John Banks was born in Ireland and came to the U. S. at the age of two. For 13 years his family lived in New York City where his father was a shoemaker. John helped his father in his business. The family moved to a farm near Albany, Athens County, Ohio. John was a very religious man and close to his family. After much thought, he joined the Buckeye Rovers, a group of goldseekers going to California. His diary records not just the mundane events on the overland trail, but also his observations of nature and his fellow man, his thoughts and emotions, his philosophy and events happening around him. His diary is unusually lengthy and detailed, providing an extensive source of information about the overland trail, the Buckeye Rovers, and life in gold rush era California.
Banks seems to have been something of a mother hen. He cared for the ill, chastised those he thought were being intemperate and fretted over the troubles and flaws of his fellow Rovers. He always built a house for the winter and yearly gatherings with the other Rovers usually took place wherever he was. He did not succeed in finding gold until he bought into the Ophir claim with some of the other Rovers in 1852. When he returned to Athens County, Ohio,there was a drought and farming was not good there, so he sought out new, better land in Iowa, moving his entire family to Marion County, Iowa.
Banks seems to have been something of a mother hen. He cared for the ill, chastised those he thought were being intemperate and fretted over the troubles and flaws of his fellow Rovers. He always built a house for the winter and yearly gatherings with the other Rovers usually took place wherever he was. He did not succeed in finding gold until he bought into the Ophir claim with some of the other Rovers in 1852. When he returned to Athens County, Ohio,there was a drought and farming was not good there, so he sought out new, better land in Iowa, moving his entire family to Marion County, Iowa.
John Banks was born in Ireland and came to the U. S. at the age of two. For 13 years his family lived in New York City where his father was a shoemaker. John helped his father in his business. The family moved to a farm near Albany, Athens County, Ohio. John was a very religious man and close to his family. After much thought, he joined the Buckeye Rovers, a group of goldseekers going to California. His diary records not just the mundane events on the overland trail, but also his observations of nature and his fellow man, his thoughts and emotions, his philosophy and events happening around him. His diary is unusually lengthy and detailed, providing an extensive source of information about the overland trail, the Buckeye Rovers, and life in gold rush era California.
Banks seems to have been something of a mother hen. He cared for the ill, chastised those he thought were being intemperate and fretted over the troubles and flaws of his fellow Rovers. He always built a house for the winter and yearly gatherings with the other Rovers usually took place wherever he was. He did not succeed in finding gold until he bought into the Ophir claim with some of the other Rovers in 1852. When he returned to Athens County, Ohio,there was a drought and farming was not good there, so he sought out new, better land in Iowa, moving his entire family to Marion County, Iowa.
Banks seems to have been something of a mother hen. He cared for the ill, chastised those he thought were being intemperate and fretted over the troubles and flaws of his fellow Rovers. He always built a house for the winter and yearly gatherings with the other Rovers usually took place wherever he was. He did not succeed in finding gold until he bought into the Ophir claim with some of the other Rovers in 1852. When he returned to Athens County, Ohio,there was a drought and farming was not good there, so he sought out new, better land in Iowa, moving his entire family to Marion County, Iowa.
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