Farnsworth-Robson Memorial Park and Cemetery: a Virtual Cemetery

See all by Jeffrey W. Adams

A Virtual Cemetery created by Jeffrey W. Adams

Farnsworth-Robson Memorial Park and Cemetery

The California Gold Rush enticed thousands of families to make the arduous overland journey across the continent. Among them were the two families honored here. Seba Farnsworth (1806-1878) and his wife Hulda Shaw (1804-1868) left Virginia early in 1852 and traveled by river to Missouri. From there they went by wagon train across the plains to California, where Seba’s oldest son William had gone three years prior. Seba and Hulda brought all their other children, seven in number – Lydia (21), Elizabeth (18), Harriett (15), John (14), Clarinda (11), Seba (7), and Sarah (4). Little Seba died along the way, near Salt Lake City, and Lydia and Sarah died in California during their first year there. The remaining three daughters – Lizzie, Hattie, and Clara – eventually married successful men, while son John Franklin Farnsworth went on to lead a long but difficult life. In 1868 John wrote a fascinating letter to his cousin in Illinois detailing the difficult times his family had during the journey and in the subsequent years. John Robson (1815-1883) and his wife Margaret (1829-1918) made the cross-country journey in 1853, not long after their arrival in the U.S. from England. They brought at least one daughter, Mary (6). A second daughter, Elizabeth Jane, was born along the way, likely in the Utah Territory. Margaret and John had three more children in California – Margaret May (1857), John William (1858), and Benjamin Franklin (1860). Both the Farnsworth and Robson families settled in El Dorado County. They apparently lived not far from each other for years before John F. Farnsworth married Elizabeth J. Robson in 1873. John and Elizabeth moved to Sacramento and proceeded to have at least five children – John Brewer (1875), Ernest Robson (1877), Mabel Elizabeth (1879), Ellwood (1881), and Hazel Margaret (1890). An individual named Ruth Farnsworth (dates unknown) is buried next to John F. and son Ernest in Georgetown Pioneer Cemetery, and it is possible she was also a child of John and Elizabeth. My connection to these families is quite remote, and by marriage rather than blood. My great-grandfather Hilliard R. Qualls (1878-1958) married Mabel E. Farnsworth in 1899. She bore him a daughter named Gladys Muriel (1901), but Mabel died the following year. Hilliard later married Emily L. Leveque (1878-1965), my great-grandmother. After reading the 1868 letter by J.F. Farnsworth, I have become so intrigued by these families that I have created this virtual cemetery to go along with their place on my family tree on Ancestry.

The California Gold Rush enticed thousands of families to make the arduous overland journey across the continent.  Among them were the two families honored here.  Seba Farnsworth (1806-1878) and his wife Hulda Shaw (1804-1868) left Virginia early in 1852 and traveled by river to Missouri.  From there they went by wagon train across the plains to California, where Seba’s oldest son William had gone three years prior.  Seba and Hulda brought all their other children, seven in number – Lydia (21), Elizabeth (18), Harriett (15), John (14), Clarinda (11), Seba (7), and Sarah (4).  Little Seba died along the way, near Salt Lake City, and Lydia and Sarah died in California during their first year there.  The remaining three daughters – Lizzie, Hattie, and Clara – eventually married successful men, while son John Franklin Farnsworth went on to lead a long but difficult life.  In 1868 John wrote a fascinating letter to his cousin in Illinois detailing the difficult times his family had during the journey and in the subsequent years.  John Robson (1815-1883) and his wife Margaret (1829-1918) made the cross-country journey in 1853, not long after their arrival in the U.S. from England.  They brought at least one daughter, Mary (6).  A second daughter, Elizabeth Jane, was born along the way, likely in the Utah Territory.  Margaret and John had three more children in California – Margaret May (1857), John William (1858), and Benjamin Franklin (1860).  Both the Farnsworth and Robson families settled in El Dorado County.  They apparently lived not far from each other for years before John F. Farnsworth married Elizabeth J. Robson in 1873.  John and Elizabeth moved to Sacramento and proceeded to have at least five children – John Brewer (1875), Ernest Robson (1877), Mabel Elizabeth (1879), Ellwood (1881), and Hazel Margaret (1890).  An individual named Ruth Farnsworth (dates unknown) is buried next to John F. and son Ernest in Georgetown Pioneer Cemetery, and it is possible she was also a child of John and Elizabeth.  My connection to these families is quite remote, and by marriage rather than blood.  My great-grandfather Hilliard R. Qualls (1878-1958) married Mabel E. Farnsworth in 1899.  She bore him a daughter named Gladys Muriel (1901), but Mabel died the following year.  Hilliard later married Emily L. Leveque (1878-1965), my great-grandmother.  After reading the 1868 letter by J.F. Farnsworth, I have become so intrigued by these families that I have created this virtual cemetery to go along with their place on my family tree on Ancestry.