Jane Ellen "Jennie" (Crawford) Buffum was born 4 April 1844 in Wallace Bay, Cumberland Co., Nova Scotia, the daughter of Joseph Crawford (1818-1857) and Phebe Catherine (Peers) Crawford (1805-1864). Joseph's father was an Irish immigrant who had settled with his parents, John and Jane (Goodwin) Crawford, at Pleasant Hills, Colchester Co., Nova Scotia. Phebe Catherine (Peers) Crawford was the daughter of Ephraim and Patience (Horton) Peers, both natives of New York who were forced to flee with their Loyalist families to Nova Scotia at the close of the Revolutionary Way.
Jennie's father died when she was about thirteen. Her younger brother, Daniel Peers Crawford, went to live with Crawford relatives outside Boston for a few years and then was enabled by another Crawford uncle to migrate to California in the mid-1860's. Jennie remained in Wallace Bay to care for her aging mother, and upon Phebe's death, Jennie, too, went to live with the same Crawford relatives outside Boston for a few years. While there she trained to become a teacher and began teaching school.
In 1869, upon completion of the trans-continental railroad, Jennie rode the first train west to San Francisco and from there sailed by schooner down the Pacific Coast to Cambria to live with her brother and his new wife. She was teaching school in Harmony, a few miles south of Cambria, when she met and was courted by a 45-year-old bachelor, James Monroe Buffum, owner of a stock ranch six miles inland on Santa Rosa Creek Road. The two were married in 1871 and set up housekeeping in James's bachelor cabin at the ranch, James having made improvements to "spiffy" the place up for his new bride.
The couple ultimately had eight children, five of whom lived to adulthood, and also informally adopted and raised the orphaned toddler daughter of a couple named Shaw. They were among the founders of the Cambria Presbyterian Church and were active in the Odd Fellows Lodge.
When James Monroe Buffum died in 1889, Jennie, along with her unmarried son Joseph, continued to operate the ranch, and it is said that Jennie regularly rode horseback in stock roundups and played an active role in buying and selling stock at the local markets.
When several of her children moved away, Jennie and her son Joe sold the Santa Rosa Creek Road ranch to the Marquart family and moved to Lemoore in the San Joaquin Valley, where they operated another ranch across the road from the ranch of a daughter and son-in-law, Mary Grizzella "Zella" and Charles Julian Russell.
In her later years Jennie suffered from severe arthritis and was confined to a wheelchair, and finally she contracted cervical cancer, whereupon the Lemoore property was sold and Joe took his mother back to Paso Robles where she lived out her days in a sanitarium.
Jennie's father died when she was about thirteen. Her younger brother, Daniel Peers Crawford, went to live with Crawford relatives outside Boston for a few years and then was enabled by another Crawford uncle to migrate to California in the mid-1860's. Jennie remained in Wallace Bay to care for her aging mother, and upon Phebe's death, Jennie, too, went to live with the same Crawford relatives outside Boston for a few years. While there she trained to become a teacher and began teaching school.
In 1869, upon completion of the trans-continental railroad, Jennie rode the first train west to San Francisco and from there sailed by schooner down the Pacific Coast to Cambria to live with her brother and his new wife. She was teaching school in Harmony, a few miles south of Cambria, when she met and was courted by a 45-year-old bachelor, James Monroe Buffum, owner of a stock ranch six miles inland on Santa Rosa Creek Road. The two were married in 1871 and set up housekeeping in James's bachelor cabin at the ranch, James having made improvements to "spiffy" the place up for his new bride.
The couple ultimately had eight children, five of whom lived to adulthood, and also informally adopted and raised the orphaned toddler daughter of a couple named Shaw. They were among the founders of the Cambria Presbyterian Church and were active in the Odd Fellows Lodge.
When James Monroe Buffum died in 1889, Jennie, along with her unmarried son Joseph, continued to operate the ranch, and it is said that Jennie regularly rode horseback in stock roundups and played an active role in buying and selling stock at the local markets.
When several of her children moved away, Jennie and her son Joe sold the Santa Rosa Creek Road ranch to the Marquart family and moved to Lemoore in the San Joaquin Valley, where they operated another ranch across the road from the ranch of a daughter and son-in-law, Mary Grizzella "Zella" and Charles Julian Russell.
In her later years Jennie suffered from severe arthritis and was confined to a wheelchair, and finally she contracted cervical cancer, whereupon the Lemoore property was sold and Joe took his mother back to Paso Robles where she lived out her days in a sanitarium.
Jane Ellen "Jennie" (Crawford) Buffum was born 4 April 1844 in Wallace Bay, Cumberland Co., Nova Scotia, the daughter of Joseph Crawford (1818-1857) and Phebe Catherine (Peers) Crawford (1805-1864). Joseph's father was an Irish immigrant who had settled with his parents, John and Jane (Goodwin) Crawford, at Pleasant Hills, Colchester Co., Nova Scotia. Phebe Catherine (Peers) Crawford was the daughter of Ephraim and Patience (Horton) Peers, both natives of New York who were forced to flee with their Loyalist families to Nova Scotia at the close of the Revolutionary Way.
Jennie's father died when she was about thirteen. Her younger brother, Daniel Peers Crawford, went to live with Crawford relatives outside Boston for a few years and then was enabled by another Crawford uncle to migrate to California in the mid-1860's. Jennie remained in Wallace Bay to care for her aging mother, and upon Phebe's death, Jennie, too, went to live with the same Crawford relatives outside Boston for a few years. While there she trained to become a teacher and began teaching school.
In 1869, upon completion of the trans-continental railroad, Jennie rode the first train west to San Francisco and from there sailed by schooner down the Pacific Coast to Cambria to live with her brother and his new wife. She was teaching school in Harmony, a few miles south of Cambria, when she met and was courted by a 45-year-old bachelor, James Monroe Buffum, owner of a stock ranch six miles inland on Santa Rosa Creek Road. The two were married in 1871 and set up housekeeping in James's bachelor cabin at the ranch, James having made improvements to "spiffy" the place up for his new bride.
The couple ultimately had eight children, five of whom lived to adulthood, and also informally adopted and raised the orphaned toddler daughter of a couple named Shaw. They were among the founders of the Cambria Presbyterian Church and were active in the Odd Fellows Lodge.
When James Monroe Buffum died in 1889, Jennie, along with her unmarried son Joseph, continued to operate the ranch, and it is said that Jennie regularly rode horseback in stock roundups and played an active role in buying and selling stock at the local markets.
When several of her children moved away, Jennie and her son Joe sold the Santa Rosa Creek Road ranch to the Marquart family and moved to Lemoore in the San Joaquin Valley, where they operated another ranch across the road from the ranch of a daughter and son-in-law, Mary Grizzella "Zella" and Charles Julian Russell.
In her later years Jennie suffered from severe arthritis and was confined to a wheelchair, and finally she contracted cervical cancer, whereupon the Lemoore property was sold and Joe took his mother back to Paso Robles where she lived out her days in a sanitarium.
Jennie's father died when she was about thirteen. Her younger brother, Daniel Peers Crawford, went to live with Crawford relatives outside Boston for a few years and then was enabled by another Crawford uncle to migrate to California in the mid-1860's. Jennie remained in Wallace Bay to care for her aging mother, and upon Phebe's death, Jennie, too, went to live with the same Crawford relatives outside Boston for a few years. While there she trained to become a teacher and began teaching school.
In 1869, upon completion of the trans-continental railroad, Jennie rode the first train west to San Francisco and from there sailed by schooner down the Pacific Coast to Cambria to live with her brother and his new wife. She was teaching school in Harmony, a few miles south of Cambria, when she met and was courted by a 45-year-old bachelor, James Monroe Buffum, owner of a stock ranch six miles inland on Santa Rosa Creek Road. The two were married in 1871 and set up housekeeping in James's bachelor cabin at the ranch, James having made improvements to "spiffy" the place up for his new bride.
The couple ultimately had eight children, five of whom lived to adulthood, and also informally adopted and raised the orphaned toddler daughter of a couple named Shaw. They were among the founders of the Cambria Presbyterian Church and were active in the Odd Fellows Lodge.
When James Monroe Buffum died in 1889, Jennie, along with her unmarried son Joseph, continued to operate the ranch, and it is said that Jennie regularly rode horseback in stock roundups and played an active role in buying and selling stock at the local markets.
When several of her children moved away, Jennie and her son Joe sold the Santa Rosa Creek Road ranch to the Marquart family and moved to Lemoore in the San Joaquin Valley, where they operated another ranch across the road from the ranch of a daughter and son-in-law, Mary Grizzella "Zella" and Charles Julian Russell.
In her later years Jennie suffered from severe arthritis and was confined to a wheelchair, and finally she contracted cervical cancer, whereupon the Lemoore property was sold and Joe took his mother back to Paso Robles where she lived out her days in a sanitarium.
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