In the 1850 census of Sacramento only 6.96 percent of the 6,820 inhabitants of Sacramento were women (475 women to 6,345 men). Native American women were not included in the census so these numbers only reflect the white population of the city. Life for these early female pioneers was not easy.
Sacramento in the 1850's was a gold rush boom town with a limited number of physical structures usually found in established cities. It was a community under construction and basic survival was a full time occupation. Women were in the minority and many of them longed for female companionship. Luzena Stanley Wilson who came to California in 1849 with her husband and two young sons, wrote about life in Sacramento and the loneliness of her experience as a female 49er.
“Women were scarce in those days. I lived six months in Sacramento and saw only two. There may have been others, but I never see them. There was not time for visiting or gossiping; it was hard work from daylight till dark, and sometimes long after, and I nodded to my neighbor and called out “Good morning” as each of us hung the clothes out to dry on the lines.”
Luzena also wrote about the novelty of being a women in a male dominated community and becomes sentimentally nostalgic about the way white women were treated in the early days when “any woman who had a womanly heart, who spoke a kindly sympathetic word to the lonely, homesick men, was a queen, and lacked not honor which a subject could bestow.”
“In California a woman must be prepared to make her own way.”
In gold rush Sacramento being a white woman often made one a celebrity. The elevated status allowed women the opportunity to become successful at business because they were women. Business opportunities opened for enterprising women in a city dominated by men. Luzena ran a boarding house offering home cooked meals to homesick miners, which made her business an instant success. A number of other women ran restaurants, hotels, and even saloons, the resourceful Mrs. John Zwicker operated a saloon and shooting gallery in the young city. The major money-making source for women lay in the clothing trade. They dominated as dressmakers, and clothing store owners. In the 1855 City Directory, eight women are listed as dressmakers and half of them were single. All of the clothing was custom made and these women did a lively business.
The other aspect of the clothing trade is the cleaning of the garments. In Gold Rush Sacramento the laundry business was largely controlled by Chinese men, but women also found lucrative employment in laundering clothes. African American, Irish and Latinas together made up eighty percent of women employed as laundresses. A twenty-five year old African American woman, Lucinda Blue supported her family in 1852 by taking in laundry when her husband could not find work.
Women’s hats were also in demand and the 1855 Directory lists five women working as milliners. Mrs. M.D. Kellogg and Mrs. J.J. Krauth, owned their shop at 109 J Street. To encourage women to come to California the state passed a law in 1852 which allowed women to transact business in their own name. The 1852 law allowed women to get around the legal custom that decreed American women’s property as falling under the control of husbands, fathers, and brothers. In a state that was rapidly growing this law allowed women to become early entrepreneurs and some of the most successful business owners in the 1850s and 1860s.
Women were also in demand in the entertainment field performing as singers and actresses drawing large crowds of miners into Sacramento to see them in person. One can also not neglect the oldest profession, prostitution. In the early 1850s prostitution flourished in Old Sacramento. In 1850 the Sacramento County Grand Jury focused on early brothels that were located in some of the most desirable areas of the young city. However, the Grand Jury had a difficult time convincing local police to arrest proprietors and employees and generally enforce the law. Rosanna Hughes, a twenty-two year old Irish immigrant came to California in 1852. Rosanna started as a prostitute in the gold fields of El Dorado County making a substantial fortune. In April of 1853 she turned her eye to Sacramento buying a large two-story brick house with eight bedrooms on 3rd Street between J and K. She quickly established her business and became a profitable young madam.
Another smart business woman and madam is Frankie Bass an African American. She owned, resided in and operated a bordello at 16 and 2nd Street. When the house was destroyed by one of the many fires that plagued Sacramento in the early years she was prepared—her property was insured and she quickly rebuilt. The other interesting fact about both Rosanna and Frankie is that they both married after setting up their business and continued to be successful brothel owners for many years.
All of these women and many others found financial fortune in the early days of the city. They withstood loneliness, extreme weather, fires, floods and disease to help domesticate and civilize a rough and ready gold rush boomtown dominated by men. They transformed the city in many ways providing it with a diversity of services, culture, religion, and for a lucky few a stable family life.
Courtesy of the Sacramento Archives and Museum Collection Center.
©2008 Old Sacramento Business Association (OSBA). All Rights Reserved.
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