In the mid 1800′s, California saw an influx of people migrating from the east. Many of these were either families, with young children, or single men trying to take advantage of the gold rush. California had a large discrepancy between the number of women and the number of me. One example, that of Sergeant Ygnacio Vicente Ferrer Vallejo, shows just how dire the situation was. Sergeant Vallejo, who had helped friends deliver their baby daughter asked for the infant’s hand in marriage as his payment. Because of the low ratio of women to men the standards of marriage, sexuality, and family were greatly varied from that of the rest of the united states.
In Hispanic California marriage rules were similar to the rules governing the Anglos. Each forbade premarital sex, and sex outside the marriage was also outlawed. Also, in each divorces were nearly impossible to attain, only given under extreme circumstances, and even then the husband usually was given custody of any children. Women were legally “appendages” of their husbands. The California marriages were different in one respect, which is that Californian women kept their property after divorce while easterners did not. At the same time, California’s populations determined the standards of marriage, sexuality, and family. The gold-rush brought an influx of single young men to California. With three men to every one woman, it was difficult for a male to find a mate. He would have to either compete for women, turn to prostitutes, or go back home to find a mate. While the market was very competitive for men, women had their choice of nearly any man she wanted to choose. This is perfectly shown in the example of the Bullard family. The son moved to California with three sons and five daughters. Before any of the sons were married, all but one of the daughters were married. Each of the daughters regularly received gifts from suitors as well. The eldest Bullard brother eventually had to marry a woman who didn’t meet the ethnicity he had hopped saying ” If a man wished to marry a woman of a particular ethnic, religious, or racial background, his chances for success were measurable reduced.
Because of this lower ratio of men to woman, men had more options in addition to competing for a mate. They could also court a wife from back east, or seek prostitution. With a shortage of women and a surplus of men and gold, prostitutes came from all over. Most of the prostitutes in the American West were young, poor women, who were usually Indians, Asians, or Latinas. In Sacramento, nearly 60 percent of the prostitutes were minors. Prostitution was not the only alternative as seen in the case of reverend Sheldon. He had found it difficult to find a spouse in California, which gave him time to contemplate the women he had left behind in Ohio. Sheldon ended up marrying Priscilla Welsh, a woman whom he had a relationship before, which his parents had disapproved of.
These strange population demographics also effected the divorce rate as well. A Resident of Sonora claimed that eight out of ten women left their husbands. This number is staggering, and a bit overblown, but the shortage of women did affect women’s fidelity. Hurtado writes “Women were so scarce at the Buckeye Hill diggings that the appearance of one caused a near riot.” In some instances, the miners, who had acquired money because of discovered gold, bought new clothes and courted other men’s wives. Because California had such liberal divorce laws, they divorced at a much higher rate than other Americans. Also, the cruelty provisions act allowed women to seek divorce on grounds of cruelty. Not only did abused women benefit, but so did the single men of California.
