California Brothers" Copied in Manuscript by T.F. Rodenbaugh December 1857

California Brothers" Copied in Manuscript by T.F. Rodenbaugh December 1857

Single leaf with manuscript content on both sides measures 12.5 x 7.75 inches. Chipping and slight content loss to left side and top of right side. 2 x 1.5-inch piece missing from bottom corner with partial loss of one word. Fair Condition.

Manuscript lyrics for the song "The California Brothers" as copied by Theophilus Francis Rodenbaugh in 1857, for John G. Morgan, Mount Kirk Seminary. The song was put to music in 1855 as "The Dying California of the Brother's Request Ballad", published by Oliver Ditson of Boston. The lyrics by an unknown lyricist were probably first published in the early 1850's in a New England newspaper, the "New England Diadem and Rhode-Island Temperance Pledge."

We find little about the Mount Kirk Seminary or John G. Morgan other than one reference that the seminary was in Pennsylvania. T.F. Rodenbough (1838-1912) was a Civil War Soldier and prisoner of war (Battle of Second Bull Run) who was awarded the Medal of Honor and memorialized in a monument at Gettysburg.

The lyrics as published in the newspaper "New England Diadem and Rhode-Island Temperance Pledge" and reflected the darker side of the California Gold Rush with a dying miner's last requests. Music by A.L. Lee

"Tell them I never reached the haven
Where I sought the precious dust,
But I've gained a port called heaven
Where the gold doth never rust."

The lyrics are filled with religious sentimentality with a strong family connection--the words of a dying young man far from home seeking salvation. The manuscript lyrics are essentially the same as modern published lyrics found online.