Although still limping, Laura would trail after her father, up-and-down the stairs to the cupola, to light the beacon at night, replace the small kerosene lamp halfway through the night, and extinguish the flame in the morning. To her relief, d’Estrella was not dead, and they maintained a close lifelong friendship, though never marrying. Laura awoke, and in a panic, ran to d’Estrella’s lifeless body, a sudden dash that made her realize her paralysis was gone. Adna Hecox witness this from the lighthouse, and came to help, fearing both had perished. Laura slipped on the rocks and was knocked unconscious, bringing d’Estrella to her rescue, only to be caught by the tide as well and battered against the rocks. That autumn as the vacation was drawing to an end, the two went out shell hunting. D’Estrella took an interest in her shell collection, as a naturalist and photographer.Īccording to a partly distorted account by a friend of Laura that appeared in the Battle Creek “Sunday Morning Call,” Laura fell in love with d’Estrella. Laura felt an instant bond with the pair, who taught her sign language, but also had her communicate with them through written notes. D’Estrella was also a deaf-mute, who taught at the California School for the Deaf in Berkeley. Tilden had scarlet fever when he was 6 years old, which robbed him of his hearing and speech. Tilden was accompanied by his 19-year-old teacher, Theophilus d’Estrella. In the summer of 1870, 10-year-old Douglas Tilden stayed at the lighthouse to visit his grandparents, 11-year-old Orville and 16-year-old Laura. Laura and her father loved strolling the beach to find seashells for her collection. After a long career as a public servant, 63-year-old Adna Hecox was appointed the first keeper of the lighthouse in 1869, where he lived with his wife, 15-year-old daughter Laura, and 10-year-old son Orville. Almus Rountree tried to tame the winds by planting a forest of trees on what is today Lighthouse Field. A whistling buoy was placed offshore when visibility failed. Laura was thrilled when he gifted her a small book for identifying seashells, a book she read and re-read, while collecting shells that illustrated what she was learning.Īs wharves filled the Santa Cruz harbor with cargo ships and steamers, a warning beacon was needed for Santa Cruz Point, which was either fog-shrouded, or buffeted by stiff winds along its craggy cliffs. Anderson, a naturalist who’d walked across Wisconsin with Henry David Thoreau. The library was founded with the help of Dr.
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She went to the newly-opened Santa Cruz Free Library at the back of a store under the Odd Fellows clock tower. Laura searched in vain to find its local twin, and became more aware of the types of area seashells. That year of 1868, Laura met a Spanish girl on the beach, who gave her a seashell not from California. Her mother slowly taught her to read, and by 14 Laura could copy letters, but not write unaided.
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She was teased by other children, and preferred to keep to herself along the shoreline and tidepools, “talking to the ocean” they said, although perhaps she was practicing how to speak without a stammer. Hecox was elected Associate Justice of the Santa Cruz County Court in 1860, only to have his 6-year-old daughter Laura stricken with paralysis, reduced to stammering and walking with crutches. He became a merchant, then was elected alcalde (judge-mayor), gaining the name Judge Hecox from his political career. When Hecox returned to Santa Cruz, he convalesced for six weeks. Green in Santa Cruz, established a Sunday School containing the town’s first library. When the Gold Rush came in 1848, Hecox joined a party of eight who discovered the rich Hangtown Diggings. The two men founded the state’s first temperance society, and Hecox organized a Methodist congregation in 1847. Michael Lodge hired Hecox as a carpenter, to come to Soquel and repair the Castro-Lodge sawmill. Hecox was also sick, but preached the first Protestant sermon in California at a young woman’s funeral. Lakes of stagnant water covered parts of the floor, and 14 people died of typhoid. His immigrant party hunkered down that winter with other settlers in the cold, damp, abandoned Mission Santa Clara.
In 1846, Hecox brought his wife and four children west, being bedridden part of the journey, then ending up in the middle of a war for California independence. He determined to find a milder climate in California for his health. Then in 1846 he was incapacitated by dysentery for seven months, recovered, then had frequent bouts of influenza, pneumonia and pleurisy. He married Margaret in 1836, and worked at times as a Methodist minister, a carpenter, and a lead miner. He married Catherine in 1832, but she went to visit friends in 1834, and died of Cholera.
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