A farmer went to California in 1852 overland with oxen.

The evidence

• “He was reared to farm work and received a common school education. Two years after attaining his majority, in 1852, prompted by the spirit of the times, he went to California in quest of gold, the trip being made overland with four yoke of oxen and occupying four months' time. He remained there nearly five years, and in 1857 returned by boat via Isthmus of Panama.”

  1908-brown-rock-county/34b-biographical-2.md, Vol. 2, PDF p. 410 / book p. 902

  Brown, William Fiske, editor. Rock County, Wisconsin: A New History of Its Cities, Villages, Towns, Citizens and Varied Interests, from the Earliest Times, Up to Date. Chicago: C. F. Cooper & Co., 1908. 2 vols. archive.org/details/rockcountywiscon01brow, archive.org/details/rockcountywiscon02brow.

  Grade A: Found on a page of one of our sources