The Voegele Brothers
and the California Gold Rush

See Also:
Home Page for This Genealogy
Genealogy for the Voegele Family

The original story, as passed down through the generations:

Joseph Voegele (1823-1890) and his brother John traveled to California during the 1849 Gold Rush.
They traveled by ship from New York to San Francisco, a route that included a hike across the isthmus of Panama.
They found a little gold, but not much.
Joseph returned to New York in about 1855 without John, and John was never heard from again.
Joseph made a trip back to California to search for his brother, but had no luck.
While walking back to his home in Lancaster NY on his return from California,
Joseph caught his young son Joseph playing hookey from school.
Years later as an adult, the younger Joseph (1862-1934) would visit California and Washington on business trips and use the trips to continue the search.

My mother Alice (Staebell) Smith and I researched this story in 2017 through 2020.
We discovered the following facts, many of which are at odds with the story we were told:

• Brothers Joseph, Henry, Frank, and John Voegele reside in Erie County, New York, in the censuses of 1850 and 1855.
• Brothers Frank and John appear in Gibsonville, Sierra County, California in the 1860 census.
  The census taker visited Gibsonville on July 19, 1860.
• John appears in the 1860 census twice! He is recorded in Lancaster, New York, on June 28, in his parents' household and then in Gibsonville, California, on July 19, with his brother Frank.
  • This discrepancy provides a clue of when the brothers made their trip:
    They probably left Lancaster the Spring of 1860 and arrived in California in about June.
  • In those days before a transcontinental railroad, travel to California took about three months. Family back home would not receive news of their arrival for another three months.
  • When the census taker visited the Lancaster NY home of John's parents on June 28, 1860, John was not there.
    He had departed some months earlier.
    Not knowing if john had reached California yet, the parents declared him to be a member of their household.
    A hint that John is absent is that he is the last person listed in the household in the census entry, below his younger sisters.
  • Many records show that Joseph remains in New York while his brothers travel California.
    He marries Catherine Ott in 1859,
    and five children are born to them between 1860 and 1868.
• Henry and John Voegele reside in Gibsonville, Sierra County, California in late 1863 or early 1864, according to Civil War Draft Registrations.
  
  • Frank Voegele does not appear in the Civil War Draft Registrations.
    Perhaps he was on his way back home to New York.
• Joseph Voegele resides in Cheektowaga, Erie County, New York, in mid-1863, according to Civil War Draft Registrations
• Frank Voegele is back in Lancaster, New York, by November 1864,
  when he married Caroline Ott.
• Later records in California might or might not be the other two brothers, Henry (born 1827) and John (born 1834):
  • 1870 census: John Fogel, age 35, in San Francisco, born in France
  • 1880 census: John Vogel, age 45, in Yuba City, born in Alsace
  • 1880 census: Henry Vogel, age 52, in La Porte, born in France
  • 1886 newspaper item: John Vogel, age 45, died in Gridley on June 2
• We have not yet found any record of Henry's death.

Conclusions:

Three brothers -- Henry, Frank, and John -- journeyed together to California.
Their older brother Joseph Voegele did not join them on this voyage.
Joseph stayed home in New York to marry and raise a family.
not Joseph and John.
The three brothers began their journey in the Spring of 1860, arriving in California in about June.
In late 1863 or early 1864, Frank returned home to Lancaster, New York, where he married in November 1864.
Henry and John Voegele remained in California for the rest of their days.
Because Henry is not mentioned in our traditional story, he must have maintained contact with his New York family.
John did not maintain contact. Perhaps he died.
Or, John might be the "John Vogel" who lived north of Sacramento in 1880 and died in 1886.
Later, probably in the 1870's, Joseph made his own a trip to California in order to search for John.