by Linda Jesmok and Sue Ziemski
Note: The exhibit described below is no longer on display at NCHS, but we've kept this article here for educational purposes and your enjoyment.
As a partner for the new exhibit at the Napa County Historical Society, City of Immigrants: An American Story, the Napa Valley Genealogical Society dove into our records and those available online to build stories around four individuals who lived in the Valley between the 1830s and 1920s. One of our goals was to choose a variety of everyday people who represent the diversity of the Valley but are different from the historic individuals usually covered in the histories of the time. We searched through governmental records, photographs, and newspapers building out chronicles of facts from birth to death. Joseph Chenette, Araminta Blake/McComb/Sawyer, Enos Anthony Valencia, and Levi Asa Chapman came from different backgrounds, but all lived and worked in Napa Valley during the first hundred years of mass historic immigration. All but one were born elsewhere.
Although we found photos of all three men, there is no known photo of Araminta McComb Sawyer. The seven US censuses of the period between 1850 and 1920 do not always capture everyone and we are missing the important 1890 federal census which was destroyed by fire. We found often confusing and contradictory information because families shared names and the spelling of these names varies by document. Without a doubt, the information assembled is uneven but it is enticing and we are excited to share it.
Our assembled information was taken by the Historical Society's Exhibit Committee and translated into a visual exhibit for each person. The Historical Society's Tidings article showcases some of the challenges we were confronted with when researching these four Napa Pioneers. The full-length article delves deeper to help clear up some misnomers and further build out the lives of Joseph Chenette, Araminta Blake/McComb/Sawyer, Enos Anthony Valencia, and Levi Asa Chapman.
The first challenge we ran into was searching out international and other state documents. Joseph Chenette was a shoemaker by profession who owned a shoe shop in Napa and lived on Vallejo Street between 1880 and his death in 1904. He was born in French-speaking Quebec, Canada in 1825 (St. Denis-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada Baptismal Records). Joseph lived in Illinois, Oregon, and Washington before coming to Napa. We were able to trace marriage records and births of his children creating a chronicle of where he lived and when. We also found references to Chenette’s patents for an extendable shoe last (a tool used for crafting and repairing footwear) and a self-threading sewing machine. Possibly the most interesting story regarding Mr. Chenette was about his huge diorama of the City of Babylon that he offered to the Chicago World Fair (Napa Journal 27 October 1890). Unfortunately, the model was rejected and its fate was lost to time.
Another challenge we ran up against was the similarity of names and spelling of names. Araminta Blake and Levi Asa Chapman were particularly challenging in this respect. Araminta Blake came to Napa from Indiana in the early 1850s with her brother Aaron. At age 14, Araminta married Isaac McComb in 1856 (Napa Marriage Records). Isaac’s family came to Napa in 1848 with James Clyman’s wagon train (Clyman Wagon Train Roster 1848). He had a sister named Araminta who also immigrated to Napa in 1848 at age 34. In subsequent documents, Araminta’s name is spelled Aramenta, Amita, and Arimintha. To make it even more confusing after divorcing her first husband in 1870, and remarrying John Earl Sawyer, Araminta went by her middle name Henriette.
Levi Chapman came from a large extended family in Connecticut. Within the family the name Levi and Asa were very popular, making it often confusing who was who. Cousins and brothers Lyman, Asa, Solon, Levi, William, and Stephen all immigrated from Ledyard and Groton, Connecticut between 1848 and 1860. Levi’s father Levi came to California in 1848 prospecting at Hawkin’s Bar (St Helena Star 28 January 1938). The Chapmans owned farms, hotels, and grocery stores, as well as managed banks and insurance companies. The fact that Levi’s middle name was Asa makes it easy to confuse who did what in Napa. His cousin Asa had a big house that is captured in a lithograph by Smith & Elliot (Illustrations of Napa County, California), but Levi and his wife Pauline lived on Randolph Street throughout most of their marriage and ran the grocery on the southeast corner of Brown and First Streets (Polk’s Napa City Directories 1898, 1900, 1904, 1906).
Finally, avoiding being captured in the government census is not a modern phenomenon. No census is perfect, individuals were claimed to be living with families when they had already left and not claimed when they might have been absent the day the census taker arrived. Evidence of prevailing racism, chauvinism, and political preference is evident in who was recorded and who was left out. The US Federal Census of 1850 only records around 400 people living in Napa Valley, none of which are Mexican or First People, yet the California Economic Census of 1852 records over 400 Mexican and First People living in the Valley. The City Directories of the late 19th century omitted women and their professions mainly due to the political fight for Women’s Suffrage at the time.
Enos Valencia is the only one of the historic pioneers that we researched who was born in Napa. He was born on George Yount’s rancho in 1860 and although he was not captured in a census until 1900, Enos was a well-known hunter and hunting dog trainer. Numerous articles in the local paper remarked on his exploits and through his connections to Martha Higuerra Frias we learn of his parents and childhood (Napa Journal 10 December 1891). It is also through the newspaper that we have a picture of Enos (Napa Journal 9 February 1936). His life is also captured in marriage and voting registrations and thus we know that it was his second wife Flora Rojas Valencia who sold the popular tamales from her home and later ran a tamale parlor.
Although the information we were able to assemble for these four historic Napa pioneers is uneven, we were able to use the documents available online and in the archives to build out their lives, catch glimpses of their trials and successes, and gain a perspective of early historic Napa Valley. These individuals saw great changes in Napa Valley through the course of their lives, experiencing mass immigration into the Valley that dramatically transformed the region. They witnessed the transfer of governance from the First People to Mexico, to the United States, and they contributed to everyday life.
We hope you enjoyed this glimpse into the lives of Joseph, Araminta, Enos, and Levi!
Read the full-length article on the NCHS website. Visit the exhibit through March 30, 2024.
