The Bluett Family in Nevada City; A House on the Hill.... (Bluett/Durbin)

 Bourbon Hill Street/Nevada Street  Nevada City 2020 photo by Amy Alden

     John Bluett (1803-1852) married Honor Rodda Bluett (1804-1863) in Cornwall, England and immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1833, bringing with them their children John, Mary Ann and Martha.  This is the story of their son John and his family in Nevada City, California.  John was the older brother of my Great Great Great Grandmother, Harriet Bluett Hurd. 

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John Bluett (1826-1876) m. Susan Tonkin (1835-1878)

  John married Susan Tonkin, and they lived in Nevada City where John worked as a miner.  In the California Voter Register for 1867 John's listed occupation was miner, and his local residence was Nevada (Nevada City, California).  

California Voter Register for 1867.  It is fun to see where residents were from, what their occupations were and where they lived. 

  I am not sure where Susan was born, but it was most likely Cornwall.  Her immigration story was also probably similar to John's.  This is a part of the 1870 U.S. Census listing the Bluett family.  

  The Census does not give an address; the family was just listed as living in dwelling number 635 as the 596th family to be enumerated in the Nevada township.  John was doing fairly well in comparison with his neighbors as he listed the value of his real estate as $1,000 and the value of his personal estate as $200.  The Bluett's children were:  John W. (Wesley) Bluett, aged 10 (he had attended school within the last year), Susie V. (Virginia), aged 8 (she had attended school within the last year), Wm. H. (William Henry), aged 5, James E. (Edward), aged 3 and then Abbie J., aged 1.  

  I found this information at the Nevada County Historical Society/Searls Historical Library in Nevada City, California when I made a stop in June of 2019.  It describes the location of John's house and lot, which was located on the east side of Washington road adj'ing lot of G.H. Soring (?) on the north. I need to go back and actually write down the source of this image....I don't know why I didn't record that information!  A genealogy research gaff.  I do not know the date when this was recorded, but it must have been around 1860-70.   

  

Sadly, Abbie Bluett died on September 6, 1873 at the age of 4 years, cause unknown. 

John Bluett died sometime before his wife Susan Tonkin, possibly at around 1876.  

Susan Tonkin Bluett died 9 April, 1879 per Genealogical Abstracts From Old Mortuary Records, Grass Valley and Nevada City, California, Volume 2 page 9:  

 

  Bluett, Susan age 44 years, 4 months, white female widow, born England, died cancer.  Resident of Nevada City.  April 9, 1879.

Her place of burial is unknown.  She may or may not have been ill  when she made out a will on June 20, 1878.  John Wesley was 19 years old, Susie was 17, William Henry was 14 and James was 13 at the time of her death almost a year later.  What happened to the Bluett children? 

  "......Fourth I do give and bequeath all the residue and remainder of my estate, both the real and personal, and wherever the same may be situated, with my beloved children, John Wesley, Susie Virginia, William Henry, and James Edwards Bluett, share and share alike. It is my desire that should I die during my ownership of that House and lot in Nevada City that said children remain together and make their home in said premises and that my Executors  hereinafter named,  retain said property as a Homestead for my said children...."

  The 1880 U. S. Census listed the Bluett children as living on Nevada Street with John Wesley as Head of Household and working as a laborer, Susan as "keeping house", and Willie and Eddie "at home" (and probably going to school).  So, they were all living together two years after Susan's death, and most likely in the same house that was recorded under John's name.  

  John "Wesley" Bluett served in the Spanish American War in 1898 as a Private at the age of 38.  He worked as a painter.  He lived in Marysville afterwards.  He never married.  He died in 1910 at the age of 49.  He was buried in the Marysville Cemetery. 

  Susie married Alexander Durbin in Nevada City around 1880.  They had 6 children, and continued to live in the house that Susan Bluett left in her will.   Members of this family were buried in the Pine Grove Cemetery in Nevada City.  Susie passed away in 1943.  My daughter and I took a trip in the fall of 2020 to see if we could locate the headstones for the Durbins, and were not able to find them.  I emailed a Durbin cousin from Ancestry, and she stated that she was unable to find where the family was buried, either!  The cemetery is peaceful and beautiful, but is very unkempt with many years worth of leaves, fallen chestnuts and acorns everywhere.  This may take another few trips.  

Pine Grove Cemetery Nevada City, California taken 2020.  Pictures by Patti Alden

Susan Bluett Durbin,  Edith and Edna Durbin (around 1915) shared by Robyn Nikkel on Ancestry.com

    William Henry Bluett lived in Nevada City.  In the California Voter Register for the year 1892 he was  described as being 5' 4 1/2" with a dark complexion, brown eyes and black hair.  He had a missing index finger off of his left hand, and worked as a mill man (sawmill).  He was registered in the Maybert (6 miles upriver from the town of Washington and 5.5 miles south of Graniteville) area of California.   In the California Voter Register for 1896 he is registered in Willow Valley.  He died in 1915 at the age of 50. 

  James Edward Bluett lived in Marysville, California and worked as a farmer and then became the custodian of the Old Marysville Cemetery.  He married Theresa Hering and they had two children. He passed away in 1938.  

So, exactly where was the Durbin House?  

   The entry from the Historical Society describes the residence as being on the east side of  Washington Road.  The 1880 Census lists the residence as being on Nevada Street.  Susie's 1900 Census lists the residence as being in the Willow Valley area of Nevada City.  Her 1910 Census lists the residence as being on Nevada Street.  Her 1920 Census lists the residence as being on Washington Road.  Her 1930 Census just enumerates the family; it doesn't give an address other than Nevada Township.  Her 1940 Census is even more interesting: it lists the address as being on the Tahoe-Ukiah Highway (State Route 20).  But, I believe, the house was always in the same place.  

   This is a newspaper snippet from an unknown date. (Thank goodness my relatives saved newspaper snippets!).   Extrapolating using the deaths of Alexander Durbin (1936) and Susie Durbin (1943), the sale of the house probably took place after 1943.  The new owner, Felix M. Anthony, was living in Piedmont as of the 1940 Census.  So, this was probably published after 1943.  One item is incorrect:   W. H. (William Henry) was John's son, Susie's brother.  The home was willed to the children, so W. H. would not have purchased it.  This would be the house that the Bluett children lived in when both of their parents were gone.  Unless, it is a completely different house in the same neighborhood. Which is always possible.  This house was built in the 1850's, and would not have burned in the several fires that swept through downtown Nevada City at that time.  

Newspaper article from the Sacramento Union 30 July 1916.  The Durbin house was "out on upper Nevada Street".  Nina was Susie and Alexander's youngest daughter born July 24, 1895. Edna (Mrs. Gatliff) was Nina's older sister, who was born July 24, 1882. 

The location may have been somewhere at the top of Nevada Street, near Highway 20 and near Washington Road (top center of map).  This location  could also be considered to be in the Willow Valley area, and also in the Bourbon Hill neighborhood.  Depending on the whim of the Census taker.  On the other side of S.R. 20 near this location is Manzanita Diggings Drive.  The Hurd family lived "above the Manzanita Mine" in the 1850's and early 60's when they were in Nevada City.  Harriet Bluett Hurd was John's sister.  The Manzanita Mine was located between Harmony Ridge and S.R. 20 to the northwest of Sugarloaf Mountain.  This whole area was where hydraulic mining took place in the 1850's up until the 1880's in Nevada City. 

This drawing depicts the hydraulic mine at Chalk Bluff above Nevada City, California.  Courtesy of The Union/Grass Valley Archive

  The clue about the walnut trees stood out to me.....in my research I found some very interesting information that I never knew about my hometown. The Durbins had a unique connection to Felix Gillet with those walnut trees. 

  Felix Gillet was living in Nevada City in the 1870's and imported, bred and introduced most of the foundational plants of  California and the Pacific Northwest.  He began cultivating and selling perennial fruit trees, grapes and nuts, which in turn created mega agricultural industries.  There is currently a Felix Gillet Institute which is a non profit organization that identifies, preserves and propagates the best of the varieties still thriving in the mining camps, farms, homesteads and towns of the Sierra.  This website is a fascinating read.       https://felixgillet.org/ 

Felix Gillet's 1880 Catalog from Nevada City, California

  His description of his walnut trees for sale in his 1880 catalog reads...."This new variety of Jaglans Regia family was introduced by us in California in the year 1871, and our place, in Nevada City, are the first trees of that kind, some only three years old, that produced fruit in this country....We consider this new variety as most valuable as a nut-tree to our young state."  

  Felix Gillet's "Barren Hill" Nursery was located around Nursery Street and Pear Tree Lane (on Aristocracy Hill) not too far from the Bluett's and Durbin's home.  The walnut trees at the Durbin home  were probably some of the first trees that Felix had propagated on his property and shared with his neighbors.  He named his nursery "Barren Hill" because at that time all the vegetation had been washed away from hydraulic mining.  He worked for years reclaiming the land and created a thriving and very successful nursery business.  There is a plaque commemorating his work located on the stone gates on Nursery Street, the former entrance to his home and nursery.  He was buried in the Pioneer Cemetery at the top of Broad Street.  

  So, more research is needed on this family.  The house may still be there and the walnut trees may still be there.    A genealogist's job is never done...

Relationship Reference:  Me->Margaret Hansen Boothby->Harold Hansen->Vere Hansen Burrows->Elizabeth Jane Hurd Burrows->Harriet Bluett Hurd->John Bluett from Cornwall.