Look Ups  

It occurred to me that as I did lookups for people, and typed out the replies, that it was a shame to not share the information and make it readily available to others. So here they are! Starting in 2003, when I receive a request, I'll post the question and answer here for all to see, though I will keep the requestor's information off line. All information shared is from The History of Nevada and the Index to History of Nevada unless otherwise noted.

James Fenimore, aka Old Virginia, aka James Fenmore, aka Fenny

P. 31 - When the the Reese party reached western Utah, not over six miners were at work in Gold Canyon; but some twelve of those accompanying him joined the sic, among whom were two of the teamsters, named Joseph Webb and James Fenimore, the latter known as “Old Virginia.”

P 51. - The search for gold during the year was prosecuted further up the canyon above Johntown, and H. T. P. Comstock, after whom the great lode was named, passed the season operating with poor success, working the Pah_utes in the American Flat Wash. To the north, in Six-mile Canyon, a number of parties worked, among whom were Fenmore, known as “Old Virginia,” after whose nickname Virginia City was christened, . . .

Page 55 has a bit of the Gold discovery in which Old Virginia again is mentioned several times, including a share of the land in the area of Gold Hill. 56 Talks about Emanuel Penrod who got a bill of sale form Fenny for his plot of land.

P 59 - Dr. O. H. Pierson in August 1870 wrote a letter that included in it

. . . I saw the mine, and formed the acquaintance of Mr. Comstock, the man whose name is perpetuated wherever the mines are known, throughout the world; and Old Gentleman Virginia, whose name lives in the mineral lots, and for whom the city is named; . . .

I am trying to locate a John W. Jones in White Pine area, also Eureka County.

Jones, John W.: Mason, 240 Lander Lodge, No. 8 - Its dispensation was granted on the twenty-fifth of March, 1864; and on the third of June following it begun work with the following officers: . . . John W. Jones, Secretary . . .
Jones, ----: Reno, Deputy Sheriff, 638
Jones, ----: Roop County War, part in, 101
Jones, ----: smelting, Eureka District, foreman of, 429 - Eureka District in 1870. . . . The former (Colonel D. E. Buel) hired the McCoy furnace, and under the hands of Messrs. Jones & Williams, as foremen, worked ore from the Buckeye. . . .
Jones, ----: victim of a fight, 352 Homicide and Some of its Causes - 1874 - April - ----King was killed by ---- Pyatt, at El Dorado Canyon. The difficulty was first between Pyatt and a man named Jones, when the former took refuge behind some rocks. King went to inform him that Jones was not hurt much, when Pyatt shot him dead. The citizens thereupon surrounded the murderer and killed him.

Would you have any information on my wife's relative; Father Joseph PHELAN, who was a Catholic priest in Austin, Nevada around 1895?

Pages 205-6 - The Rev. Father Monteverde, now of Eureka, established in 1864, St. Augustin’s Church in Austin, now in charge of the Rev. Father Joseph Phelan, and afterwards, during the White Pine excitement, built a church at Hamilton. . . . In 1872 a church was organized at Belmont, of which the Rev. Father Monteverde had charge; and in 1874 a church edifice was built at a cost of $3,000. There has been no priest stationed there, and they have never had regular services. The Rev. Father Phelan, of Austin, now visits Belmont once or twice a year. . . . Those that are officiating today [being 1881 when the book was published] . . . the Rev. Joseph Phelan, at Austin; . . .

John P. Walker

Walker, John: 388 - Lemoille Valley - The first settlers were John Walker, Thomas A Waterman and --- McClain, who came from Austin in 1864 and located in this valley. None of the gentlemen are residents of the place at the present time, the last one moving away in 1875.

Jake Maxwell provided the following clipping:

Elko Independent Newspaper - August 5, 1898
Death of a Pioneer. > >
John P. Walker, a pioneer of Nevada, died at the county hospital yesterday afternoon. Mr. Walker was born in Rome, New York in 1828. In 1856 he went to California and afterward moved to Arizona. In 1861 he came from Arizona to Carson Nevada, as a guide for the Overland Stage company and on arrival filled the position of yard master for the company. In 1862, he moved to Jacobsville, near Austin, and built the first house in what is now Clifton in Lander county. In 1865, he moved to Lamoille Valley, this county, and built the first residence in that now prosperous section of the county.

This part of Nevada was then Lander county and Mr. Walker was elected sheriff in 1868. He was the first sheriff in what is now Elko county and was the first locator of mining property in the Tuscarora mining district. The deceased was an active, stirring man. He lived to see Elko county grow from an almost uninhabited wilderness to the most prosperous county of the great State. He was a good citizen and his death leaves one less in the ranks of the pioneers of the State.

A widow, one son and four daughters are left to mourn his loss. May the God who watches over all, comfort and sustain them in their bereavement. The funeral will take place from the undertaking parlors at 6:30 this evening. The services will be held at the grave, the Rev. J. A. Mitchell officiating. Friends and acquaintances are respectfully invited to attend.

May the old pioneer rest peacefully beneath the sod of the country he helped to build.

Canfield, Fred E. 300. Is a native of New York. He commenced his journalistic career on the Sacramento Union in 1864, and was traveling correspondent for the paper for two years. Eventually he became connected with the Eureka Sentinel, where he had been engaged for about eighteen months, when he took charge of the Leader. After leaving this paper he returned to New York, and is now with the North American Mining and Development Company, of New York City.

Canfield, N.H. 163. Was one of a party of seven that went down the Truckee River the day after the Pyramid Lake Battle and were never heard from again.

Canfield, R.B. Canfield Outrage, 342, 347 On April 17, 1867 at Belmont, Nye County, a gang of drunken ruffians seized R. B. Canfield, General Agent of the Silver Bend Mining Company, and, putting him astride a rail, rode him through town. Lewis M. Bodrow, interefered and was killed. J. P. Dignon, one of the aggressors, was also killed. Dignon was the first white person born at Galena, Illinois.