Minerva Sevier Kirkpatrick was born near Knoxville, TN on 4 Dec. 1816, the youngest of twelve children. On 25 Jan. 1844, in Washington County, MO, Minerva married Jeremiah Friel (b. 5 Sep. 1816; d. 5 Dec. 1881), who ventured to California during the Gold Rush of 1849 and returned with a fortune in gold.
The family left Missouri in October of 1852, bound for California. The manuscripts of E.S. McCollough explain how they traveled over land to Burlington, Iowa, where they caught a train for New York City, on which an epidemic of cholera broke out among travelers. McCollough writes that it was nothing to be visiting with a party before retiring and inquire about them the next morning and be told they had died and been buried during the night. Once in New York City, the Friels obtained passage on a boat which traveled to the eastern shore of the Isthmus of Panama, where they used donkeys to make their way across the Isthmus to the western shore. Minerva is said to have walked the greater part of the way across the Isthmus because the donkey upon which she was riding laid down in every mud hole it came upon. Cholera also broke out on this portion of the journey, but, fortunately none of the Friel party perished. To make matters more tedious, at the time of the Isthmus crossing, LaGrande Friel was a baby and had to be carried. Once the party reached the western shore, the Friels obtained passage via boat to San Francisco. However, their troubles were not yet over. On the journey Rolen Friel (b. 13 April 1848; d. 10 January 1853), only five, died and was buried at sea. The family finally reached San Francisco in spring of 1853 where they immediately went out into the gold fields near Dutch Flat. However, they remained here for a short time, eventually settling in Yolo County, where they took 160 acres of government land in 1854.
Minerva and Jeremiah Friel1s six children include: 1. Randolph Friel (b. 10 Feb. 1846; d. 17 Mar. 1915), (2.) Rolen Friel (b. 13 Apr. 1848; d. 10 Jan. 1853), (3.) LaGrande Friel (b. 1 Apr. 1852; 8 May 1930), (4.) Alice Julia Minerva Friel (b. 3 July 1854; d. 1 Mar. 1929), (5.) Ann Elizabeth Friel (b. 9 June 1856), and (6.) Charles Friel (b. 13 Feb. 1861; d. 21 or 29 Aug. 1883).
The eldest son, Randolph Friel married Polly Ann Johns (b. 5 Apr. 1847; d. 7 July 1924) on 19 Aug. 1867 and had five children: (1.) Charles Friel (b. 3 Mar. 1869), (2.) Jeremiah Friel (b. 30 Jan. 1871), (3.) Virtie Friel (b. Mar. 1877), (4.) Alfred Friel (b. 8 Mar. 1877) and (5.) Wesley Friel (b. 7 Feb. 1886). Charles Friel married Edith Chatman Arbuckle and had three children: (1.) Sterling B. Friel (b. 13 Mar. 1912; d. 16 Feb. 1913), (2.) Charles Friel, Jr. (b. 27 Dec. 1913), (3.) Dale Friel (b. 23 Sep. 1916). Jeremiah Friel married Lillian Hewitt (b. 1872) on 4 Oct. 1891 and had two children: (1.) Clifford Friel (b. 10 July 1892, m. Veva Finly; [and sired Grace Friel (b. 28 Jan. 1924), John Friel (b. 25 July 1925), and Donna May Friel (b. 15 July 1933)]), and (2.) Elmer Friel (b. 16 Dec. 1894; d. 4 July 1928), whose fate is unknown. Virtie Friel married S. Manta Miller (b. 1856; d. 3 Apr. 1919) in 1911. Alfred married Helen A. Badgor (b. Apr. 1891) on 6 Jan 1914 and had four children: (1.) Leon Friel (b. 30 Sep. 1914), (2.) Randolph Friel (b. 2 Sep. 1916), (3.) Ida Friel (b. 3 Nov. 1918), and (4.) Clark Friel (b. 17 Mar. 1920). Wesley Friel married Orretta McIntosh (b. 9 June 1898) on 13 Apr. 1915. Their three children included: (1.) Alice Friel (b. 20 Apr. 1916), (2.) John Friel (b. 13 Apr. 1919) and (3.) LeGrand Friel (b. 22 Mar. 1926). Alice Friel married Phillip McCune (b. 17 Nov. 1911) on 5 Jan. 1935 and had at least one child: Robert Henry McCune (b. 29 Nov. 1935).
LaGrand Friel married Belle Grant (b. 23 Sep. 1858; d. 23 Aug. 1899) on 25 Sep. 1874 and had three children: (1.) Claude Friel (b. 25 Sep. 1875; d. 30 Nov. 1932), (2.) Maude Friel (b. 21 July 1877), and (3.) Grant Friel. Claude Friel married Lillian Mary Rebbeck (b. 22 Mar. 1860) on 2 Oct. 1899 and had four children: (1.) Roy Lorraine Friel (b. 15 Aug. 1900), (2.) Glenn Friel (b. 15 Mar. 1902), (3.) Leonard Friel (b. 20 Sep. 1906), and (4.) Lawrence Friel (b. 20 Sep. 1906). Roy Lorraine Friel married Esther M. Stehr on 22 Dec. 1929 and had at least one child: Dolores Lillian Friel (b. 22 June 1932). Glenn Friel married Freda Middleton and had two children: (1.) Evelyn June Friel and (2.) Robert Eugene Friel. This author has found nothing regarding the fate of Leonard Friel, however, his twin, Lawrence, married Martha Mary Martin (b. 28 Dec. 1905) and may have resided at 35340 N Paulina, Chicago, Ills.,2 which is typed after the name of Lawrence on old family records. Maude Friel married Larry Wilhelm. Grant Friels fate remains a mystery to this author.
Ann Elizabeth Friel married Robert J. Broughton (b. 20 Sep. 1847; d. 1 Jan. 1895) on 12 Apr. 1876 and had four children: (1.) Coleman Broughton (b. 30 Mar. 1877; d. 5 Mar. 1923), (2.) Alice Minerva Broughton (b. 15 Dec. 1878; d. 15 Oct. 1918), (3.) Anita Broughton (b. 15 June 1881), and (4.) Charles Broughton (b. 24 Oct. 1883). Coleman Broughton married Ella Conroy (b. 25 Feb. 1875; d. 19 Sep. 1917) on 27 Oct. 1904 and did not have children. Alice Minerva Broughton died at age 39. Anita Broughton married Frank Ely (b. 17 June 1879; d. Nov. 1927) on 18 May 1904 and had three children: (1.) Isaac Jefferson Ely (b. 11 Jan. 1908), (2.) Robert Broughton Ely (b. 25 Oct. 1910), and (3.) John Ely (b. 13 Dec. 1911). Isaac Ely married Blanche Hutchinson (b. 10 Mar. 1910) on 22 Aug. 1929 and had two children: (1.) Dwight Conrad Ely (b. 27 Jan. 1932) and (2.) Thos. Anthony Ely (b. 4 Dec. 1935). The fate of Robert Broughton Ely is unknown, but, John Ely married Alice Howsen (b. 28 Feb. 1913) on 30 Jan. 1929 and had (at least) one child, Peggy Gene Ely (b. 27 Oct. 1929). Charles Thomas Broughton married Ruth Gertrude Pendegast (b. 18 June 1916) on 17 Apr. 1915 and had three children: (1.) Charles Thos. Broughton (b. 17 Jan. 1916), (2.) Robert Cary Broughton (b. 17 Sep. 1917), and (3.) John Richard Broughton (b. 29 Mar. 1919).
Alice married John Bowers (b. 3 June 1849) on 7 Apr. 1875 but had no children. Charles Friel, the sixth child, died at age 22 on 29 Aug. 1883.
According to a copy of an obituary, included in the manuscripts, taken from a newspaper simply identified as the Times {Ed: probably The Los Angeles Times ], after relocating to California1s Sacramento Valley in 1853, the Friels moved to Santa Barbara, CA, where Mr. Friel was Deputy Sheriff for several years. In May of 1875 Minerva Kirkpatrick moved in with her daughter, Mrs. J. J. Broughton of Santa Barbara. The husband of Minerva, Jeremiah Friel, died in Santa Barbara in 1881. In 1903 Minerva moved to Los Angeles where she lived with her son, LeGrande Friel, at 1303 South Flower Street until her death at age eighty-four on July 4th, 1904. The article explains that Minerva was survived by Randolph Friel, LeGrande Friel and Mrs. R. J. Broughton [then of Los Angeles], and Mrs. Alice Bower [then of Woodland, Yolo Co., CA].Ý SOURCES: Stirring History Recalled by the Death of Mrs. Minerva Friel. Article/Obituary in what is believed to the Los Angeles Times. [Cited by McCollough, p. 231.B]; McCollough, E. S. McCollough1s Manuscripts.
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