What images come to mind when thinking of Ireland? No doubt looming castles, dark Guinness, the Cliffs of Moher and the capital of Dublin. Ask Craig Harwood the same question, and his answer is not what, but who: Bridget Miranda Shannon Evoy. What appears to be a long name for one individual is actually the beginning of an historically accurate and compelling tale, and it’s one that Harwood is proud to share.
Evoy was born in 1791 to Irish sharecroppers and was the great-great-great-great grandmother of Harwood, 65. Over a four-year period, he took great pains to research and tell her story. The result is his sophomore writing effort, “Bridget’s Gambit: A Saga of Family Enterprise in Gold Rush California,” which was published on Feb. 8 by University of Oklahoma Press.
Harwood’s investigative flair and nuanced storytelling combine to make this 200-page book a quick read and an inviting topic for anyone interested in headstrong women, California’s gold rush and the experience of emigrants from Ireland to America in the 1800s.
“The story of Bridget’s journey was handed down through generations in my family, and I always thought someone should tell her story. After a few years, it became apparent that the task fell to me, so I began the process of researching all I could about our family’s matriarch,” Harwood said.
With the 147-page tribute to Evoy (the notes and bibliography take up nearly 50 pages in their own right), Harwood takes his readers on an adventure of grueling circumstances: the widowing of Evoy shortly after she reached America in 1830, the arduous cross-country trek from the outskirts of St. Louis to gold country in California with her five young children, and the sheer stubborn nature of her personality as she led teams of emigrants while riding side-saddle through daunting weather and faminesque conditions.
“This book dovetails into my previous book (‘Quest for Flight: John J. Montgomery and the Dawn of Aviation in the West’ [2012]), so I had to do a lot of research for both books,” Harwood said. “Although she is an ancestor, I’ve always been fascinated by California history, particularly in the 19th century. I knew that this story was gold (pun intended?) and it bothered me that it was just sitting there, waiting to be told. I wanted to do the detective work and lay it out in a vivid and inviting way.”
A geologist in real life (Harwood attended Cabrillo and then transferred to UCSC as a geology major), he is used to adhering to the scientific method of collecting information, and “Gambit” reflects that drive for accuracy and distillation of factual evidence.
Indeed, the end result is a compelling and gripping tale of Evoy’s experiences in America.
While Evoy was a trailblazer and feminist hero at a time when women were expected to be heavily reliant on men, two of her daughters, Margaret and Eleanor (“Ellen”) helped her pave the way West, with each of the daughters becoming self-empowered women themselves. In fact, when Evoy was warned of dangerous conditions ahead during her travels, she made the shrewd decision to forge a different path, thereby splitting the travelers into two separate caravans.
Evoy never seemed to ask for permission—she simply followed her own instincts in search of a life far from the various famines and hardships that had permeated her childhood in Ireland.
“Society in the early 1800s was very patriarchal, and she ended up being a force of nature despite being a widow. Most women her age, particularly with young children, would have searched for a new husband, but Bridget was very independent from the time her husband passed away. She was determined to do things on her own without the support of any men, and became a successful and prolific businessperson, which was not the norm at the time. She led her family on the Overland Trail, settled in the Gold Country and made a financial killing by serving the mining community rather than trying to chase after gold themselves,” said Harwood, who has retraced some of the steps of his ancestors in the Bay Area.
Evoy ultimately settled in a town known for its oak groves—now Oakland—and is interred at a graveyard there. Her gravesite overlooks her former Temescal ranch and the San Francisco Bay, a fitting afterlife view for a woman whose own dreams and ambitions were as big and bright as the gold that permeated the region.
Harwood is thrilled to share Evoy’s story during an upcoming event at the Scotts Valley Library on Saturday, March 7, from 1-3pm. “Bridget’s Gambit: A Saga of Family Enterprise in Gold Rush California” is available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, University Press or by simply googling the title. Copies will be available for purchase at next week’s reading.
