Adventure 051, Site 134 – Sugg House

Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 051, Site 134 – Sugg House

National Registry ID: 84001210

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  September 27, 2012

Location:

Latitude: 37° 59.016′ N

Longitude: 120° 22.881′ W

Address: 37 Theall Street, Sonora CA 95370

Description:

Date Built: 1857

Thing One and Thing Two were looking for a parking place when we went down Theall Stret. Found a parking lot when Thing Two said, look over there! Sure enough it was this oldish looking brick house. When we read the plaque, we thought oh wow, there is history here. As you can see by the inscription, William Sugg and his whole family were remarkable. It was really good to have found this out and a little more history in our backyard.



Inscription from HMDB:
In 1857, William Sugg, a freed slave, built this three-room brick-faced adobe house. The adobe blocks were made in the front yard. The walls are up to 18 inches thick. A wood frame kitchen was at the rear. As Sugg’s family eventually grew to 11 children, it became necessary to construct the wood frame addition. It was completed in the 1880’s. The rooms were occasionally rented out as “overflow” to the City Hotel. State law changes, in 1921, requiring hot and cold running water in every commercial room, ended that 41-year practice, the family not being able to afford the expense. The home was occupied by the Sugg family for 125 years. Grandson, Vernon Sugg McDonald, was the last to live in the house.
Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.



From HMDB:
Thousands of the miners who came during the Gold Rush were black, including about 500 in Tuolumne County. Often, miners came as slaves with their master along with an agreement that they would be freed after a certain amount of time mining gold, or found a certain amount of gold.

One black who came about 1850 with his master was William Sugg, who bought his freedom for a dollar in 1854. He established a business repairing and refurbishing leather harnesses and began building in 1857 what still stands as the Sugg House, a block east of Washington Street. Sugg was not wealthy and he made his own adobe bricks and made a roof from cut-up 5-gallon tin cans nailed to rafters.

William Sugg's wife, Mary Snelling, traveled across the country in a wagon train, ending up near what is now Merced. Mary, twelve years old, was the daughter of a white man and a black woman and had light black skin. Many of the Indians they encountered during the wagon trip saw Mary and believed that she was a kidnapped Indian and wanted to rescue her. Whenever Indians came near, she hid.
Source: Sonora Visitor - http://www.sonoravisitor.com/t/historyt.php?localarea=history&morechoices=y



References:

• National Registry of Historical Places-Documents and Photos
  
• Noehill
  
• Historical Marker Database (HMDB.org)
  
• City of Sonoma – History
  
• Yosemite Gazette Article
  

Overall Landmark References:

• National Registry of Historical Places (NRHP)
  
• Noehill (NOE)
  
• Historical Marker Database (HMDB)