Chapter 1: Fred’s Adventure Begins
Fred Ackley watched out the window of the train he had been on for the last three days, thrilled to finally spot St. Louis. This is going to be the first adventure on this huge adventure that Casidy and I are on, he thought. Out West is where we belong. For a lot of reasons. Not the least of which is my father, John Abner Ackley, who is prospecting in Idaho. St. Louis was the site of the 1904 World’s Fair and Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
Hawkers
calling! Music playing! People laughing! “Hey, Ackley,” called Casidy, “we have
to send a postcard home showing the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy! This is the
future!”
“Sure,
Casidy, but I’m going to send one of the Wild West show, with savage Indians
and sharp-shooters and horseback stunts! This is the Wild West, waiting for us
to make our own marks on it,” answered Ackley.
Eighteen-year-old
Fred Ackley and twenty-three-year-old Fred Casidy both had one Irish parent and
one American. They felt they didn’t belong in civilized Massachusetts. They
were off to see the world. It takes just a week to get across the whole country
these days, with railroads being laid so fast.
Chapter 2: Leicester, Massachusetts
Fred John,
or just Fred, was born in Leicester, Massachusetts in April 1886.[i]
His father, John Abner Ackley, had a huge family there, who all lived close to
each other. John brought Annie McGrath, his new Irish wife, into this household
in 1885. Not even two years after Fred was born, Annie died of typhus,[ii]
leaving John a single father. John heard the call of the West: land for the
taking, gold for the mining, and freedom from memories of Annie. He left Fred
with his mother, Chloe, and headed out to find his fortune. His first job was
breaking horses for the military and Indians, in Northern California.[iii]
He didn’t
stay gone. John came home and talked his brother George into returning out West
with him. George soon realized that he didn’t like the Western life, and
returned home to his duties as financial guardian for Chloe. John headed for
Idaho, and in 1900 found a job on a small ranch south of the hills near
Horseshoe Bend, Idaho. This was the place where he was sure he could find gold
or silver, and he kept coming back to it throughout his life. At one time, he
homesteaded 320 acres, sold the timber, and then the land. But prospecting was
his passion.
Meanwhile,
Fred was raised surrounded by family. But he somehow didn’t feel like he fit.
His mother was buried in an unmarked grave in a separate graveyard from all the
other Ackleys. She was Irish, after all. He imagined being able to wander the
West, free of stifling relationships, like his father. But his grandma Chloe
pooh-poohed those dreams. “Security. People close by who love you. That’s what
you want.” But his father John was writing home, telling of having adventures
living off the land, promising he would strike it rich any day now. What would
it be like to be out there? Wild, untamed places to conquer!
Fred had a
best friend who had an Irish father, Fred Casidy. The two found bosom buddies
in each other. Ackley and Casidy promised each other that when Fred was 18,
they would take the train across the country to find his father. They would not
be stifled. They would prospect for gold and silver. They would be happy and
successful.
Chapter 3: The Gold Trail
The pair
of Freds continued to Horseshoe Bend, Idaho, where they asked about John’s
location. The young Easterners started walking, carrying their suitcases up and
down hills, thirsty as could be, until after several miles they finally found
John. He took them right back to Horseshoe Bend to buy boots.
During the
next few years, they traveled the Gold Trail. Fred helped install the water
system to the town of Goldfield, Nevada. They worked mines in Searchlight and
Tonapah, Nevada and in Johannesburg, California. When a vein of gold was opened
up, the foremen ran all of the workers out and a special crew would come in to
remove all the gold. The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a disaster for
the mines in Nevada, not because the ground moved, but because they were dependent
on San Francisco for money and supplies. Mines and banks closed, and Fred lost
$900 he had in the Goldfield Bank.
The pair
of Freds filed a claim in Silver City, Nevada. It was a lode type quartz claim,
meaning they would find minerals inside quartz veins. They worked it for three
years, subsisting on rabbits, squirrels, and nuts. In the 1910 census, we find
them living in Silver City. But their claim was just not rich enough to support
them. Silver City was dying. Their grand plans dashed, Casidy headed back East,
while Fred went west, ending up in Porterville, California. Mining may have
defeated him, but they still needed good men in California. He wasn’t going
back.
Chapter 4: Building a Family
Fred helped build the road between Porterville and Bakersfield. He worked in the orange groves, meeting his future in-laws James Hoey, Oscar Huhtala, and father-in-law William Bowles McClellan Pinnell. They were a fun-loving bunch. 26-year-old Fred fell hard for 17-year-old Muriel Ethelind Pinnell. His sparkling gray eyes, brown hair and good build[iv] won Muriel over.
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| Gladys and Muriel Pinnell, Feb 28, 1912. This was a postcard sent to Pearl Shockley. |
They were
married in Visalia, California on the 30th of October, 1912. They
had three children in California: Leonard LaVerne in 1913, Mildred Ethelind in
1915, and Fred Meredith “Hicky” in 1916.
John Abner
convinced Fred and Muriel to move up to Boise. They loaded their wagon, hitched
up the horses and headed for Idaho. They went through Bishop, California, and
Austin, Nevada, traveling about a month. They set up camp at the New York
Canal, and sought housing and work in Boise. Fred got a job as a mechanic for
the Overland Automobile Company. He loved these cars! Photos of the old cars
were in his trunk upon his death. He soon became a Floorman. That was his job
when he registered for the World War 1 draft. He didn’t have to serve in the
war, as far as we know. The Spanish Flu decimated Boise from 1918 to 1920, but
spared the Ackley family. Fred and Muriel had three more sons in Boise: Arther “Art”
Lewis in 1920, Ernest “Ernie” John in 1923, and Ralph Dee in 1925.
 |
| Muriel Ethelind Pinnell Ackley on a plate |
 |
| Fred John Ackley |
Chapter 5: Life After
Muriel
Fred
raised the six kids without remarrying. Muriel’s cousin Pearl Shockley Smith
moved in, with her son, to help raise the Ackley children. Also, John Abner
lived with them from about 1933 to 1943. Fred had to seek work of any kind.
Finally, he got a job with Boise Cold Storage as a delivery man. The delivery
truck used was a hard-rubber-tired old truck which was used until 1935, when
the company purchased some new Chevrolet trucks. The old movies of World War 1
show hard-rubber-tired trucks of the same type.
 |
| Fred on North 13th St. in Boise |
Fred
traveled to Las Vegas for the winters for some time, and also lived in Boise
with his daughter Mildred and her husband Everett Lakey. He passed away
December 23, 1976 at age 90.
 |
| Mildred in front of 1925 Stearns-Knight |
 |
| John Abner Ackley, his violin and car |
Dee, the
youngest, was my father, and he told this story of going prospecting with his
grandpa John.
One
time I went along with him up near Lowman, Idaho. Leonard drove us up as far as
he could in the car and then we hiked into the area Grandpa wanted to prospect.
We just carried a bedroll and a little food. When we came to the stream Grandpa
wanted to prospect, he began to wade with his divining rod held before him. As
it would dip, I would dig down into the gravel and then Grandpa would pan it
for any colors he could find – very little!
That
evening, we had supper and prepared our bedrolls for the night. Grandpa always
wore a coat, shirt buttoned at the collar and a little hat. That night he just
took off his shoes and pants and crawled into the bedroll in his long johns,
shirt, coat, and hat. I thought, “Boy, he’ll roast in there.” So, I peeled down
to my shorts and got into my bedroll. In a few minutes I knew why Grandpa left
his hat on. Mosquitoes! They didn’t bother Grandpa, though. As the night wore
on, I found out why he still had all his clothes on, too. It got so cold, I had
to re-dress for the rest of the night. But I had a grand time with Grandpa just
by myself for a few days, even though we didn’t find any nuggets.
[ii]
“Massachusetts,
Death Records, 1841-1915,” database with images, Ancestry (https://ancestry.com) entry
for Mary Ackley, 5 September 1887; citing Massachusetts Vital Records,
1840–1911, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.
[iii]
Stories are from Fred himself. He told them to his son Ernie, who passed them
on to Pilla, the author.
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