daniel W. Holbrook, which was discovered in the attic of Estey’s childhood home in Pompey Center 99 years after Holbrook first put pen to its pages.
According to Estey, Holbrook was a storekeeper, postmaster, and town clerk as a young man in Central New York in the mid-19th century.
His diary, titled “Memorandum Book of Remarkable Events as they occur,” chronicled the years 1845 to 1850, recording day-to-day life in Pompey Center; his family’s move to the shores of Lake Michigan in the territory that would later become Wisconsin; and his journey West, by oxcart with three friends, to several of the California and Oregon mining towns made famous by the 1849 Gold Rush.
His diary reports on everything from shipwrecks, murders, smallpox, and seeing Abraham Lincoln, to the Gold Rush, cholera, notable landmarks, and meeting Native Americans.
Estey was two years old when his four sisters discovered the small, leather-bound diary in a trunk in their parents’ house, which had previously been home to Holbrook’s son.
“I recall seeing it in the bookcase at my parents’ house for nearly 60 years,” said Estey. “When my parents had both passed away, the diary was given to me for safekeeping, and, almost 20 years later, I decided to write a book about it. I thought others would be interested in seeing how this ordinary man climbed into an oxcart and traveled to California to follow his dream.”
Oxcart Gold Rush includes more than 100 photographs, maps, and illustrations of the places Holbrook visited and the life around him; newspaper clippings documenting national and world events of the day; reproduced pages of Holbrook’s diary entries; stories of politicians like Lincoln, John Quincy Adams, and Daniel Webster; and discussions of national issues such as slavery and states’ rights.
Estey said he was inspired by a friend to turn his book into something more than just a transcription of Holbrook’s diary. The friend, who is a history professor, suggested that Estey consider interweaving historical events with the diary entries.
“That struck a chord with me,” Estey said. “Stephen Ambrose’s book ‘Undaunted Courage’ and H.W. Brands’ ‘The Age of Gold’ are examples of historical books that bring history alive by furnishing details about the principal characters involved in the journey. I wanted to try that, but I wanted to go further.”
Estey decided his book would be more interesting if he interspersed with Holbrook’s entries not only additional background or explanations of his accounts but also contemporaneous occurrences elsewhere in the world, things that happened on the same day but in a different year, and events that took place right where he was, either before he arrived or after he left.
When conducting his research, Estey drew from a few hard-copy books but mostly searched the internet to find material in books, newspapers, magazines, and online articles. Ancestry.com and Newspapers.com were also valuable resources, according to the author. His completed book contains over 300 endnotes citing his sources.
In a description of his book, Estey states that although it is full of historical events, it is not a history book.
“It’s a storybook, and the story is something everyone can relate to — the journey towards our dreams,” he wrote.
Estey’s book was published by Log Cabin Books, an independent publisher located south of Hamilton, New York that specializes in local authors’ works. The company is owned by Estey’s nephew Brian McDowell.
McDowell said that as the publisher of numerous books on CNY history, he was intrigued — family connection aside — by the thought of a personal diary that dealt both with the local area and with “a national trek of historic proportions.”
“The way Stub weaved the narrative of the journal with the addition of a lot of American happenings of the times makes for a truly significant, fascinating read,” McDowell said. “I firmly believe that everyone has an interesting history to share, and the fact that a first-person source was available to tell a story that is nearly 200 years old was an added incentive for the author — and for Log Cabin Books.”
The Aug. 25 CPL event will be held from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in the Betsy Kennedy Community Room.
The event is free and open to the public.
“Here at the Cazenovia Public Library, it is our mission to encourage engagement with our history, connecting people in order to enhance our community and encourage lifelong learning,” said CPL Adult Programming and Service Coordinator Renee Joseph. “We believe this book will capture the interest of local history buffs as it provides a snapshot into the past through one man’s account of his lived experience of the [Gold Rush], as written in his diary and brought to life by author Stub Estey. Estey [adds] depth to the book through his research and interjection of historic narrative, giving the reader an account of the early settlers from Pompey within the context of what was happening in the world at large.”
“The Way I Remember It”
During the library event, Estey’s sister Anne Estey McDowell will also read from and sign copies of her memoir, “The Way I Remember It.”
Anne and her late husband, Raymond, were both among the 52 graduates of the CHS Class of 1952. She went on to earn her bachelor of arts degree in education from Buffalo State College in 1956.
Anne’s memoir recounts her childhood in Pompey, her courtship of Raymond beginning in their teen years, and the couple’s 66 years of marriage. Weaved in are anecdotes about growing up in rural New York after the Great Depression and living with her family on Burton Street in Cazenovia over several decades. The book also covers her life as a mother of five children; her experience teaching elementary school in New York and Texas; her time as a resident of Colorado, Texas, and Florida; and her return to CNY in 2018. Additionally, the book includes entries from Raymond about his time in the Navy during the Korean Conflict and his life on the family farm in Fenner, New York.
“The Way I Remember It” and “Oxcart Gold Rush” will be available for purchase at the event. Both books can also be ordered online at logcabinbooks.com.
For more information on this and other CPL events, call 315-655-9322 or visit cazenoviapubliclibrary.org.
