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California Christmas Wedding of 1853

by Craig and Franklin MacDonald, Ph.D.

The rainy season was on once more
The rain all day was steady
When Christmas Eve was ushered in
Up there in Rough and Ready.

At 8 o’clock the candles beamed
The hotel bell was rung
And soon the hall was crowded
With miners old and young.

John Saunders played a Wedding March
Upon his violin
And in the wedding party came
Amidst an awful din.

Read why the Christmas Wedding of 1853 was a real “Shotgun Wedding!”

We live in a fast-paced world, but at Christmas it’s nice to know that some things are timeless. According to historian Craig MacDonald, the Holiday Season during the early days of the Gold Rush was for many a very harsh, lonely and difficult time to cope with. Miner Elisha Perkins wrote in his diary in 1849: “Oh, how I wish I could spend this day at home, what a ”Merry Christmas” I would have and what happy faces I should see, instead of the disappointed set around me.”

Stories of goodwill abound. Thanks to Good Samaritans, who let strangers in a snowstorm spend the night, everyone witnessed a Christmas miracle, Sierra Style, in Finders Keepers.

In the 1880s, when a 10-year-old named Carl Browne, was told by older friends that Santa was a fake, he refused to disbelieve. He witnessed his own Christmas miracle when Santa Came by Stage.

Women were such a rarity in some areas that miners considered a real holiday treat on Christmas Day was a woman giving birth to a Golden Child.

Those lucky enough to have relatives visit them in California could face a whole new set up problems — especially if they fibbed about their occupations. Two brothers who ran a crude gambling parlor were Banking on a Christmas Gamble when their parents decided to visit them.

Take time to enjoy MacDonald’s Old West Christmas stories!