Nancey Kelsey: The True Story of the First American Woman in California

Nancy Kelsey was just seventeen years old when she set out with her husband to travel to faraway California. The Kelseys joined the first wagon train of Americans to seek a new life in the West. Thirty-two men crossed the desert and the mountains, and she was the only woman in the company. Tornadoes, swollen rivers, herds of buffalo, burning deserts and snow-capped mountains; she faced every obstacle and every peril that the men did, and she did it carrying her little daughter in her arms. In Sonoma she witnessed the Bear Flag Revolt, baked bread for John C. Fremont and his men, and helped to create the California Bear Flag.
Nancy Leek, author of the children's book "Nancey Kelsey Comes Over The Mountain" will be at the BCHS Museum on November 21st discussing the life and times of early California pioneer Nancy Kelsey. Mrs. Kelsey was the only woman member of the Bidwell-Bartleson wagon train that arrived in California in late 1841 (without their wagons!)