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Message:: [QUOTE="gsalexan, post: 2833141, member: 24274"]So to put the whole story together, from information provided by lettow and elsewhere: Like many other farmers back East, Francis Philbrook caught gold fever after hearing about the discovery at Sutter's Mill in California in 1848. He and some 50 other Maine men pooled their money and bought shares in the ship Cantero. Most of them were passengers when the ship left in late 1849 to sail around the Horn, arriving in California in April 1850. Philbrook first tried his luck around the gold camp of Bakersville and must have sent word home of his whereabouts, which was noted (albeit misspelled) on the promissory note. (Bakersville was eventually forced to change it's name to Watersford, to avoid confusion with mail going to Bakersfield, further south.) Apparently Philbrook gave up on mining after a year or so without any luck and resettled about 170 miles north in Butte County, where he borrowed money and tried to start a ranch. And that's where his luck ran out. He died there in 1852, leaving behind a wife and six children back in Maine. There's no indication on the note that the $13.50 Philbrook owed to David M. was ever paid. That's a lot of history to mine from a little piece of paper and well worth the $8 I spent on it! [ATTACH=full]668274[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]