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....I am still looking for active HECKART contacts from California, specifically the Butte County area.
....After being directed to an article, "Memories of the Heckart Ranch," by Helen Pearce published 1970 in the "Tales of Paradise Ridge," I am now also looking for PEARCE contacts with information/pictures, etc. of the family and ranch area.
....I would like to thank all of those on this forum who have contacted me personally with ideas and information to follow, as only a few months ago, I only knew that Adam Heckart left in 1865 for California.
....I have been on the trail of John Adam Heckart, Jr., my ggguncle, for the past couple of years, and now have enough data to work up a fair summary of his life story, as which time I will get it on a page in my genelaogy site.
....At this time I have land records to follow Adam's route in Missouri and in Iowa. I have a good idea of what he was doing and when. He came from PA with his father and uncle to settle in MO in 1838. The families were rivermen and millwrights in PA and continues that craft along with land specualtion and farming. In 1849, Adam and a group of Shelby and Monroe County men were some of the first to cross the west to the gold fields. I have come upon original letters of the thier travels.
....Adam must have returned in 1850 as he acquried a mill with his brother-in-law John Strayer at Clinton/Jonesburg, MO. All through life, until the final removal to Butte Co., Adam and John Strayer did everything together in MO and IA.
....In 1851 Adam and John "explored" the newly open land in Winneshiek Co., IA, made original land entires into a large amount of good mill land on the fast moving Upper Iowa River. In late 1852, they moved the familes 350 miles north to Winn. Co., Decorah Twp, IA, and by the next year had built a major mill, the first in the area. They would continue in the mill and land business for several more years.
....In 1855, apparently Adam took off alone, for the gold fields, leaving the family in Freeport, IA. He returned the next year, the mill would sell in the next couple of years, only to be re-purchased by Adam's son William in about 1861. William then went off to the civil war until about 1865 and was severly wounded a couple of time, however he would live to join his father in CA in 1866.
....In 1865, Adam captains 40 wagons to California. By 1866 buying land in the Clear Creek area of Butte Co., thus the Heckart Ranch. Adam and his family would remain in Butte Co. until like most pioneer farms/ranches, death and break-up of the property dissolves the "clan" ties to the land area.
....I plan on organizing and completing what I have of Adam's life story and have it available within the next year, but would like to share current information with any family members.
....Adam is the most interesting individual I have "met" thus far in quest of family stories. He was a major mill builder, was always on the edge of the frontier, made three trips across the country to the gold fields. And more another interestng trait is the complete partnership with my gggrandfather John Strayer from childhood until 1865 and the removal to CA for the final time. These men had skills and edurance beyond modern understanding.
....Contact me if you have information or ideas on the Heckart Clan from MO,IA>CA.
(Although I do not use hotmail as my primary address, so long as microsoft lives, my hotmail address should work. Other email address are unstable.)
iowaz@swbell.net
iowaz@hotmail.com
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