1st Edition

The Townsend Family in the Emerging American West, 1856–1926 Searching for the Motherlode

By Susan E. James Copyright 2025
286 Pages 32 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

286 Pages 32 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

286 Pages 32 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book examines the life of the Townsend family and the events that occurred during the period of 1856–1926 that shaped an expanding American West. Bryant and Julia (Riley) Townsend and their three children were born into an age of rapid change and competing cultures. Witnesses to a century of events that shaped a nation, their lives define the complexities and challenges of incomers who... Read more

1.  Westward Ho!   2. Gold Hill, Nevada, 1864   3. Newlyweds on the Comstock, 1864-1868  4. Bonanza and Borasco, 1868-1878   5. Interlude: San Luis Obispo, 1878-1879   6.  Return to the Motherlode, 1878-1886  7. Death and Consequences, 1886-1896  8. Waiters, Abusers and Julia’s Ghost, 1890-1900  9. Identity, Independence and Entrepreneurship, 1901-1922  10. How It Ended, 1906-1963

Biography

Susan E. James is an independent researcher who has published articles on the American West as well as three books on sixteenth-century English history: Kateryn Parr: The Making of a Queen (1999), The Feminine Dynamic in English Art, 1485–1603: Women as Consumers, Patrons and Painters (2009) and Women’s Voices in Tudor Wills, 1485–1603: Authority, Influence and Material Culture (2015).