ep. 11 Eliza McKinstry - A Woman of Temperance
This short episode of Ricky's Historical Tidbits is about a lady named Eliza Mckinstry. She is part of the Miners on Main series which is a scavenger hunt coming soon to Main street in Placerville highlighting local people of history that had some kind of impact on the city of Placerville.
Listen, watch or read. I got you covered.
Like I said last episode number 10, oftentimes when working on telling the stories of the common man in history there simply isn't much to say and much you wished you could find. Which is why some episodes are much shorter than others. The story of Eliza Mckinstry has the least information. I searched burial records, birth records obituaries, and newspapers and only found a tidbit of information.
According to the people behind Miners on Main, Eliza came to California as a young widow and mother, soon a preacher for some reason paid a man named Lee McKinstry $500 to court and then marry Eliza. Which is like 20 thousand dollars in today’s money. So that's interesting.
Lee owned a part of the Eagle Hotel on Main St. Eliza was money conscious and when looking into Lee's finances saw that the mortgage for the hotel was more than what the hotel itself was worth. She then took her savings from selling pies and paid off Lee's debts then took over, putting the deed in her own name. Here is a newspaper piece announcing that
After this Eliza went to change the name from Eagle Hotel to The Temperance House. Here is another newspaper clipping announcing the new place.
Mrs. McKinstry ran this place for 2 years and that is the end of the story, No obituary that I could find, not even a grave. I'm sure it's out there but in my research, I couldn't find it. If you have any information to add, you can send me a DM on my Facebook page.
And a reminder, Mrs. McKinstry is one of 10 people who will be featured in the soon-to-come “Miners on Main” over in Placerville which is a scavenger hunt where you can learn about some of the people who made Placerville what it is today. If you haven't already Go check out my other episodes on those featured. My favorite is Snowshoe Thompson.
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