(1) John Jackson Lewis, (2) Edith May (Lewis) Rider, (3) Marian Faith (Rider) Irwin, (4) Marian Dunlap (Irwin) Guion, (5) Judith Anne Guion.
The following are transcriptions of John Jackson Lewis’s diary and journal of his voyage to California in 1851. He was travelling from New York to visit his older brother William in San Jose.
Excerpts from a letter dated San José, March 30, 1851
The day before yesterday I saw a coyota, the first live one that I have seen. The Texan tells me that they are precisely the same as the prairie wolf of our Western States; so as you have a description of them in Godman’s Natural History, I need not attempt it. At any rate this one was too far off for me to give a very accurate description of him. The creek which passes between here and the Pueblo, I suppose derives its name from this animal. The term “creek”, when applied to this stream, implies something very different from what we are accustomed to see at home. The stream of water at present, is somewhere near the size of that at the bottom of our meadow in New Garden, but the bed of the stream is another affair. I have seen none of it as yet, except so far as I could see up and down from the place where we cross it in going to or from town, that I think I can safely say that it is from 50 to 250 yards wide, and from 10 to 25 or 30 feet deep in different parts of it; a deep gulch dug out of the plain, and the dirt all gone somewhere, forming a channel which when full, would contain a fully as much water as the Christiana Creek at Wilmington. This channel was full last “rainy season”, this one there has not been rain enough to raise the streams. From the depth of the channel, the stream is useless for the purpose of irrigation, unless pumps are resorted to. At the time I came here, tho’ nominally the rainy season, the ground was hard and dry, cracking in some places, and the grass beginning to die. Since that time we have had several fine showers, and the prospect is much more encouraging. I suppose from what I have heard that more rain has fallen since my arrival, then in all the former part of the winter. Wasn’t it a lucky thing for the Californians that I came? When it rains here in the Valley, it frequently snows on the mountains. We can see considerable bodies of snow to-day cresting the mountains on either side of us. The altitude of these mountains is not sufficient to retain the snow for any considerable length of time; – it generally vanishes in a day or two. We have heavy frosts nearly every morning, and the air is rather keen. After the sun gets up a short distance, it becomes warm and pleasant, and this continues until the latter part of the day, when the wind rises, and by evening becomes quite disagreeably cool. This is the usual state of the weather, but on days immediately preceding a rain it is frequently calm all day. I suppose this may be accounted for in this way. The regular winds are from the North West; the winds which produce rain are from the opposite direction. The countercurrents produce an equilibrium, which lasts sometimes a day or two before the South East finally prevails. Take the weather altogether it is much more pleasant than in the same month at home. The ground don’t freeze; the grass grows, the flowers bloom on injured.
I will post the rest of this section next Saturday.
Tomorrow, the second half of Army Life, Marriage and the Army, about Lad and Marian Guion’s travels shortly after they were married and before Lad is shipped overseas.
On Monday, I’ll begin posting more of “The Beginning”, Reminiscences of Alfred D Guion, the story of his early life, marriage, the birth of the children and the early years living in Trumbull, Connecticut.
Judy Guion
"Greatest Generation" Life Lessons 
your ancestor’s fluency is so much to be admired; as is your determination to make such wonderful snippets available to readers of your posts.
Maureen – Thank you for your thoughts. I must apologize for the tardiness of my reply but it was that “dead” computer thing again.