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Too Thickly Settled
When neighbors appeared on the San Joaquin horizon, William Lucas decided it was time to find emptier country.
Stories
True stories of the Plasketts and their neighbors — bears and gold, shipwrecks and weddings — drawn from letters, newspapers, and family memory.
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Symmes Land Grant Ohio Journey
In 1789 the Plasketts spent a year building a boat in Pennsylvania — their road to Ohio was a river.
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The Great Journey to Pacific Valley
July 1869: ox teams over Pacheco Pass, Indian trails over the coast range, and a valley at the end of it.
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Claiming 2000 Acres
Two thousand acres between the ocean and the mountains — the Plasketts claimed the whole narrow valley.
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Building the Plaskett Creek Sawmill
First the sawmill on Plaskett Creek, then the cabins — the family carpentered its way through the first winter.
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Byron's House Torn Down
Byron's sturdy ten-room house survived every coastal winter — but not the sale to Hearst.
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The Moby Dick Connection - Marriage to the Essex Captain's Sister
A Plaskett captain married the sister of the Essex's captain — the shipwreck that inspired Moby-Dick.
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The Masonic Pitcher from Canton, China
In Canton harbor, Captain Plaskett ordered a Masonic pitcher from Chinese artisans. It survives him.
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The Captain's Final Voyage - Descent into Drinking
Ten voyages made his name; the last one, and the bottle, unmade it.
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Revolutionary War Soldier Becomes Whaling Captain
Joseph Plaskett soldiered in the Revolution, then took his fight to the whales.
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Tabitha's School - The First Plaskett Educator
Widowed by a hunting accident in 1794, Tabitha Plaskett opened a school in Plymouth and taught her way through.
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Crossing the Delaware with Washington - Christmas 1776
Ice on the Delaware, the Revolution on the line — and a Plaskett in Washington's boats, two generations before the family reached the Pacific.