These letters were written from Abby, John, and Isaac Cory between 1852 and 1859, though primarily in 1852 and 1853. The Corys wrote letters from Stockton, California to their family in Tiverton, Rhode Island explaining to them their life events during the gold rush. The Corys left from New Bedford, Massachusetts and discussed their journey on the sea, across the isthmus on mule with natives, their arrival in San Francisco, and the muddiness of Stockton.

The  Cory  family  –  John  R.,  Abby,  and  their  daughter  Abby  –  left  their  home  in  New  Bedford,  Massachusetts,  in  1852  to  settle  in  Stockton,  California.  The  Corys  wrote  to  family  in  Tiverton,  Rhode  Island,  about  the  month-long  journey  on  a  steamboat  through  the  Chagres  River  in  Panama,  on  a  mule  across  the  isthmus,  passing  San  Francisco,  and  their  arrival  in  “very  muddy”  Stockton.  While  they  acknowledged  the  temptation  to  prospect  for  gold  in  the  mountains,  John  worked  as  a  wheelwright  and  the  family  maintained  fruit  orchards,  barley  fields,  and  several  cows.