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John Jackson Waste
settled in Princeton, Colusa County |
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We don't know exactly what he did
next but our family has his diploma from the Mechanics Institute
in San Francisco, dated September, 1858. The Institute was incorporated
in 1855, a mere 6 years after the Gold Rush began. The Mechanics
Institute diploma is inscribed with the words "Arts, Science,
Industry, Commerce".
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John Jackson Waste's
Mechanics Institute diploma
This framed document has
been passed down through the years in my family.
Click on the diploma to see
large version and learn more about the Mechanics Institute. |
At some point between 1853 and 1858
he traveled north up the Sacramento River valley to Princeton
in Colusi County and settled there. He went into farming, raised
cattle and also purchased a livery stable. The area he settled
in was, in those days, subject to frequent flooding and mosquitos.
When the Sacramento River overflowed it's banks after the winter
rains the floodwaters often reached several miles away from the
main channel. He was one of the first settlers of the county
as well as one of the first permanent residents of the new state
of California. (Statehood was granted in 1850.) |
Princeton Ferry
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Princeton Ferry on
the Sacramento River in Colusa County |
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J. J. Waste met the McIntosh
and Helphinstine families
He would eventually be married to
three different women from those families. |
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In 1852, the McIntosh and Helphinstine
wagon train members arrived in California. They had lived in the
bluegrass area of Kentucky. In the wagon train there were three
generations - the eldest being Frederick McIntosh and his wife
Rebecca Helphinstine and some of their brothers and sisters.
Then there was a large number of the McIntosh and Helphinstine
children, some of them already married with children themselves.
Young and old, they all arrived as settlers, having been sent
for by Frederick's son John William McIntosh who had been a '49'er
and returned to tell them about the wonders of California. The
years went by and the families prospered. Click on the link below
to learn more about the McIntosh and Helphinstine families of
early 1850's California.
On August 5, 1858, John Jackson Waste
married Margaret Ann Helphinstine. Margaret's father was J. P. J. Helphinstine, one of Rebecca's brothers who had come west
in 1852 from their home in Kentucky.
The newlyweds lived on John's farm
in Princeton. But on October 17, 1860, Maggie Waste gave birth
to a daughter named Margaret and just two days later, Margaret
died. Sadly, the little girl they had named Margaret also died.
Margaret Ann Helphinstine
Birth: March 30, 1843 in
Estill County, Kentucky
Died: Oct. 19, 1860 in Princeton, Colusa County, Calif, aged
17
Buried: in the cemetery at Princeton
Margaret was the daughter of John Peter Helphinstine and Mary
Paden of Kentucky. In 1852, when she was only nine years old,
her parents and older brother traveled overland to California
by wagon train with a large group of other Helphinstine and McIntosh
family members. She marrried John Jackson Waste on Aug. 5, 1858
in Princeton, Colusa County, at the age of 15. She died on Oct.
19, 1860, just two days after giving birth to a daughter named
Maggie. Little Maggie lived until she was 3 years and 3 months
old. Margaret and Maggie Waste are buried together in the cemetery
in Princeton, Colusa County. (Her name on her tombstone is twice
spelled "Margret" so that must be correct.)
J. J. Waste remarried twice, both
times it was to a cousin of Margaret.
Here is a page
about J. P. J. and Mary Paden Helphinstine.
Here is a page
about our Helphinstine relatives. |
Children of John Jackson
Waste and Margaret Helphinstine Waste
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Maggie Waste, born Oct.
17, 1860 in Princeton, Colusa County, Calif. She died on January
19, 1864, aged 3 years, 3 months old. |
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J. J. Waste married my
great-great-grandmother
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Later, also in Princeton, John Jackson
Waste married Mary Catherine McIntosh on Oct. 20, 1864. Mary
had been born on the same day, Oct. 20, in 1844 in Bourbon County,
Kentucky. Her father was Frederick McIntosh and her mother was
Rebecca Helphinstine. Together they had two children, one of
whom was my great-grandfather William Harrison Waste, born on
Halloween, 1868. Their daughter Nina died at an early age. |
Mary (Molly) Catherine
McIntosh
Birth: Oct. 20, 1844 in Bourbon
County, Kentucky
Died: Dec. 5, 1868 in Chico,
Butte County, Calif., at age 24
Mary was the youngest child of Frederick
and Rebecca Helphinstine McIntosh. She was only 8 years old when
her family left Kentucky and traveled overland to California
by wagon train in 1852.
She married John Jackson Waste on
her 20th birthday in Princeton, Colusa County, on Oct. 20, 1864.
John's late wife, Margaret Helphinstine, was Mary's cousin. By
the time of their wedding, Margaret Waste had been dead for four
years and their only child had died that January.
Mary and John's first child, Nina,
died when she was only two in June, 1868. Their second child,
William Harrison Waste, was born on Oct. 31, 1868. Mary died
on Dec. 5, 1868 at age 24, only five weeks after William's birth.
In accordance with Mary's deathbed request, young William was
taken to live with his Uncle Johnny and Aunt Mary Helphinstine,
who lived in nearby Chico, across the Sacramento River in Butte
County. J. P. J. Helphinstine and his wife were the parents of
Margaret Waste. Sadly, the couple had, by that time, lost their
only children and even grandchildren so they did everything they
could to give young William a loving home. He grew up to be the
Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, my great-grandfather
William Harrison Waste.
Mary was also a cousin of J. J. Waste's third wife, Florence
Helphinstine.
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Children of John Jackson Waste and
Mary Catherine McIntosh
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Nina B. Waste, born April
7, 1866 in Princeton, Colusa County, Calif. She died on June
8, 1868. Nina was buried in Princeton. |
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William Harrison Waste,
born Oct. 31, 1868 in Chico, Butte County, Calif. William grew
up to become the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court.
He died on June 6, 1940 in Berkeley, Calif. |
Mary Catherine McIntosh,
my great-great-grandmother
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Mary Catherine McIntosh was born on
Oct. 20, 1844 in Fleming County, Kentucky. Mary's father Frederick
McIntosh married Rebecca Helphinstine from Ohio while in Kentucky
in 1820. They raised ten children. Some of them were born in
what is now the small town of Goddard in Fleming County. Others
were born in nearby Bourbon, Bath and other counties. Mary was
the youngest child. In 1852, when she was only 8 years old the
whole family crossed the plains together and came west to California. |
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The McIntosh family settled in what
was then Colusi County (now Glenn County) and created the Lone
Tree Ranch and Lone Tree House. Two of Mary's married sisters
and their husbands went north and kept the Canyon House "near
the old road from Redding to Shasta". Shasta was a major
gold-mining town during the 1850's. Mary's sister Sarah and her
husband Allyn Barnard had a child while at Canyon House but it
died. Another of Mary's sisters, Sydnia, and her husband George
Jones had a daughter, Mary Ellen, while at Canyon House. The
trip to California and their first year in the wilderness took
the lives of other family members, as well. |
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The gold rush town of Shasta shown here
in 1856 is today a ghost town and state historical park. Click
on the image for better view and a map. |
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While out hunting, in 1854, the father,
Frederick, met with an accident which resulted in his death.
He was buried on a hillside on the old road to Shasta from Redding,
near the Canyon House site. Mary's sister Elizabeth is also buried
there.
Tragically, my great-great-great
grandmother Mary Catherine McIntosh died on Dec. 5, 1868 at age
24. She died only six weeks after William's birth. In accordance
with her deathbed request, William, their only surviving child,
was taken to live with his Uncle John and Aunt Mary Helphinstine
in Chico. |
Northern California's Mount
Shasta
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The Waste family and the large extended
McIntosh and Helphinstine families remained close. They obviously
enjoyed each other's company, as witnessed by this old account
of an 1879 birthday party that took place 9 years after Mary's
death. Note the many relatives that attended. |
James Thomas McIntosh and the Family Reunion - Birthday,
1879
"Such a family reunion
as took place on Thursday of last week, at the Bay ranch, the
residence of Mr. J. T. McIntosh, is always productive of good
feeling .......... "
It mentions a man with three mothers-in-law
- he must have been my great-great grandfather J. J. Waste. The
writer had some fun with the situation by emphasizing the word
"Waste" in connection with him. John did, in fact,
have three mothers-in-law. |
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