History in Our Everyday Lives

Introduction

In 2011, the In Grave Danger Gang, a group of historians on the lookout for historical headstones from Santa Clara County, was searching for the grave marker of Louis Pellier (1817-1872), the “Prune King”, from Saint Hippolyte, France. He and his brother Pierre brought over cuttings of “la petite prune d’Agen”¹ from France that became the dominant crop in the Santa Clara Valley. In another part of town, a farmer named Lee Lester had saved a headstone that someone was using for target practice.² The name on that stone was Louis A. Pellier (1858-1873), the nephew of Louis. On the bottom was written: “Adieu anfan chéri”, meaning, “Goodbye, dear child.” The Gang brought the two stones together, after being apart for over 70 years, and put them in a cemetery in San Jose, in memory of the Pellier family from France.

A headstone can teach us about the past, about origins. Ancestors can be honored with them. Headstones are one way we practice public history. Public history describes the many and diverse ways in which history is put to work in the world, such as through monuments, documentaries, museums, headstones, letters, etc. This practice of public history helps to make connections between the past and the present and teach local history, as students not only can read about a person like Louis Pellier in a book, but they can see and touch the headstone, the park, the picture, etc.

The headstone also provides students with an opportunity to learn French. They can start by studying the French written on the headstone. Students can then read about his origin in France, following up with research of his hometown and region.

Other avenues of research may be pursued, such as finding the local history section of libraries in the area. Local universities and historical societies will often have experts who can point you in the right direction of where to find the information that you are looking for.

You will most likely find primary resources written by pioneers in their mother tongue, which will be an excellent teaching tool from which your students can learn. I was able to find journals written by French pioneers to California put into book form. These can give insights into the cultural differences between life in France and life in their new home. There were newspapers written in French that were printed in San Francisco. This is another source from which we can glean interesting data. Of course, in any of these French resources, the French language can be studied. Also, the 19^th century writings can also be compared with more modern writings.

As with any person in history, one can study their family: their ancestors, as well as descendants. Studying family vocabulary and culture is an important part of any French curriculum.  Much can be learned from genealogical research using United States and French records, including Census records. A good amount of this research can be done online. A good, free source for international genealogical research on the web is familysearch.org.

In this unit, we will focus on Louis Pellier, his journey from France to the Santa Clara Valley, why he came, and his significance to the agricultural industry in California. We will look briefly at the spread of the French language around the world, then narrow in on the migration of the French to North America and California in the 19^th century primarily as part of the Gold Rush. Finally, we will specifically study Pellier and the French coming to San Jose, California. Our research will take us deeper into the Pellier family history, including a geographical study of their French origins. We will also look at the plum/prune industry in more detail. The French language will be used throughout the unit in class discussions, internet research, and some French primary source research. Students will write up their results from their research, as well as conduct their oral presentations in French.  The students will be discovering how they can learn about the past from their everyday surroundings, such as museums, libraries, street signs, and even tombstones. French will then become an integral part of historical research and engagement with the language will enliven history and inspire students to pursue further research.