Electa Louisa Newberry1

F, #18520, b. Apr 14, 1827, d. Feb 13, 1888

Family 1

Robert A. Lee
Child

Family 2

George John Wixon b. Apr 14, 1810, d. Apr 20, 1863
Children

Family 3

Horace Mansur b. Dec 16, 1820, d. Oct 19, 1900

Chronological Events

Birth*Apr 14, 1827 Electa Louisa Newberry was born on Apr 14, 1827 at Brownhelm, Lorain County, Ohio, United States.1,2 
Marriage*Mar 7, 1845 She married Robert A. Lee on Mar 7, 1845 at Lee, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States.3 
Marriage*circa 1847 Electa Louisa Newberry married George John Wixon, son of Barnabus Wixon Jr. and Lydia Wixon, circa 1847 at Provo, Utah County, Utah, United States.1 
Marriage*circa 1872 Electa Louisa Newberry married Horace Mansur circa 1872 at Placer County, California, United States.2 
Death*Feb 13, 1888 Electa Louisa Newberry died on Feb 13, 1888, at age 60 at San Francisco, San Francisco County, California, United States.2 
ObituaryFeb 14, 1888  OBITUARY: Electa was the eighth of ten children born to James A. Newberry and Mary (Smith) Newberry. Her siblings were Jane (1812-1907, m. Jacob Crandall), John Smith (1814-1870, m. Lucinda Williams), Abraham Benjamin (1818-1898, m. Eliza Ann Duty), James Washington (1819-1895, m. Edith Benedict), Sarah "Sally" (1821-1907, m. Calvin C. Pendleton), Hannah Maria (1823-1893, m. George Morris), Esther (1829-1891, m. Edward Beebee) and Martha "Patty (1832-1917, m. George Hyatt).

Electa married George John Wixon (who went by "John") on the trail to Utah in 1847. She had an earlier marriage to Robert A. Lee and was shown as "Electra Louisa Newberry Lee" (20) with her daughter, "Martha A. (2)" in the immigration records for the "Abraham O. Smoot - George B. Wallace Company". The immigrants arrived at the Great Salt Lake in late September of that year.

Electa and John, with Martha and new daughter Sarah, immigrated to California in 1849. They opened the "Miners Inn", which John had shipped "Around the Horn" from his home in Massachusetts. It was reassembled on the old, Sacramento to Auburn road in what is now Placer County. The hotel was later moved a few miles northeast, to the north side of Miners' Ravine, just east of its confluence with Grapevine Ravine. This was northwest of the American River mining community of Horse Shoe Bar (now under Folsom Lake). There, it was renamed the "Franklin House".

John and Electa had six children: Sarah A. (m. George N. Hobbs), Mary F. "Fanny" (m. Joseph Fletcher), Almond, Helen Jane, William H. and John. They are shown in the 1850 U.S. Federal Census with three of the blended family children (Horse Shoe Bar, Sutter County), the 1852 California Census with five (Miners Ravine, Placer County) and the 1860 U.S. Federal Census with all seven, plus nine tenants (Secret Ravine P.O., Placer County).

John Wixon left the area sometime in 1861. He returned to his previous wife in Massachusetts, Sally, a few months before he died in 1863. He had had Electa declare herself as an "independent operator" in local newspapers in September, 1860.

Electa continued to operate the hotel after John left. Daughter Helen Jane died there in 1860 and son John in 1863. Both children were buried on the property. When the trans-continental railroad was completed a few miles north in 1869, travel on the Sacramento-Auburn Road (now Auburn-Folsom Rd.) was reduced. She turned the hotel into a farm home and opened a livery stable in nearby, Newcastle, California.

Electa married neighbor Horace Mansur in 1872, his wife (and her friend), Abby having died in 1855. They lived in the Franklin House until they died, she in 1888 and he in 1900. There was no issue from this union.

Electa died while visiting San Francisco. She was buried in the Newcastle Cemetery, but her marker has not been found and original cemetery records are lost.

The Franklin House was destroyed in a "mysterious fire" in November 1906 but it's name lives on as the origin of Placer County's, "Franklin District". During Electa's residence, it had been a favorite meeting and entertainment place. It was also an election polling location. Both John Wixon and Horace Mansur had been polling judges.

Note: See Electa's listing in the Rootsweb, "dvmansur" database for more (search for, "Electa Newberry").

Information found on Find-A-Grave.com.4
 
Burial*Feb 15, 1888 She was buried on Feb 15, 1888 at Newcastle Cemetery, Newcastle, Placer County, California, United States, Find A Grave Memorial# 118841616.5 
Will*Mar 20, 1888 She left a will on Mar 20, 1888. Probate records listed Electa as 61 years of age when she died. In her will, she had bequethed all of her property to her husband Horace Mansur, if he survived, and if not, to her surviving children (five in the will) and her stepson James Crombie Mansur. Probate completed on 20 Mar 1888 indicating her death on 13 Feb of that year. 

Citations

  1. [S802] Site - Ancestry.com, online at http://www.ancestry.com
  2. [S79] Gravestones - Find-A-Grave.com, online at findagrave.com.
  3. [S815] Site - FamilySearch.org, online at http://www.familysearch.org
  4. [S19] Obituary - Online, Newspaper or Funeral Home.
  5. [S58] Gravestones - Death Cert, Find-A-Grave, BillionGraves.