Tuleburg to Knights Ferry

Isaac Dakin circa 1865 about 5 years after he moved to Knight's Ferry

Probably around 1858, Isaac Dakin and Laura Jameson arrive in Knights Ferry from Stockton. Laura's sister, Mary was already living there with her husband, David Merril Locke who figures later in the story. Knights Ferry is located on the norther shore of the Stanislaus River. Today it boasts the longest covered bridge in California and is the river rafting capital of the Stanislaus.

William Knight was the founder of Knight's Ferry (1849) and was killed in a gun fight on November 9th of the following year. John and Lewis Dent bought up the townsite and the surrounding land from James Vantine, William Knight's partner, for a paultry sum and began developing the township in 1851.

The Dents sold parcels in town, but for those showing interest in starting needed business, they cut a special deal. Isaac and Laura were given their lots for free since a blacksmith shop would provide an essential service for those in town as well as those on their way to the gold fields.

"The Dakins were about to cast their fortune with the tiny community just
getting a foothold on the north bank of the Stanislaus River. Traffic
between Tuleburg... and the recently discovered gold fields around Sonora, was
picking up dramatically.

all day long the road was marked by dusty clouds kicked up by horses, oxen,
mules and churning wheels. All night it was lighted by hundreds of
blinking lanterns hung from wagons traveling in both directions.

Isaac read the future with uncanny accuracy. He had heard, as he
labored in a Tuleburg blacksmith shop, that an establishment of like kind was
needed at the halfway station, Knights Ferry, to repair wagons and equipment of
the thousands of men as the dream of gold fortune led them that
direction."

Digby Nova Scotia to Knights Ferry, California

Isaac works in Tuleburg

It is a mystery to me why and how Isaac Dakin grew to manhood, decided to leave Digby and head southwest. All that I know is that Isaac was born in 1826 in Digby and by the 1850's was a blacksmith in Tuleburg, California. Tuleburg, later known as Stockton, was a port that supplied central California from ships traveling up the Stockton River from the San Francisco Bay. The area exploded with activity as would-be goldminers known as '49ers' descended on the area surrounding Sutter's Mill. Isaac worked in a blacksmith's shop when he met Laura Marie Jameson.

Stockton is to the northwest from Knights Ferry about 45 miles Farmington is about half way to Stockton

Contested Dates

It is a bit fuzzy exactly what happened here, because there is more than one source of information. According to John Criswell, writing about Knights Ferry history, Laura and Isaac were married in Tuleburg, gathered all their belongings and moved to Knights Ferry in 1853. He writes: "On April 2, 1853, two ox-powered freight wagons pulled into Knight's Ferry and stopped in the plaza on Main St. One wagon, loaded with blacksmithing equipment and supplies, was driven by Isaac Dakin. The other, containing personal articles was driven by Isaac's new bride, the former Laura Jameson." The Dakin Family Bible contests this dating. The Bible was given to Laura on January 21, 1861 and records in a flourishing hand that Isaac and Laura were married December 31, 1859. Irene Paden, daughter of Isaac & Laura's first child, Wilbur, writes in Big Oak Flat Road to Yosemite that Isaac and his family built and occupied their house in Knights Ferry in the late '50's. All this is to say, when there is more than one source there is likely a controversy. Gratefully, the rest of the story only briefly interupts John Criswell's Knight's Ferry's Century Old Structures, 1981.

Oh, Canada!

An Interesting Mix
It appears that the rejection of Puritanism ran wider than religious conviction. The Dakin brood had a diverse and complex expression of loyalties and aversions. After Timothy became Quaker and moved with his wife Lydia to New Amsterdam (Dutch colony) there seems to be a partial change of direction in the next generation. Thomas, who was mentioned briefly in the last post, reverses field, at least in political pursuasion.

Heading North
A year after his mother's last child was born, twenty-five year old Thomas Dakin was married to Rebecca Hitchcock in near by Amenia, New York (1772). Rebecca was from the Connecticut coastal town of Norwalk some 25 miles south of Danbury. They began having children 8 years later with Daniel (1780). Three years later, with a second child in tow, the Dakins move from New York to Digby, Nova Scotia. There the rest of the Dakins were born in or around Digby: Isaac (1783), Jacob (1786), Rebecca (1788), William F. (1791), and Thomas (1796).


While today moves are often inspired by economic pressures, in these early years, as we have seen, families move in response to religious and political forces (which may also have economic implications). Thomas and Rebecca seemed to have moved to Digby, because they were Loyalists to the Crown.

A Political Flavor
In 1783, Admiral Robert Digby established Digby, Nova Scotia. The central theme of the new municipality was loyalty to the King (George III, no less). The movement at the time was called United Empire Loyalists and many American loyalists became part of the colony. Thomas' name appears among 300 others on a Land Grant of Confirmation for Digby February 20, 1784. As recently as 2008 there was a Dakin reunion in colaboration with 3 other families gathering 75 people from California, Texas, and other unlikely contributors to Nova Scotia. Even more surprising was that these families celebrated their Loyalist roots!

The Trades
The Nova Scotian Dakins that followed were particularly focused on shipbuilding out of near by Centreville and fishing out of Grand Harbour, New Brunswick. One of the oldest structures in Digby is still known as the Woodrow/Dakin House. For other interesting bits of history Google: Admiral Digby Museum.

The Next Generation of Canadian Dakins
The last of Thomas' offspring was, again, Thomas (b. Trout Cove, 24 October, 1796) The children seem to have taken turns being born either in Digby or Trout Cove, a near by town. Thomas married Eliza Morton (b 21, April, 1800) in May, 1822. Eliza was born in Digby Neck, another Digby spinoff. Their children consolidated their landings in one place: Centreville, NS. They were Lucy Ann, Charles Morton, Isaac, Silas, Robert Henry, Margaret Catharine, Albion Leonard, Solomon Morton, Thomas Allen and Mary Eliza (died as a child).

This is the Isaac We Are Looking For
This Isaac Dakin is the one we know from Laurel Glen. He was born in Centreville, Nova Scotia. but the next time we hear from him he is living in Stockton, California and courting a young woman named Laura Maria Jameson. Stay tuned.