In History: Hattie Tom of El Dorado County
Jun 24, 2016 09:23AM ● By Jerrie Beard
Prior to the Gold Rush, the valleys, hills and forests of present-day El Dorado County were home to Nisenan, Maidu, Miwok and Washoe tribes. In 1848, miners heading east in search of gold, and emigrants traveling west to California began encroaching on the ancestral homes of these Native Americans. While the natives were not naturally hostile, they began taking advantage of their new neighbors, stealing horses, cattle and provisions from miners and emigrants. Settlers traveling across Johnson’s Cutoff were routinely attacked.
Hostilities on both sides escalated as a cycle of murder and retaliation ensued. Miners would punish alleged murderous Native Americans by attacking and destroying a nearby village—whether or not the inhabitants were the perpetrators of the crime. The Native Americans would retaliate with more bloodshed. Small armies of concerned citizens began forming in Placerville, Camino, Diamond Springs, Coloma and neighboring towns.
By the fall of 1850, the fray had become so heated that the governor of California ordered Sheriff William Rogers to form a militia to keep the emigrant trail open and the natives under control. Through the winter and spring of 1851, the militia and natives engaged in numerous skirmishes. The militia continued the incendiary campaign at every rancheria they came upon—leaving countless natives homeless. In one 24-hour period, it was reported that the militia destroyed four villages along the South Fork of the American River.
Hattie and Emma Tom were among those displaced. As told by Hattie years later, when the white men came upon her village, the Native Americans fled. Emma, her aunt, placed her in a depression and covered her with brush. She stayed there until the next morning when Emma came back for her.
It’s unclear what happened to the rest of the people from Hattie’s village, but she and Emma stayed in the Camino area. They adapted to the ways of the white man and lived peacefully among them well into the 20th century. At some point, Hattie married a white man by the name of Boles. They had a son, who died around 1900 at the age of 16. According to Hattie, Boles treated her well, but left home one day and never returned. Years later, a stranger approached her and told her he had been a tent-mate of Boles during the Civil War.
Hattie and Emma were well-liked by their white neighbors. They spent time on the Rupley Ranch and the Johnson Ranch, and cooked and washed for several families in the area. Hattie regularly visited Milt Morris, a United States Forest Service ranger at Pacific Ranger Station, and often had lunch with his wife and children.
The two ladies eventually returned to, and settled, in the Camino area; in 1897, Emma filed for a homestead patent. Their property included a 16-by-18-feet log house, 60 fruit trees, and a fenced acre for a garden.
Emma died in 1908 and was buried on the homestead along with Hattie’s son. In 1925, Hattie was badly injured by a fallen tree limb. Her longtime friend Milt Morris found her and took her to the El Dorado County Hospital where she lived until her death in December 1928. She was buried in the Indian Cemetery on Johnson Ranch.