One of four children of Richard Veale III and Temperance Rowe of Cornwall, William Veale was brought in 1820 to Pike County, Missouri, to start a new life on the frontier, only to be orphaned when his parents were struck down shortly after arrival by a mysterious disease. William, his brothers Richard Veale IV and Jacob, and sister Mary, were placed in the care of a court-appointed guardian and estate executor and grew up in the new country. He married Margaret Wells, daughter of Nicholas and Nancy (Sappington) Wells, July 29, 1828; and the couple had, in total, 10 children, including Mary, Sarah Ann, Jane, Nicholas, Zarilda, Richard Roe, Temperance Francis Cornish, Thomas Fletcher Wells, William Francis Roe, and Martha Matilda.

Margaret Wells Veale died in 1853 when the youngest child, Martha, was only four years old. In late 1856, William brought his family to California by way of New Orleans, Cuba, and the Isthmus of Panama. On the journey, as their ship, the Sonora, was coming through the rough waters of the Golden Gate, it shifted and Martha very nearly rolled overboard. She was caught and saved by Sam Pryor.

After landing in San Francisco on 24 January 1857, they re-embarked, on the ship Antelope, journeyed first to Benicia (where they were met by William's sister-in-law Jane and her husband William B. Gomer), then to Petaluma where William purchased a home near Penngrove. After four years, however, they returned to Illinois, again by ship. But William's health was poor, and doctors advised him to return to the warmer, drier climate of California. So in April of 1865 they packed up again, traveling this time overland by mule-drawn covered wagon, arriving in Petaluma in September, 1865, and settling in at the same place at Penngrove.

William never remarried.

UNCLE WILLIAM

When he was born in Cornwall,
Baptized at Saint Columba's church
Where family sat in carved pews,
Stiffly dressed for Sunday mass,
Mad King George still sat the throne,
Napoleon ruled in France.

Not even in his teens
He journeyed with his family
Aboard the Hope of Philadelphia
First to Baltimore and then
To raw frontier,
Missouri, County Pike,

Where drafty cabins, angry Indians,
Rough uncultured settlers,
Harsh accents, sounds and smells,
Must have made the New World
Frightening at times
For twelve year olds.

And suddenly his parents died.
Leaving him, his brothers, sister,
Stranded there so far
From all they'd known,
Somehow surviving,
Helped by caring strangers.

Will grew up and married,
Farmed the soil, had children,
Moved to Illinois,
Built a house upon the prairie,
Lost a son and then his wife,
Reconsidered life,

And sailed for California,
In 1856 a catalyst for dreams,
A golden land for fresh beginnings,
Where he became a rancher,
Inventing self yet once again
Five thousand miles from Cornwall.

And his children's children's
Children's children's children
Live there still, more native
To the place than most around them,
Roots sunk deep into the land, the home
That William finally found.

©2010 John I. Blair


[Information drawn from various sources, the migration tale from Paula Stewart, Veale Family researcher]