To California!

April 23 1849, George Henry left the mills in charge the charge of his wife Catherine and general-overseer Noah Pennington. Listen to the podcast in the sidebar to hear the beginning of the story.
The shiplist and positions in the company were recorded in the New York Herald April 30, 1849. The list shows  George Waesche as president of the company and his son William Henry Waesche. It also shows two of George Henry's nephews, Dr. Frederick Maund who was the company's surgeon and
Repold C. Maund, as secretary and 26 others who were headed to claim their wealth in the hills of California.
Check out the whole list here.

Church and the Family

While living and working the Double Pipe Creek Farm, George Henry and his wife Catherine, had eight children. George Washington Waesche was born 31 Oct, 1829, on the Wakefield Valley Farm while the rest were born after the Double Pipe Creek purchase.
William Henry Waesche (21 Feb 1832)
John Frederick (5 Oct 1834)
Joseph Abraham (6 Feb 1837)
Mary Elizabeth (24 Jul 1839)
Thomas Repold 8 Oct 1841
Charles Albert (8 Jan 1844)
Leonard Randolph (31 Mar 1846
James Theodore (4 Apr 1849)
All of the children lived to adulthood but Mary Elizabeth, who died after just two days of her birth. Short accounts of their lives will come later in the course of the blog.

In 1835, George Henry donated about two acres of the farm for a Methodist Episcopal church and cemetery to be built and used by the community. The church was nicknamed Waesche's Church and was used until 1929. Margaret B. recounted:

The stone building was well preserved until that date ... About this time, the three living sons, Charles, Randolph, and Theodore each rescued one of the original pews. Rather hard narrow seats, with straight backs. The writer sat in one, found it uncomfortable, and not a restful place for napping nor were the sermons of those days conducive to restful sleep.