Information for the story given by Buzzi descendants, Adele Kenney of Castella and June Wright of Dunsmuir.
Photo info, left to right, the Kenney family, center front, Helen; middle row, Esther, Louise, Bernice; back row, Curtis, Tony, Adolph, Sylvester and Milton; Photo courtesy of Mary Adele Kenney.
In the 1850's, Kate as she was called by the white men, was an Indian girl of the Karuk Tribe. She was the daughter of the medicine man, an herb doctor who always rode a white horse. At that time she was in training as a peace-maker between tribes, a job corresponding in some degree to that of a diplomat today. As an Indian woman, she would have held a high place in Indian society.
She understood English, but all her life preferred to speak the Karuk dialect.
She is buried with her beloved rifle high on the hill above the spot where Clear Creek runs into the Klamath.
Jack Buzzi was born in Bern, Switzerland about 1822. He was married there and is known to have had a daughter before he came to this country. In Switzerland he was a language teacher. Why he left and came to America is an unanswered question, but about 1852 he made his way up the Klamath River into the gold fields and bought himself an Indian wife for twenty-four woodpecker heads and an old horse. He was evidently ready to settle down, for he lived in the Happy Camp area all the rest of his life and is buried beside Kate.
They had seven children, three boys and four girls. Not much is known about the three boys, but one is said to have been killed when he was thrown from a horse; one was adopted by the Mexican Consul, who was passing through on his way home from Oregon; and one grew to adulthood somewhere in the Eureka-Arcata area. The girls were raised largely by their mother. They were a close-knit group and kept in contact with one another all their lives.
Jack, in the old world manner, found husbands for his daughters from among his friends and acquaintances, probably in spite of their protests. The family remembered asking Amelia, June Wright's grandmother, who was married at fifteen and widowed at twenty, if she hadn't been terrified at being left alone with three tiny children when she herself was so young. She replied that she was glad; she had hated him.
Matilda was the eldest. She first married a Mr. Ottley, a shoemaker. Later she married a Mr. Prigmore.
Amelia's first husband called himself Mr. Smith. His older son, Arnold, was to discover that his father's name really was Trebor, and so he went by the name of Arnold Trebor. His younger brother, Alvin, continued all his life as Alvin Smith. Amelia's second husband was August Reisling. He originally came from Germany. He was anxious for his children to receive a good education and so moved his family to Palo Alto. Later the name was spelled Risling.
Mary was the third daughter, first married to Ben Kenney. They had a large family before he was killed. (It was believed he slipped on a trail.), and Mary made good use of the skills she had learned. To raise this family she panned gold, hunted, and grew large gardens. It couldn't have been easy. Later Mary married Charles Huestis. Many of her descendants lived out their lives in the Happy Camp area also.
Sara, the youngest daughter, married a Mr. Effman.
Jack Buzzi spent most of his life mining on the Klamath River. He owned a number of mines but never really struck it rich. When he got a little ahead, he liked to visit his family in Palo Alto and to enjoy the bright lights of San Francisco.
In his obituary notice, Jack died at the age of 93. It was said that Buzzi at age 83,could still shoulder a sack of flour and walk with it up the trail three miles to his cabin not far from Clear Creek.
Photo Vivian Reisling Hailstone and her son. In later years Vivian Reisling moved to the Redding area and was instrumental in helping to set up programs for local Indian children and taught various crafts of basket weaving and making traditional garments, as well as working many years with the museum in Old Shasta.