A fictionalized account of the arrival in Marin County of the Short-Meriner family in 1846. The family became prominent Marin pioneers and once owned much of San Rafael and San Anselmo. Jane Meriner, a 37-year-old widow, her sons by her first marriage, J. O. B. and Jacob Short, and her daughters by her second husband, Elizabeth and Catherine Meriner, drove their covered wagon along the California Trail from Missouri to the Sacramento Valley. Since there are many accounts of the California Trail, this account describes only the final part of their journey, from the end of the Trail at...

In 1806 the English privateer Port au Prince anchored in the South Pacific kingdom of Tonga, seeking food and help. Instead, they were attacked by the Tongans. Half the crew was massacred and thrown to the sharks; the rest were enslaved. Fourteen-year-old William Mariner was adopted into the family of Finau 'ulukalala, the powerful and charismatic king of the islands. Mariner spent four years in Tonga, participating in Finau's wars, managing a plantation, and learning all he could of the language, customs, history, and politics of the Tongan people. After he returned to England in 1810, he...

In 1796 the London Missionary Society sent the ship Duff to deliver thirty young missionaries to the Polynesian kingdoms. One of them, bricklayer George Vason, soon abandoned his mission in Tonga and his faith, married a local woman, and managed a plantation. After a civil war resulted in the deaths of three missionaries and the hasty removal of the rest, Vason suffered guilt and shame at his loss of faith and wrote this book to warn other young men against his mistakes. A fascinating account of Polynesia at the beginning of European contact.

Richard Cleveland (1773-1860) was a Massachusetts sailor, shipowner, and trader, who sailed many times around the world and helped to establish a number of important early trading industries. His accounts of his voyages and the people and places he encountered is fasciniating reading for anyone interested in this important period in American maritime history. This a complete and unabridged reprint of the 1850 original book, with additional informative footnotes added by editor Brian K. Crawford.

In 1916, at age 94, Charles August Lauff (1822- 1917) narrated the reminiscences that follow in a series of articles for the San Rafael Independent. The picture he paints of Marin County provides us with a glimpse of the County's early topography and settlers, bringing to life the rancho era and the personalities of such original land grantees as Timothy Murphy, John Reed and William Richardson. In addition, he recounts his experiences during the Gold Rush and provides details about life in San Francisco, Sacramento and other burgeoning towns in Northern California.

The Bolinas-Fairfax Road is unquestionably one of the most scenic roads anywhere. Its hundreds of serpentine turns wind from Fairfax in Marin County, just north of San Francisco, through redwood forests and grassy meadows along sparkling Alpine Lake, climbing a steep mountain ridge to sweeping views of the ocean, before plunging down to Bolinas on the Pacific coast. Beloved by photographers and those who make car commercials, it has been a popular drive for stagecoaches, cars, motorcycles, and bicycles for almost 140 years. It also provides access to scores of popular hiking trails and the...