Putting it to a Vote

#52ancestors No. 38
 Unusual Source (Voting Registers)

Putting it to a Vote 

By Myra Vanderpool Gormley © 2018

The California Great Registers are available from 1867 through 1944, albeit not for every county for every year; plus there are some available even later for a few counties. The voting registers are quite helpful in identifying Anglo and Hispanic males over the age of 21, since they were required by law to register. Although African-Americans were granted the right to vote in 1870, many were disenfranchised on account of literacy. Women received the right to vote in California in 1911 and appear in the registers after that date. There were other exclusionary acts that precluded individuals from appearing on the lists at times, for example, Indians until 1924 and natives of China from 1879 to 1926. 

Using several of these records I was able to trace my Forty-niner, Jonathan Lewis, who lived in California from 1849 until late in 1900. While I believe he is listed in 1850 in El Dorado County, his name is such a common one that I’ve never been sure the John Lewis listed was him, even though everything seems to “fit.” In the California state census of 1852, there’s a J. Lewis in Yuba County, California. I suspect this is Jonathan, but it is impossible to prove.

 By the 1860 federal census, there’s a John Lewis recorded in Placer County which is probably him, although the state of birth listed (Virginia) differs. However, he appears 18 June 1867 on a voter registration, listed as a farmer in Crane Valley, age 36, and born in North Carolina. That information all matches the known facts about him. Later voter registrations also show him in Madera County. These records reveal he was 5-foot-8, fair completion, blue-eyed and by 1896 his hair was gray. 

He had two sons — Benjamin F. and Daniel — by his first Indian wife, whose name was Cee-au-na, and she is believed to have been a native of the Gashowu (Cassons) Yokuit tribe. The sons were born ca 1862 and 1864, and using the 1884 and 1896 voting registers I was able to better identify them. Tracing men with a common surname such as Lewis is challenge, and you need all the records you can find to help sort them out. An 1896 registers provided height, color of eyes, hair and complexion, plus indicated that Daniel had a scar on his left hand.

 If you have any California ancestors, especially those who arrived before 1900, you may find some gold as I did in these records. They are available at: Ancestry® (www.ancestry.com). This website provides both digitized images and indexes, divided into two separate databases.