“‘I was born and reared in Boston, the only child of highly educated parents. My father was a merchant of wealth and position. I never knew a want unsupplied or a pleasure ungratified, that parental love could bestow, in my childhood days. At school, I learned rapidly, outstripping my classmates, and receiving encomiums from my teacher. I was sent to a seminary, and graduated with signal honor. Exhibiting an early taste for music, vocal and instrumental, after my classical course was completed, I was placed under the instruction of the best professors. Just at this time, my father failed because of the misconduct of his partner, and was utterly ruined. Everything, even to the old homestead, was swept away by his creditors. My father, wounded in spirit and feeble in health, sunk under the blow, and died in a few months. “‘Never shall I forget the look of utter despair on the face of my dear mother, when we consigned my father to his last resting-place. It seemed as if her fountain of tears was exhausted, and her heart would break. She threw herself into my arms like a child, and looked up to me for counsel and protection. I, in turn, almost sinking beneath the care thus early cast upon me, looked up to the Great Father for aid, and became strong. “‘The California gold excitement had just reached the Atlantic coast. People everywhere were wild. I partook of the infatuation, and then determined to seek my fortune in that far-off land. My friends tried to dissuade me, but my purpose was fixed. Placing my mother in charge of a kind relative, where I knew she would be cared for, I sold my jewelry for money to meet the expenses of the journey, and sailed by way of the Isthmus, for San Francisco, where I arrived early in the Summer of 1850.