He was my father in law, his name was Charles Eberhart, and called
Charlie. He was born at West Point, Calif. but grew up at Mucalome Hill,
where he drove stage. While working for Standard Oil as first a teamster
and then a truck driver, he resided ar Valley Springs, Calif/. and then
when he took over the bilk plant at Angels Camp, he resided there. In
Angels Camp they resided in the ancestral home of his wife, this home
was built in two stages, the first in 1851, and well built, the second
later on and not so well built. The people had come from Vermont and
were used to cold weather and had built for it in the first part of the
building, then when they found Calif. winters to be mild they didn't
build as well. The house was furnished with furniture that had come
around the horn aboard ship. The Flood's, Crockett's, and about all the
old gold mining tycoons stayed there at one time or another. Upstairs in
the attic was a treasure trove, I spent many hours going through things
there. Old dresses and hats with the ostrich feathers etc. An old Edison
phonograph that played the cylindrical records, and there were a number
of them. It had twp speakers, one of Conventional size, the other huge.
I was told that when they had the opera house there that this phonograph
and the huge speaker would be there on an opera night. They would set it
up outside and aim the speaker at the town, playing records until time
for the opera. I recall that Edwin Booth, and other famous actors of the
day, performed there.

 What I enjoyed most in the attic was the old letter, ledger books, etc.
In one of the letters I saw some of the best handwriting I have ever
seen, the curious part of this is that it was first written in the
conventional manner, that is starting at the top and writing from left
to right. Then the paper was turned 45 degrees and they again wrote from
the top and from left to right, yet every word on the sheet could be
clearly read. I wondered about this, these people were relatives back in
Vermont and not poor. I then examined the envelope the letter was in and
it hit me. This was a Pony Express letter, and the charge for that was
$5.00 per half ounce.

 About my first encounter with genealogy occurred in the attic. An old
book had the family back to Scotland, and a number of surnames were in
this and it usually had their date of birth, death etc. This one surname
really intrigued me, it was Mills and it told where he was born and
when, but for his death it only said, "Died Pitcairn Island". This was
one of those who were on the ship Bounty.

Leonard
 

In his latter years his handbecame palsied and he had difficulty in eating, sometimes dropping food on the table. It irked me to no end when his wife would admonish him,heck, the man couldn't help it. Charlie was one of the finest men I ever
 knew, he was a gruff old sort but had a heart of gold. Charlie was
 orphaned at the age of 6 and lived in a livery stable, doing work for
 the stable to pay his way. He had little formal education but that
 doesn't mean he was dumb. While still in his teens Charlie became a
 stage coach driver, later driving the rig for Standard Oil, which at the
 time was hauled by teams. When they finally aquired trucks Charlie
 learned to drive one and drove it for a number of years. At that time if
 you worked for Standaed Oil you could buy a share of stock a month and
 the company would match it with another share. He bought a share every
 month until 1929 when he was offered the Standard Oil bulk plant at a
 town near there. Of course you can imagine how many times the stock
 split over the years so Charlie wasn't really hurting. Charlie was a
 great friend of kids and dogs, and his wife hated dog's. One day he was
 delivering fuel oil to a womans house that was on the outskirts of town.
 The woman had two little girls and her husband had deserted her.
 Whilethe fuel was pumping he talked to the little girls, Christmas was
 approaching and he asked what Santa Claus was bringing them. The girls
 had been primed by their mother, who didn't have money enough to buy
 presents and the eldest girl said, "Mother says that Santa may not be
 able to find us way out here". Charlie said nothing but when he was next
 in town he stopped at a store and bought two doll buggies, two dolls,
 etc. and when next in the area of the woman he gave them to her. Now
 here is the interesting part of this. Charlie never even told his wife
 about it and no one would ever have known had it not been for the woman
 mailing a letter to his home and thanking him for what he had done for
 her girls. That's the kind of guy Charlie was.

 This is a true story.

 Leonard