Dates

• Existence: 1825 - 1888

Biography

Lewis B. Rock (1825-1888) was a participant in the California Gold Rush and railway superintendent in Wisconsin.

Lewis Burnham Rock was born in Drummondville, Canada on August 13, 1825. He left home at age 11 and found work, eventually leaving Canada in 1844 and walking to Bristol, New Hampshire. Rock worked in a hotel and cloth store for four years, moving up in responsibility until he became clerk of a branch store. He later became a clerk and barkeeper at a hotel in Lowell, Massachusetts, and it is from here that he began his journey to California to join the Gold Rush on December 29, 1849. Setting sail from Boston, Lewis experienced months at sea, traveling around Cape Horn, before arriving in California in August 1850. Later that month, he began prospecting near Sacramento, California. During his four years in California, Rock continued mining, built dams, and sold merchandise, after which he returned to Massachusetts. A former employer recruited Rock to Milwaukee to be employed at the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad where he moved up through the ranks, spending 15 years as a train conductor, eventually becoming superintendent of the northern division of the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad. He married Hannah W. Sanborn in 1854 and they had three sons. Lewis B. Rock died May 28, 1888 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Citation:

Lewis B. Rock diary, 1849-1852 (Lewis B. Rock; resident of Lowell, Mass.; embarked on ship from Boston, Massachusetts January 1, 1850; has a sister named Elizabeth; arrived in California August 1850; spoke French and Native American languages; participated in California Gold Rush)

United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men, 1877: Wisconsin volume, page 125 (Lewis B. Rock; born in Drummondsville, Canada East, August 13, 1825, son of Lewis and Mary Rock; left home at age 11; left Canada in 1844 walking to Bristol, New Hampshire; worked in hotel and cloth store for four years and became clerk of branch store in Bridgewater; became clerk and barkeeper at Merrimack House in Lowell, Massachusetts for a year; sailed from Boston to San Francisco in 1850; spent four years mining, dam building, merchandising; returned to Lowell; returned to the employ of S.S. Merrill in Milwaukee in 1854 working for the Milwaukee and Mississipi railroad) page 126 (train conductor for 15 years; became assistant superintendent of the rail line in 1866, then superintendent of the northern division of the Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad through at least 1877; married Hannah W. Sanborn in 1854; three sons)

FamilySearch, via WWW, June 9, 2023 (Lewis Burnham Rock; born 13 August 1825; died 28 May 1888 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin)

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