author
Kimball Webster
1828–1916
Best known for preserving a firsthand account of the California Gold Rush, this New Hampshire surveyor and engineer wrote with the clarity of someone who had actually made the journey west. His work also reflects a deep interest in local history, especially the story of Hudson, New Hampshire.
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About the author
Born on November 2, 1828, in Pelham, New Hampshire, he became an American civil engineer and surveyor. Records from the Boston Public Library describe him as the son of John and Hannah (Cummings) Webster and note his schooling in Pelham and Hudson, New Hampshire.
He is most closely associated with The Gold Seekers of '49, a narrative based on his diary of an overland trip to California that began in April 1849. The Library of Congress describes the book as the account of a New Hampshire farmer who traveled west during the Gold Rush and remained in California and Oregon until 1854, giving the memoir the immediacy of lived experience.
Later in life, he also turned to local history. He wrote History of Hudson, N.H., formerly a part of Dunstable, Mass., 1673–1733, showing the same care for detail that marks his travel writing. He died in 1916.