In many cases, finding historical documentation of a person’s everyday life is difficult, if not impossible. People may not have kept diaries, if they could read or write at all, or first-hand accounts have been lost to time. Etta (Stevens) Pullen, however, kept diaries meticulously. As a result, a good portion of her life is well-documented.
Etta was born in 1849 in Maine. Etta’s diaries begin in 1864, the year her family left Maine for California. On February 6th, she writes about going to “see the soldiers go out,” as the 30th Maine Regiment was heading off to war. By June the Stevens family was preparing to head west. Etta and her sister Rachel were “vaxinated” and they were packing and selling their belongings. The Stevens travelled west on a ship via the Isthmus canal, and Etta details her homesickness while on the ship.
1865 and 1866 were sparse years in Etta’s diaries. She began teaching in Anderson Valley in 1866 for a three-month term, and she “boarded around,” likely staying with the families of local students, which many rural teachers did. She was paid $40 a month. By her last year teaching in 1872, she earned $75 a month.
On February 12, 1873 Etta recorded her marriage to Wilder Pullen. Wilder occasionally added notes into Etta’s diary, and on this day, he wrote that the couple arrived home at 11 o’clock, “Moon out, bright just as we got there.” Etta added a note to this page, seemingly much later, stating “His diary ceased from then, or ours mingled with one (as our lives did). In mine I find occasional entries written by his dear hand.”
The following entries record the daily lives of the Pullens and life on their ranch in Little River. Both Etta and Wilder’s families lived close by, and she uses nicknames for them throughout the diary that sometimes makes identifying people difficult. In July of 1873, Etta wrote that “A stranger slept in the barn and ate breakfast—the fourth … since I was here.”
Etta was a skilled seamstress and made clothing for herself, Wilder, her sisters, and nieces. One dress in 1873 took six weeks to complete. She got her first sewing machine in 1878, and by 1903 she was using a dressmaker occasionally. Etta wasn’t the biggest fan of the dressmaker however, writing “Am getting tired of running to dress makers. Several hours there.” Later entries show that she kept sewing her own clothes regularly.
Kelley House Museum curator Averee McNear writes a weekly column on Mendocino County history for Mendocino Voice. To learn more, visit kelleyhousemuseum.org.
My great grandmother was the firstborn of the Plaskett family who had a land grant on the Pacific coast. She was the first white child born on the Mendocino coast before they moved to Monterey County. She was her mom’s midwife who Married my great grandfather at age 15 or 16. He was in his 30s. They say she saw me in 1941 right after I was born. She died shortly thereafter.Our family numbered 12 as did hers. HEARST bought both families property and both settled on Jolon Road. The Mansfields near the grade and the Plasketts further down the road.
Not so many of us live on the road now. My brother Mike is there near the grade. Plasketts are still in the area. Our generation is dying off. I am 84.