Over the years John Charles Fremont saw success then failure in the form of a court martial. He received a beautiful 40,000-acre land grant in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near San Francisco, California where he planned to become a rancher. For the moment Jessie would have to stay behind. She was again pregnant. The child was a son and only lived a short time.
Strange stories of gold being discovered out in California began to reach St. Louis and the rest of the east. Fremont was in California at his ranch he had named ‘Las Mariposas.’ Though she had been ill with a lung infection, Jessie made up her mind to be with her husband. Taking baby Lily, Jessie set sail for the Golden State, alone across the Isthmus of Panama. In spite of diseases of Panama, the sweltering jungle heat, travel by dugout canoe and mule back she reached Panama City. Then more bad news met her, if that was possible.
The ship California that she and Lily were suppose to board in Panama was not there. It had been abandoned in San Francisco. She was stranded but was invited to stay with the aunt of the minister from Granada. But this was not the worst new.
In Panama City, not only were the newspapers regaling the world with the astounding gold finds in California, they were also reporting at length on Fremont’s exploits, claiming that he had been killed crossing the Rockies.
In 1849, when Jessie Fremont did arrive in San Francisco the city was in chaos due to the gold discovery. But at last her ship did dock in that city by the bay. She and her baby had arrived but there was no sign of John. It was another ten days before he did appear, then took them to a big adobe house in Monterey. At last the Fremont family was together again.
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