Diane Jacobsohn- persona for diggins

“My name is Madeline McDougall. I have arrived in Columbia from Waterloo, Iowa. I am a spinster and was born in 1812. My baby brother, Alexander McDougall, came to the West, along with his wife and two children 2 years ago. His wife died this past winter and my brother has paid for my passage from Waterloo to San Francisco, taking the route around Cape Horn. He will meet me in San Francisco and accompany me to Columbia so that I may care for my niece and nephew. Alexander seems to have prospered as a miner in that he could manage to pay for my passage. I have corresponded with a childhood friend, Bedelia Cannon, who is also living in the Columbia area. Bedelia assures me that she will be of assistance to me in my acclimation to living in a mining camp.”