Background
He was born in Kentucky in 1813. In 1844, he brought a party of immigrants including his father David and brother Samuel from Oregon on the Siskiyou Trail to Sutter"s Fort.
He was born in Kentucky in 1813. In 1844, he brought a party of immigrants including his father David and brother Samuel from Oregon on the Siskiyou Trail to Sutter"s Fort.
Once at the diggings, Ben decided it was more profitable to sell all the company"s supplies to other miners and then ill with malaria, he headed back to his home at Sonoma. The Pomo workers, forced to camp near a hostile group of local Indians and suffering from malaria and starvation, were left on their own. Only one or two are thought to have survived.
After recovering from malaria, Ben used his profits to buy sheep which he drove to the mines and used that money to set up a trading post in the Sacramento Valley but lost his investment when he became illinois
He purchased land there and built a house on lieutenant However both eventually lost their properties, Ben to mortgage foreclosure and Samuel to a default on a note.
Ben returned with his family to Sonoma for a short time, then moved to Oregon. In 1859, he moved his family to Mexico, and then to Texas in 1861.
In 1865 his family was back in California near Fresno, where his mentally ill daughter died.
In later years, he moved on to Inyo County during the time of the 1872 Lone Pine earthquake, working in the Cerro Gordo Mines, and finally lived in Los Los Angeles Ben Kelsey died February 19, 1889, at the age 76, at Los Los Angeles He was buried at Rosedale Cemetery, Los Los Angeles